Saturday, January 30, 2010

A Home at the End of the World

 

I have once heard that to build a house and to conduct a wedding are two of the most toughest jobs a man faces in his lifetime, and when you build a house 300 Kms away from the city it surely takes a toll on you. Nestled in the midst of greenery at a small village called Vellimalai that is a little more than a 2-hrs drive away from Salem (Tamil Nadu) lies my Father's farm house. A home whose every brick resonates the passion and vigor with which he has built it, yes it does not look grand and fancy, but behind every home lies a dream of a Man and every home has a story to say. The one above could tell you the bloody-mindedness with which it was completed. This home was just another ordinary dream dreamt by just another ordinary man who had the extra-ordinary will to make it come true. 

It was a little over a year ago when my father came back from his trip to Vellimalai, for him it was love at first sight. He had fallen in love with its flora and fauna, with its streams, with its people, with its air and with the color of its mud. He described it with the poetry with which a teenager would describe his first love. I never took him seriously at first because I was never the kind of guy who believed that nature could change a man. I have been to crowded hill stations and have stayed at their cheap over priced hotels, have eaten the stale and one-dimensional food that it offers and have taken snaps of the greenery that surrounds it. I have just "sleep walked" through my vacations all this while because I had no sense of belonging there, I had nothing to say which was "mine", nothing with which I could connect myself- not the people nor the places. I had no reason to go back there. I felt the same way when I visited Vellimalai the first time. I just nodded along to what was being said, signed the dotted lines and became an owner of a piece of land which I never bothered to see since then. I did not even feel the tiniest sense of ownership creep in when I heard my father say that he would be building a small house over there for our vacations. The most I reacted was the raising of my eyebrows with surprise. But my latest visit has changed my whole outlook of the place. 

The best part about Vellimalai lies in its simplicity, it lacks the glamor yet it has everything that a hill station offers- the weather, the air, the greenery, the hills, yet I cannot categorize it as an Ooty or a Munnar or a Shimla or a Darjeeling. It is not over-crowded and it is free from the clutches of greedy corporates who would convert it into another money-minting enterprise. It may not be your typical "tourist spot" but it is one heck of a place to unwind and gather your thoughts after a hectic week. Far from the maddening crowd, disconnected from mobile phones and the internet, I sat under the tree and realized how powerful nature really is. There is something in the rays of the bright sun that it clears the cobwebs of your mind, the clear crisp air clears your thoughts and the greenery infuses an energy within you that prepares you for another hard week at the Big Bad City. No wonder nature has always been a source of inspiration to artists ranging from Musicians to Industrialists to Thinkers to Entertainers. 

The house is yet to be painted and it is yet to be furnished, it still looks unfinished but that evening when we dined with our friends and family and as good cheer was spread in the air, I realized that it was no more a House but a Home. And all a Home needs is the presence of the people you love- not your furniture, not your fancy carpets, not your costly paintings not your fragile vase. My father's time, energy and money spent had bore fruit- it was a job well done. I now have a home away from home. 

Monday, January 25, 2010

Bullied

I was busy pretending to solve a problem in Polynomials when he came up to me and said "I want your cap", I looked up to see a dark ruffian looking kinda guy looking at my cap with a lust that one could associate with when watching late night porn.

Me: "Ghanta! Go get one for yourself" I said even surprising myself with the tone of my voice.
Bully: "Say what?" he asked with his hand on his hips and eyes gleaming with fury.


I realized that I was messing with the wrong ruffian here, he looked much older to be studying in tenth. He looked like one of those henchmen you find in the movies who fights for the villain, but nonetheless gets his ass kicked by our pot-bellied fat-assed mustachioed Madrasi heroes. I was no hero, I was not even pot-bellied or fat-assed to pass of for one, so I decided to do damage control with my words.

Me: "I cannot give it to you sir... uhh... bhaiya... its my favourite cap" I said with the utmost politeness which was nowhere to be seen two seconds back.
Bully: "I want it and Iam gonna have it from you" he declared coldly and walked away. 

I looked around to see four girls of my batch in the tuition watching the one-sided duel with interest. I being the only alpha male in our tuition batch now had a platform to showcase my non-existent machismo, I said with an air of cockiness "We will see" praying to God he didn't hear it. But he did, and he turned around to give me a cold stare that made me realize that I may have to kiss my cojones goodbye anytime. They say behind every successful man there is a woman, but you should also know that behind every black eye and messed up face is also a woman. In this case four average looking chicks, and in the process of impressing them I may have pissed off the wrong bully.

