Celebrating the Good Times

Festive season kicked off well with Eid and we are approaching Christmas in a few more days. It always is good to be with your family and nears during this time, otherwise festivals do not mean a lot. These are the days when there is closeness and love in all. A perfect time to build harmony and relationships.

Talking about celebrations, not being with certain people does not demean a festival, but it makes you feel kinda far away. I cant think of any other word to talk about that feeling, but it is quite different.

While I was feeling the way I tried to say I was, I watched Roja, one of my favorite movies. The movie gives you a feeling of shall I say Terror, Love, Hate, Desperation, and not to mention Patriotism, all in certain ways. It starts off by showing a group of terrorists in Kashmir doing their stuff, continues all the way down south in a small village, and rest of it all the way back to Kashmir. Back in 1992, there was a lot going on in Kashmir and the story has its inspiration from the happenings back then (an important person taken a hostage to get some people out). What is the most impressive thing about that movie is well known to almost every Indian - the music. Somehow it changed the scene of film music in India. Not surprisingly, the song 'Dil hai chota sa' stays as one of my favorite songs.

With the celebrations gone and coming up, I wish all of us a very happy new year to come.

Picture Perfect!!

Pictures - a frame of time. Have we ever thought of a picture considering it to be a frame of time, time that we have lived. As usual, we do not notice things around us unless we are made aware of them. How many of us remember in detail what we see in a picture that we carry all around: be that a picture of someone, or something that we hold dear. We look at what we want to, but forget what completes the picture.

Ask a photographer (not someone who takes pictures) and you will get the answer to your question "What is a picture?" I am no photographer and I am no expert, but I felt that we always miss one thing or the other. It came to me when I was talking to a very dear friend of mine about a picture of ours taken over 20 years back. All I remember from that picture was her and me in it with some of our other friends.

Thinking about it now, what makes that picture is not just the two of us, it is everything that gets captured in that frame. That is what puts life in a picture. That is when we talked about what we did back then and how we were. That is why I believe that a picture is time that we have lived, time that has stopped, time that makes us remember that we existed with someone. So rather than saying "you and me are in that picture", we started talking about the place, the happenings, expressions, surroundings and all other details we could recall. While we were on it, it brought back the memories of that time.

I make an interesting observation while I think about it. The picture that was taken when we were somewhere around 4 or 5 years old, after 20 long years, I felt as if I was there. That is the beauty of a picture. It takes you back in time.

I believe most of us will feel this way when you talk in detail about an old picture. It not only brings back memories, it brings back people. I will always say we do not capture pictures, we capture time.

I recommend the movie One Hour Photo if you want to really look at pictures in a different way.

The Mighty Sunday

Sometimes I think that there is a reason why someone writes and at times I feel there is no reason at all. When you write for a reason, you feel you are not writing your thoughts but there is something else that drives you. But when you sit with your mind running all over the place and you take up a pen that is when you write something that comes from within you.

Coming back to the reason why I started writing (huh!) I looked out at what this Sunday has to offer. Last day was good enough for me to have a big smile on my face. Today, not so. While going through my training it was quite some fun filled 15 days. Now when I look at what all I have to take care of for the special Monday, I think that today will be something special, something that I have had a long time back.

Well, I have got a nice looking sun shining outside, clear blue sky (not for long though) and a nice breeze. I will see for how long I can hold on. But knowing me, it can go either ways. As we all call it, "aar ya paar".

When in Rome, do the Romans

Many a time I am amused by what happens around me, with me, or for me. Irrespective of whether you like it or not, certain things stay with you for a long long time. These amusing things are what people like to hear, either to get entertained, or like to know about you, or to pass time for the heck of it. But there is another set of people who you like to talk about the bygone days.

Coming to the point there is a random event I like to talk about. It so happened in 2005 (the year I was out of college) I was travelling in a bus. I managed to find a seat and was lost in my thoughts, I saw a Police Inspector (I wish I remembered his name) who got in the bus and was looking around (for what, I dont know). He looked at me and smiled, came closer and said, "Please get up" which I did with all due respect and he made a sort of old guy sit where I was. I thought to myself, a good deed that was - as I didn't notice someone standing who needs a seat.

With this running in my mind, the inspector says to me "Please, come with me". I asked why and was told. "You are not supposed to sit in that seat as it is for physically challenged people". I looked around for a sign and pointed out to him that there was none, so I couldn't tell the difference.

He looked at me, smiled again and pointed at something written over the window. I looked back at him, and with all the politeness I had in me, I told him that I can’t read that language. He insisted, "Please, come down with me. Let us talk about it". I, as cool as a guy I am, followed the white rabbit.

After walking a few paces he asks me again. "You are not supposed to sit on that seat. You have violated the rule and you need to pay fine". Fuck off, fuck off was running in my mind all the time. I again said that I can’t read the language and to my utter surprise he says, "'Do in Rome as Romans do'. Do you not know this?". I look at him right in his eyes (he was wearing some kind of shades) and I say, "I believe I am in India and I am an Indian". He smiles, and says, "Come with me and let us discuss. You either pay the fine or come with me to the station". I duly ask how much I had to pay, he said, "Only a hundred, which should not be too much for you".

Then it stuck me, I had no money on me. All I was worth was Rs 40. AS I was explaining my financial situation to him, he said, "You have to come with me to the station. There we decide what to do". For the 10 minutes I was waiting for him to collect some more poor souls and get money from them, I was contemplating on running away and then imagining things (like police running after me, I doing the Dhoom stuff on cars, bikes, and what not..). After my movie was about to reach the climax, I find myself sitting in the police jeep (mind you, for the first time, that way). A short (hah!) ride to the station, I go in and I am made to wait for quite some time till my fate is decided.

A long 15 minutes later, I am called in. Believe me I felt like a criminal for the first time in my life, and all the movies I had watched were flashing in front of my eyes while the Inspector and his senior discussed my issue (and all I understood was that they were talking). Then the senior guy tried to scare me saying, "If you don’t pay the penalty, we will register a case on you". On asking for what, he says, "For misbehaving with an inspector".

Then, there was something written on a sheet and I was asked to sign, I said that I am not going to do so till I get that written in English. He promptly says, "So you want all the signs in Karnataka to be written in Kashmiri". (my mother-tongue). The moment I said, "Our national language will do just fine", I knew I dug my own grave. The two of them look at each other and then for a few minutes they talked and finally I was told, "You arrange Rs 100 or you are staying with some thieves tonight" (and he said this pointing to one of the dark corners around). I think for a moment and tell him to get someone come with me to one of the ATMs and I will hand over the money, but I get a denial saying get someone here and get me BAILED OUT...

With all this, I was in a state of mind to take them over. But I never mustered enough courage. I called a friend and calmly explained the situation to him. And while I was waiting for my friend to BAIL me out, I was treated like a hardened criminal. I was under vigil for the one hour I was in the police station. It felt nice to have experienced something of this kind.

While walking out of the Police Station, I pondered over one thing only, is it really important to follow the old adage “When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do”.