This post is dedicated to my dearest friend, Pritha. It is because of her that I got the inspiration to write this.

Life is full of paradoxes, but they tend to break the sad monotones. — Rajat

Do you remember the times when you were a child, and frequently used to hear your elders say that childhood is the best thing that can happen to a person? That childhood is the best phase of one’s life? Perhaps you hear such things even now. And, if you are somewhat nostalgic, you may even frequently dream of becoming a child again, isn’t it?

Being a child has its own advantages. You have no decisions to make, no responsibilities to fulfill, and certainly no tummies to fill except your own. A child can be as carefree as a bird, believe in fairies and wait for Santa Claus! A child knows nothing about secrets, of relationships, and perhaps about love?

Recently, I had the chance to meet Pritha after a really long time. It must have been a year since we talked, if you know what I mean. We spent the time catching up with each other’s lives. It is amazing to think how fast the time flies, isn’t it? One moment, we were the best buddies in school. Another moment, we are meeting up in a random mall trying to figure out how much time has passed since we had a proper,  heart-to-heart talk.

It is very easy to feel nostalgic during such encounters. While talking to her, I was invariably reminded of the fun times we used to spend at school. About how we were virtually inseparable. (So much so that even some of our teachers used to think that we were having an affair! Jokingly perhaps, but nevertheless.) About … well, just about everything! It was an emotional bliss, if not anything else.

Invariably, our discussion ventured into relationships. Amazingly again, we found out that we had something in common this time around too… Broken hearts! It so happened, as we found out, that we had been in relationships with people (one each ), and had to suffer the misfortune of ending them. However, that is not the point. The point is how much we have learnt from these separate encounters.

While she was filling me in about her (mis)adventure, I had this peculiar feeling that I was able to understand her better than I would have, say, a year ago. And I have this shrewd idea that my misadventure had a major role to play in this.

It is very easy to lose your head when you are young. Appreciating a situation for its complexity is an art young people do not possess.

In my case, when it was clear Shreya* and I cannot move along together without some obvious differences, I decided to call it quits. Even my elders (actually, its only one of them who knows about this ) appreciated my line of action. I myself regard my handling of the situation as the best I’ve ever done. In fact, I regard it among the wisest decisions I’ve ever taken in my life, and that too, without losing my head. I did that because I had appreciated the situation for its complexity.

Perhaps that is why, I regard growing up as better than being a child. You get to worry about a lot of things, agreed. But you get to understand various things in a better way, something you couldn’t have done a couple of years before.

Some people (read: adults) still want to become children all over again. Because they want to be away from all their worries. They are stupid. And they are cowards.

I have a lot to learn before I am ready to face this big, bad world. However, I shall be a little less concerned from now on. The clock is ticking away, and I am getting older. I’ve already come this far, and I’ll get to learn all what I have to, perhaps at the right moment too.

* – Name changed.

Three actors, each a heartthrob in his/her own right. A love triangle. Treading the grounds of terrorism. Giving out a social message. No extraneous song-and-dance routines. Yash Raj Banner. No big ticket cricket season to distract the moviegoers…

By the looks of it, director Kabir Khan’s New York was the kind of blockbuster Bollywood needed to relinquish itself from the economic recession and the two month long standoff between the producers and the multiplex owners. Except that it has failed to bust any blocks, yet.

Samir Sheikh a.k.a Sam (John Abraham), Maya (Katrina Kaif) and Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh) are the three, seemingly protagonists of the movie. They are the undergraduates studying at the New York State University, and classmates of each other. Sam is the sporty, attention seeking and intelligent guy who believes in enjoying life to the fullest. Maya is equally vivacious, and proudly proclaims that her mother will readily elope with Shahrukh Khan given the slightest chance. Omar, on the other hand, is a shy, “good boy” kind of a person who is new to the American brand of life, having moved in recently – all thanks to a scholarship. Both Sam and Omar secretly like Maya. And Maya secretly likes Sam. The two meet, get married, have a son, and they are off. Omar, on the other hand, is reduced to the sidelines – never to return in the lives of two of his best friends. Or is it?

Years afterwards, Omar – who still lives in the city, gets some unexpected visitors. The FBI, out there to arrest him. Agent Roshan, played by now stereotyped Irrfan Khan, wants him to act as an undercover agent for them, because they suspect that Sam is running a terror camp in New York.