Law of High School Life:  The geeks and the geek looking school boys will always be preyed upon by the over-aged high school bullies unless you befriend one belonging to their tribe. You befriend one, you befriended them all. And from then on they are your shield.

The back benchers in my class always found it hard to believe that I was not a nerd, I had a hard time convincing them that not all boys who spoke good English top the class. The facts did not help me either, my mother was a teacher in the same school where I studied, and my uncle was the bumbling headmaster who amused the school with his unintentionally funny English during school assembly. According to the back benchers I had to be good in studies because I hailed from a family of educationists. It took me one month and three class tests in Maths, Social, and Science to make them realize that I was indeed a different kettle of fish. I was now a proud member of the Back Benchers Association, I was looked upto thanks to my superior English skills and also being the only guy who passed (read scraped through) in two out of the three core subjects. The rest of them royally flunked in all. For them I was an advisor on how to barely scrape through your monthly tests. And that was my way of winning over bullies. But the bully who was lusting after my cap belonged to a different school which was well known in the locality for manufacturing hard-core bad-asses.

After the bully had gone to his class, the Average Janes came over to me and asked what I was going to do. I nonchalantly told "Oh please! I dine with ruffians like him, trust me he is just all talk" I said with a nervous chuckle hoping the last part would come true. But in reality I was masquerading my fear all the while praying that this should not be my last evening with my balls intact. The bully had not stopped with the glare, he looked out the window when his class was going on and was mouthing words which I knew very well what they meant, I gave him a flying kiss because back then I was not aware of the usage of the middle finger. The Janes were surprised to see me holding my own, maybe even a bit impressed with my audacity, but I did not care about it anymore, saving my ass from getting kicked was the only objective I had. "Chicks may come and Chicks may go, but the Danglers shall remain where they belong" I thought to myself.

As his batch was about to get over and mine was about to begin the bully passed me by along with his cronies and said "See you outside". I now felt like the oppressed against an army of oppressors, the age old formula of making mediocre Indian movies. I could not concentrate in the class, I generally have other fantasies during classes but during Trigonometry my mind wandered back to what will happen when I stepped outside, "What if he is there with his cronies and beats me to pulp and takes my danglers as a souvenir?" I thought. My visions were interrupted when I realized that Master Saab who noticed my perplexed look was calling out my name for the fifth time, the Janes by now had let the cat out of the bag when they told him everything. Master Saab said he will handle everything from here on and I do not have to fear the cap-luster and his cronies.

It was quite hard for me to attend tuitions for the two weeks that followed. I would make excuses of not feeling well, or would pretend to have slept overtime. I finally mustered the courage to fight it out even if it meant having to give away my precious cap. I went back to my tuitions only to learn that the bully was thrown out of the class, apparently Master Saab felt two lions cant rule in the same jungle. He being the other lion. I sometimes wish the bully were not expelled, I wanted to know how far I would have gone in defending my cap, it was not just about a cap. Things could have gone worse, I could have been in a fight, I could have gotten my ass kicked, but like Tyler Durden says "How much can you possibly know about yourself if you've never been in a fight?"

Monday, January 11, 2010

A Truth Stranger Than Fiction

 

Disclaimer

The characters mentioned in the following post are not fictional, they are very well alive and kicking, and would love to kick me after going through the events mentioned in the post. Most of the events have occurred in real life and some were included to make it a bit more lengthy and bit more boring. The names of the characters have been changed to avoid embarrassment.


Chapter One: Taking the plunge

Guys will always remember how they have proposed to a girl, and they can never forget how they had been rejected unless the guy is a real slut who has proposed to probably every chick he laid his eyes on. When you have a good set of friends with a crazy sense of humor, it is usually they who fire you up to do the unthinkable. They say things like "Hey she laughed at your joke man, way to go!", "Hey she kept looking at you during economics class, I bet she has a thing for you!", "Wow man, she saved you a seat at the canteen, she definitely likes you", "Hey you don't have to study much to clear the Management Accounting paper, its easy" and they are really good at making you believe it.

And I being a coy boy who had freshly passed out from an all-boy's college had a misunderstanding that that's how things worked out in the real world, those silly lines like "hassi to phansi" made me believe that that's the way guys used to find their "true love". All they needed to do was crack a shitty joke, and the chick who laughed the longest was the target. So I thought, why not give love a try... again for the second time in one year. And my friends sure did a great job at making me believe that I will have a happy ending. 

Meera: "So when are you gonna tell her?" she asks excitedly. 

Me: "I don't know, I haven't thought very well about it. Iam not sure about the right time." 

Sanjiv: "Dude, you should just go ahead and do it man. She'll definitely say yes, if you keep waiting for the right time someone else will seize the moment." 

Meera: "He's right, and I also heard that Bharath is making a move on her. So you better be quick" she warns me

For a second I was wondering if they are asking me to book a ticket on a train or are they asking me to say my feelings to a girl.

Me: "That guy is a such a jerk, I thought he already had a girl."

Sanjiv: "He does, and if you still keep thinking he's gonna have two."

Me: "Fine, I'll do it. What's the most she's gonna say, just a "No" right, I've heard it before. I can hear it again." I said with all the calmness that only a professional could exhibit.

Little did I know that after the "No", women say a lot more and sound a lot more ruthless.

Meera: "Oh this is so cool, you and Ritika!! If it works out it will probably be the first couple in our class."

Me: "Yeah, "First Couple" that sounds like Mr.President and his First Lady. I think I'll take the plunge."

Chapter Two: Ritika

Ritika was a fine looking girl. She was just like any other girl, was crazy about Hrithik Roshan (predictable!), loved chocolates and Harry Potter(predictable again!) was good at cracking really bad jokes and had teddy bears at 21(yikes!). She was also crowned the Miss Fresher during our freshers' day party. That night some people sung, some people said tongue twisters, some people made a fool of themselves like yours truly, some people danced like no one was watching, and some people danced with a broom as a prop. Ritika was the one who danced with the broom, she swayed on all corners of the stage and with a broom she pulled it off quite gracefully. Some moonwalk, but Ritika "broomwalked" into my heart, and was crowned the "Miss Fresher" along with "The Queen of my Heart". It was a classic case of the Class Geek(I looked like one though I may not be one) falling for the Prom Queen. In movies the Geek gets the Prom Queen, but I was not living a movie. 


Chapter Three: Crashed and Burned

 
I hate it when people use the word "propose" whenever someone lets their feelings known for someone. Girls and Guys, you propose ideas, you propose theories, you propose terms of peace, you propose marriages not love! You propose a marriage when you been with a girl for long enough to realise that she's "the one", and you profess love when you find someone you got a thing for. Even after all this while whenever Iam accused of "proposing" to Ritika, I correct them that I professed, I did not get down on my knees to propose. So far, I've gotten down on my knees only when I pray and when I tie my shoelaces. 


Having reached home after having been injected with some optimism by my friends I decided to give it a shot. I decided to sms her, the best way of letting it out without getting slapped, if bosses can fire colleagues through smses these days, declaring my feelings should be risk free... and cheap. And thus I typed the fatal words. 


me: hey u thr?
she: ya, wassup :)
me: I gotta say somethin...
she: wats up? is al ok?
me: ya ya... i dunno hw 2 say dis.. i hope u dun judge me wrong..

In such situations when you utter these words like "i dunno hw 2 say dis.. i hope u dun judge me wrong.." the "target" or the "receiver" would have gotten a rough idea of what to expect next. 

she: wat is goin on?
me: i think i got feelings for u... i'm sorry.. jus wanted to tel u dis... i kno its nt right.. but i jus wanted 2 let u kno... 

She was taking more than her usual time to respond to my message, which made me know what the end result was going to be. But surprisingly enough she called me, and not surprisingly enough she had lot more to say then just "No". 

Me: (timidly) "Hello "


She: (barks) "What the hell are you thinking of yourself?"

Me: "I'm sorry, I thought something could happen between the two of us...."

She: "When did I ever let you know that something can happen between the two of us?"

Me: "The way Meera and Sanjiv were talking about you... I thought something could happen between us, Iam sorry..."

She: "I don't care about all that, cant you think for yourself? What were you thinking Anuraag?"

Me: "I clearly was not thinking, can we not make a big issue of this please and instead sort it out? Iam really embarrassed."


She: "I need to talk to you about this and not over the phone, I will see you tomorrow. Leave me alone till then!"


Saying this she hung up. My brother who was listening to this keenly was giving me a sarcastic grin as I turned around to face him.