Omar, having reluctantly agreed, enters into the lives of Sam, Maya and Daaniyal (their son) yet again. And a curious turn of events follow up.

The story, written by Aditya Chopra, is intriguing – but the buck stops there. The first half of the movie, dealing with college, love, friendship et al, is almost weird to watch. There are too many awkward moments and the screenplay falters frequently, as if being paid to do that. You get sick of Hai Junoon, for it plays continuously for the first half an hour! John Kat and Neil are just too old to play collegiates. Further, the story keeps jumping up and down nine years apart, and this hasn’t been done tastefully, to the likes of, say Rang De Basanti.

The music is as good as Pritam can give you. As I’ve said, there are no song-and-dance routines in the film. The track tune jo na kaha is good, but I think that its a matter of time before someone unearths its original – if you know what I mean There are no tracks worth remembering, and certainly no tracks which strike a chord.

As far as the performance goes, John and Kat have done their usual, mediocre stuff, but Neil has done loads better. He brings out the inner conflict raging inside him superbly. However, he looks very childish in his avtar as a college student. Irrfan Khan has portrayed his role as an FBI officer well, owing to the fact that he has played a lot of similar roles (Slumdog Millionaire, A Mighty Heart to speak of a few). Like the music, there are no performances worth remembering, and certainly no performances which strike a chord.

On the whole, the movie has its strong points, but the weak and the mediocre ones clearly outstrip them. Watch it only if you are sick of waiting for movies to release, or if you are a really big fan of Irrfan Khan 

Peeves the Poltergeist : 

Oh Sanny Macsy! Sanny Sanny Macsy!

Teaching Maths Fancy and giggling like batsy!

Ever since I have dreamt of enrolling for a particular course from a particular pedigreed institution, I have dreamt of joining a particular institute located at a particular place in Delhi – only because of its particular reputation!

One of the particular reasons why I want to enroll for that particular course is that I want to do a particular kind of job for some years as a start up for my career. After that, I have thought of engaging in a particular kind of activity to satisfy me, both creatively and on financial grounds.

Again, one of the particular reasons why I have chosen that particular institute to join because I want to do my best under the best possible guidance, so that my chances of coming through that particular pedigreed institution become very high. 

See, I’m such a particular person!

That particular institute is known as SANMACS; that particular place in Delhi is Karol Bagh. As far as that particular pedigreed institution is concerned, I ain’t telling you yet… Nazar lag jaayegi naa..!

As many of you might have noticed, the title of the post is a satirical variation of the name of the particular institute. Exactly what the intended satire is, I can’t tell you – because I have failed to notice it. If you do, please tell me, will you?

About SAMNACS, then.

Apart from located in Karol Bagh, which happens to be in the list of my favorite places in Delhi, SANMACS is the premier institute of MCA entrance coaching in India. (See, you got to know about that particular course too!).

SANMACS (as it claims), is responsible for sending a majority of students to a majority of pedigreed institutions offering MCA in India. Maybe because of that, I joined the institute five days ago. (I don’t want to miss out on my chances, you see!). Alas! For me, it is back to studies then. I enjoyed just 33 days of my precious holidays being busy in inefficient and unproductive somethings, which should be a World Record to say the least. (I’m known to waste an entire year in useless babble). With SANMACS, I’m back to finding out about of the chances of Q being S if some P’s are Q’s, and finding out the correct time after 23999999992 hours from now, and worrying about the wizard who lost his shoes while taking a dump. (Okay, I made the last one up!)

As far as my routine goes, the day starts pretty early, considering the fact that I have to wrestle with a sweaty crowd that greets me inside metro each morning as I make the short commute to that particular place in Delhi, and that I have to find time to read, write, listen, walk, study, and teach all at once. Teaching is over for now, and it does make the list considerably shorter. Yet, there are a hell lot of things to do. Sometimes I am amazed when I notice the fact that I always end up making myself terribly busy while being pathetically unproductive. 

See you guys later.

PS : I know I shouldn’t have written that horrendous piece of verse above. But ever since I’ve read A Suitable Boy, I cannot help treating various situations with kakoli couplets, and the above one is by far the best I’ve been able to do! Hope you didn’t mind…