He: "So this one didn't work out too eh?"

Me: "Shut up and go do your homework, you got school tomorrow." 

He: "How long you known her?"

Me: "Roughly a month."

He: (sarcastically) "Wow it took you four months last time!"


Me: "I know, maybe the next time it will take me just a week."

He: "What is her name?"

Me: "Ritika."

He: "What's her full name?" he asks.



Then it dawned on me, after having known her for more than a month I still had no clue of what her whole name was. That was some bad research on my part.


Me: "Shit! I have no clue man, I've known her for a month and yet I had no idea about her full name."

He: "No wonder she turned you down man. How are you gonna face her tomorrow?"

Me: "Don't freak me out more than I already am! what do I do?"

He: "I have no clue, I guess you should call up those loser friends of yours. You guys have given some shitty advice to each other over the years"

It was then decided that it was time to send an SOS to The Brethren.  

Chapter Four: S.O.S to The Brethren 

The Brethren is just a name I borrowed from a John Grisham novel, it consisted of me, Vishal and Kumar whom I had met during my brief days at an engineering college, they don't even know that I had a secret name like this for the three of us. It is strange when you think of a serious issue when shared with your closest of pals ends up seeming to be so trivial. That is what we were good at, we listened to each other's problems intently and we made it look so simple as if it was a piece of cake and was not worth breaking our balls over. Be it an exam we flunked or a problem we had with our seniors in college, we always gave each other a hope that "tis too shall pass" and that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Even though we knew deep within our hearts that "Boy he is in serious shit!" we never dared to say it out loud, you feel strong when the people around you are strong. And we were good at faking it.


Our meeting spot was a secluded railway station, the place looked like a ghost town where there was only one local train every hour. The place was perfect for lovey-dovey couples whom we eyed with jealousy and disgust, mostly the former. 

meet me at the stn, need 2 c u guys, chik trouble, be there at 8. Wil tel everythin vistaar se wen we meet.



Chapter Five: Gearing Up For The Attack
 

It was 8 pm when we decided to meet at the station, they would have given up anything in the world to hear me make an ass of myself. 



Vishal: "So kaminey, got rejected again? ladki kaun thi?"


Me: "That girl I was talking about to you guys Ritika, remember ?" I said solemnly



Kumar: "Yeah yeah, you hardly known her for a month..."

Vishal: "Did you get down on her knees and proposed?"

Me: (irritatingly) "I did not "propose", I professed and I sent her a message to let her know"

Vishal: "That's so typical of you man. Saala Cheapo!"


Kumar: "How did she react?"

Me: "Obviously she did not take it too well, she wants to see me tomorrow and that's what I'm worried about"

Kumar: "She may say "yes", maybe she needs time to think overnight. Girls are very thorough when it comes to stuffs like these, they are not like us who say "yes" without thinking, she will probably weigh the pros and cons though in your case its the cons that are more than the pros."

Me: (sarcastically) "Thanks that raised my spirits"


Vishal: "Maybe she has a boyfriend or something."

Me: "No no she does not, I'm sure about that."

Vishal: "Did you ask her?"

Me: (scoff) "Of course not, why would I ask her something like that blatantly, its like letting her know what to expect next."

Kumar: "Then how do you know that she is single?"


I felt very proud of myself with the research work I had done on this part, I just could not wait to tell them about my stroke of genius.I announced proudly:


"I checked her Orkut account."

Vishal: (wildly) "What the hell would that reveal?"

Me: "Duh! Her relationship status was single, thus proved that she had no boyfriend."

Kumar: "And you are saying this to us proudly?"


Me: "What's wrong with that?"

Vishal: "I can't believe that you are such a dumb ass man. People have no time to fill such stuff on Social Networking sites, most of them don't even fill their "about me" part. And you took Orkut as some info gathering website on chicks, you could as well have done a google search on her. Jeez!"


Kumar: "You know what, I feel like you did it on impulse. You just got carried away by the moment and without thinking twice you let it all out, and its proven to be costly. Now your friendship is gone and chances are bleak that she might give you a second chance. Your image is kaput and now she thinks of you as some kind of immature loose cannon who thinks every girl who tries to be nice with you is in love with you."

Vishal:(coolly) "And it could be worse if she has a boyfriend to whom she tells all this, and he might come over tomorrow to rip you apart."

Me: "Thanks, that is very reassuring guys, I agree I did it on impulse, truth be told I would have had no clue what to do next if she had said "yes"."


Kumar: "You just go ahead and talk it out, if she says "We can't be friends" just accept it, you can't hold her at gunpoint and threaten her to be your friend. Just chill and take it easy, as time goes by she'll understand that you are not that large type asshole as you seem to be."

Vishal: "And if her boyfriend comes over to kick your ass, just let us know we will come over and watch the fun."

Me: "Assholes! You guys haven't been of much help but thanks for being a sounding board."

Kumar: "It's always our pleasure to hear you make a clown of yourself, it kinda makes us feel better about ourselves."


Chapter Six: The Final Verdict

It was a Friday the next day, which meant I had the whole weekend to get over her. But before that I had the tough task of facing her, and I had a constant fear that she might lose her temper and slap me. It was a day I wished I could spend in the comfort of my bed, facing her in college seemed tough and humiliating. What if she blasted me in front of the whole class? That would damage the little bit of reputation which I had beyond repair, I could probably not even make my move on any other girl I thought wryly. But As you sow, so shall you reap. I had to step up and take the blame, and try to sort out the mess. 


As I entered the class I could see her all fumed up, she was Mount Fujiyama waiting to erupt. She had distanced herself from our group and was at the last bench looking at the black board with a silent rage, that did nothing to boost my morale. As the class got over I went over to her in a casual manner and tried to be smooth and asked "You wanted to talk?", "Yes, lets go!" she said impatiently. I followed her as if I was Mary's little lamb who was about to get slaughtered anytime, I could see Meera and Sanjiv give me a thumbs up sign probably praying in their hearts for my soul to rest in peace. 


We entered the canteen where we went over to a corner.


She: "What the hell were you thinking Anuraag?" She said pointing at me, I moved back a step just in case she decided to slap me or grab me by my throat. 

Me: "Iam sorry, I cant ask you for your forgiveness enough..."


She: "I don't care about all that, I thought we were friends. When did I ever let you know that something could happen between us?" She was swinging her arms wildly as if she was conducting a symphony. I was secretly praying that nobody from my class witness my pasting. 

Me: "Can I get you something? I'll buy you a Slice" I offered hoping the bottle of Slice in her hands would stop the wild swinging. 

She: "I don't want anything" she said irritated.

Me: "Please have something for the sake of making it look to others that we are having a pleasant conversation" I pleaded her forcing a fake smile on my face.


She: "Whatever" she said gruffly. 



I handed her the bottle, but it was not of much help as she resumed her duties with the other hand. Then she asked the cliched question which every girl asks to the guy when in the process of rejecting.

"What do you know about my past?"


And I like every other guy who had been rejected gave the cliched answer, an answer that was as cheesier as any cheese cake that you would find.



"Look, Iam not interested in your past, I don't care about it and I don't care what you have done or whom you have been with, all I know is that I like you for who you are." I said trying to sound convincing while biting my lip and all the while praying to God that she did not have a dark past of mental illness.


She: "Forget it, its not gonna work out Anuraag". She said as she was preparing to walk away probably unable to digest the cheesy answer. 


Me: "Can we be friends atleast?" I asked trying a last ditch effort to save whatever was left between the two of us.  


She: "I don't think we can" she said and walked away. 

Chapter Seven: Healing 

"Screw it yaar, atleast you did not die wondering "what-if?"" said Kumar. The ever-so-optimist among the three of us.


Me: "Yeah, but I don't blame her either, obviously any girl would have freaked out, and the thing she asked about her "past" does seem a logical question now, I have no idea what I did and why I did it, I didn't even know her full name man!, I still don't know it!. Maybe in a few years time when I think of it I can have a few laughs." 


Vishal: "Abey these chicks are like this. When you treat em as friends, they laugh, they play along, they flirt, and they shower all that care and affection. And the minute you tell em that you like em and that they are special to you they shut shop and pretend as if nothing ever existed. Yeh love-shove apne bas ki baat nahi hai."

Kumar: "So she is not even gonna be your friend?"

Me: "Yeah well what can I do? I did not want to plead to be friends, I had lost enough respect as it is."

Vishal: "Good for you that you had little bit of your balls left, and Iam glad that you found it on time."


Just then my mobile rang and I saw a familiar name flashing, "Ritika" it blinked. I grabbed the mobile and went to another room leaving my friends puzzled. I came back ten minutes later with a smile on my face and with an awkward hop skip and a jump.

Vishal: "Please tell me that you are still single!"  

Me: "Better than that! She said we can be friends again!" I said in a tune with my arms raised and my head tilted skyward. 

Kumar: "Now don't you go and do anything crazy like "professing" or anything to her again."

Me: "Hey I never profess to the same girl twice and besides, there is the chick called Niketana in my class who always checks me out, I checked her Orkut profile today and it seems she is single! Whaddaya guys say?" I said with a wink. 




Epilogue

"Ritika" since then on has become one of my closest friends. And true to what I have written, a smile always comes to my face when I think of what happened in the canteen that day. We both share a few laughs when we think of whatever has happened between us, especially over the filmi "What do you know about my past?" question. And no I haven't "proposed" or professed to her again, like I said I never profess to the same girl twice. Iam just glad that she is my friend, and to me that is more special than anything else she could have gifted me with.

P.S: I never "proposed" nor professed to "Niketana" or for that matter any other girl since then.




















 









 


 



Friday, January 1, 2010

Avatar - The First of its Kind


Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream  - Jake Sully

Fourteen years in the making, with an estimated budget of more than $280 million, and the comeback film of the Man who gave us Terminator and Titanic, but this time James Cameron the Man plays God. He is the creator of Pandora- his creation, his vision and the USP of Avatar. When the first few minutes of Avatar unfurl in front of your 3-D glasses covered eyes, you cant help but to applaud the vision of James Cameron. If Edison has given us the light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell the telephone- creations that make you think "How did they do it?", then James Cameron's name should be taken in the same breath as these great creators, for Avatar will change the face of how cinema will be experienced in the future.

Pandora is a world which cannot be described in words, Cameron has gone through every minute detail that goes into making a planet. The creatures, the colors, the flora and fauna, their characteristics has been flawlessly etched out in the movie. The 3-D glasses help you see the world of Cameron through his eyes, you feel like you are living in Pandora, you feel like you can touch what you see. I did reach out and try to grab everything that came out of the screen, yes that sounds silly, but that is how you become when something surreal is unfolding in front of your eyes. Cameron uses colors and loads of it to convey the feel of the movie, Pandora, a moon, is filled with multicolor luminescent creatures that are dangerous yet jaw dropping. Different shades of  blue, indigo, green, violet beautifully interspersed with environment leaves you spellbound. The Na'vi tribe that are the inhabitants of Pandora are on a war with the Humans, the greedy corporate machine Resources Development Administration who have evaded their land in search of a mineral that will help them solve the energy crisis back on Earth.

Jake Sully a paraplegic ex-marine is enrolled in the Avatar program in which his 3-D version is sent out to Pandora to mingle amongst the Na'vi tribe and gather more information about the place. He befriends the Na'vi princess Neytiri and as expected falls in love with her, and from here begins a tale which we have heard over and over again. Jake's avatar slowly undergoes a change of heart as he connects with the simple nature loving tribe as he gets to know their way of living, and as expected he starts fighting for the Na'vi tribe against the evil corporate machine which is headed by the rough and tough Colonel Miles Quaritch. And this is where Avatar turns out as a total let down. Labeling Avatar a "Classic" will do gross injustice to movies like Terminator, LOTR and Jurassic Park who in their time had redefined cinema viewing experience. Along with the enormous production budget, and brilliant story telling, and great casting, these three movies had the movie moments and the dialogues which still linger in our minds, and this is what Avatar lacks, the movie moments and dialogues thanks to some lackluster writing.

Avatar is a complete popcorn entertainer and is to be watched with your brains left outside the hall. The Man vs Nature theme could have been more explored on, and at a lengthy 2 hrs 43 mins runtime the film starts to lose its "wow factor" as the effects of the 3-D glasses start to slowly but surely wear down. The movie is more like The Last Samurai and Dances with Wolves where the protagonist joins the ones who is fighting against after being smitten by their culture, it is a repeated theme but the two movies were gifted with some great writing. Avatar could have joined that league had equal importance been given to the writing as it was given to the visuals.

James Cameron has indeed made a pathbreaking film,a trendsetter, one to be enjoyed only in 3-D, I salute his commitment, grit, and vision for having given millions around the world a never-seen-before experience. Avatar will be remembered as the one that started it all, the first of its kind. And lets hope the ones to follow shall not just be remembered for its 3-D effects.

A plea: People who come to watch movies with their family that includes noisy kids kindly teach em some manners, we spend the same amount of money as you have to watch the film and we have the same enthusiasm as you have to watch it along with the people we love. Have the sense to either leave them at home or to take them out of the hall when they create a ruckus.

Note to a Brother

Little Man,
As you are about to turn Sixteen in hardly another 24 hours, I've penned down few things which I feel you should go through. Your Wonder Years begin now, it is from here that the Blossoming of You begins. Let me start by telling you that it is quite tough to be an older sibling. You are quite lucky that the job of being a "role model" is thrusted on my shoulders, and I have to admit that I have done quite a shitty job so far. We elder siblings are a kind of "prototype" for the younger ones, whatever screw-ups we do is termed as "Things not to do when growing up" and you are suitably programmed to not to make the same mistakes as we do. Yet I say make mistakes, and live your life. Had I been living a life wanting to please others I probably would have compromised with what I wanted. I've made tons of mistakes, yet never have I woken up any morning with a feeling of repentance for whatever I have done. Every mistake or decision I took has taught me a new lesson.

People may say that you are at a decisive phase in your life with twelfth standard, board exams, tuitions, future, college, degree, career. All of this must have started busting your balls already. Every Tom, Dick or Harry you meet on your way to school would be counseling you over what degree to do and from which college. Screw their opinion, no matter what degree you study you are gonna end up in the rat race fighting for survival eventually. You gotta face your responsibilities some day, atleast till then live the life you want to live and do what you want to do. Here are few things I want to share with you, these are the same complex crap which I had gone through when I was blooming.

1. Getting an Engineering seat in any college is quite easy, be it a B.E student from the IIT or a B.E guy from some Kaliappa Engineering college, in the end they all end up sitting in front of a computer punching buttons having no clue about what they are doing. You are a friggin' natural, and scoring more than 80 % is no big deal anyway, all you gotta do is puke what they teach and the marks shall follow. Its not as tough as these folks are making it out to be.

2. If you think that the degree you choose is the first step to deciding your career, then you ought to think again. The jobs we do has got nothing to do with what we study at college. We are lucky to be born in an era where we can choose our job on the basis of our strengths. In this age of computers and globalization all you need to know is how to type, and you got yourself a swell job.

3. When choosing your college degree, use your head. Don't get emotional and get into something just because Aamir Khan sung "Papa kehte hain bada naam karegaa...." more than two decades back. Aamir died in the end of the movie. Do what you know you can do. Every week a new "career option" is thrown at you, if it was Marine Engineering last week, then the week before last it was Mechanical Engineering, and God knows what new branch of "Engineering" is gonna come up next week. Use your head, not your heart. Be selfish. Don't choose a degree just because some one else could not do it. Don't burden yourself with other people's expectations. Live for yourself. At the end of the day, we just want you to be happy.

4. Open a blog for your photos. Make it well known, you are real good at it. Let the world know how good you are at something. Make a short video and post it on you tube, write some stuff, open a blog, tweet your one-liners, make sure the creative side of you stays alive.

5. Fall for some girl, its okay to get your heart broken. First love seldom works out, be silly and take a chance, it may work out, you never know. And if you need to take her out or need some dough to impress her, you know who to come to.

6. Stop fingering your guitar and learn to PLAY it. Chicks dig someone who plays musical instruments, and guitars are as good as any babe magnets that is ever known to man. Its the guitarists who get laid a lot, not the guy singing in the chorus.

7. No matter how big a mistake you make, always remember that its not the end of the world. Near perfect lives are never talked about, nor are near perfect people. Just love what you are doing, and that only happens when you are doing what you love.

8. The friends you make in these few years will be the ones with whom you will share all your memories, crushes, heartbreaks, pranks, dreams, ambition. Treasure your friends, treasure these moments. The next thing you know, you will be 25 and in a job which you have to do because you got no other choice and all that you will be left with is memories of your Wonder Years, so hold on to these days tight, these years pass with the blink of an eye.

Thanks for being the faithful keeper of all my secrets. Have a great time growing up, its been a real fun to have you as a brother, and its gonna be great fun watching you grow up. I could never be the "role model" people wanted me to be, but Iam glad that I could be your friend, and for me that is a bigger achievement than anything else.