Bombay

bombay...the city i love to hate...the city millions have embraced so lovingly as their own...the city where my roots partly lie (though i barely acknowledge it)...not mumbai, but Bombay...though honeslty, it makes no difference. call it anything.

what took place over the last three days was no short of terrifying. in that sense, those dastardly terrorists have suceeded in doing what they set out to achieve...they have spread terror. and how! when this started on wednesday night, it had seemed like one of the many terror attacks we have seen over the last few years. the kinds that evoke the reaction oh-how-sad-but-life-must-go-on. Honestly, I think a lot of us have become kinda desensitized towards such attacks. but what unfolded over the next fifty odd hours was nothing like Anything any of us had witnessed EVER. The news coverage seemed right out of an action movie.
Yea they terrorised us...but I hope it will make us stronger. And I really hope the divisive tactics don't work!!
It was terrible...Terrible! It's tough for all of us who saw it...but it's a million times worse for people who lost loved ones in the terror attack. Those people did not deserve such a fate...it's just so unfair!
Right now...too many thoughts are running amok within me...I'm just posting to say I care. My way of showing solidarity with the survivors and the victims and the heroes of this attack maybe...
God be with them... more later.

i've been trying to avoid posting about movies...but this one was really good. i'm talking about summer 2007. remember? the one with sikandar kher, gul panang etc? very good promos (at least i thought so) and veryyyyy forgettable reviews...! from what i remember, sikandar kher was the only one who got 'applauded' for the effort...which is kinda surprising! Coz no offence to anyone, but he wasn't that great. n honestly, he looks kinda repulsive (i hope he gets better a few years later like most star kids manage to).
so anyway, coming back to the main thing...it was a very good movie. but no wonder it was a super flop. the first half goes about establishing how the protagonist (kher) and his gang (a smooth-talker, a hung-over ex, a despo and a preacher) are the representatives of the care-a-damn generation...sadly, the effort is a lil short of pathetic. or no, it Is pathetic. and these people have hideous nicknames like 'butter' and 'pepsi' and 'mother T' (which Could be short for mother teresa...who knows!) so, after a casual attempt at college politics backfires, this gang of five decides to escape...their idea of escape? going for the mandatory 'rural service' visit. What's funny is, they just 'decide' to go, and the college provides a nice bus n all to get them to their destined centre. just the five of them! very la-la-land types!
once they get there, the plan is to get the required certs n go on a month-long holiday. but circumstances are such that they get sucked into the village issues...what follows is a grim portrayal of what is now typical of a lot of villages in maharashtra and many other states. farmers being tortured by money lenders...being forced to give up their land, the dignity of their women...their lives...everything!
it's an issue hardly talked about...i know mere talking doesn't get problem solved, but it's an essential first step no?
i'd rate this as a "must watch"...if for nothing else, then just to bring to our consciousness the enormity of the problem which we are more or less blind to.

I was recently told by someone at work that their first impression of me wasn't that great because, in their own words - "tum hasti bohot thi". That wasn't a very nice thing to hear!! I mean, kya matlab hai? That I smile too much or that I laugh too much?! Umm...actually I do both of these quite a lot. And it had never seemed like a problem. But now that I think of it, smiling is my preferred expression and I laugh as response to a lot of things. Gosh! I must come across as such a dumb person!! In a conversation, I hardly have anything intelligent/interesting to say, so I generally nod-n-smile-n-listen. That sounds infinitely stupid now! (I can picture myself now...like a circus clown...with a big red-n-white smile painted on my face...all happy-n-Bozo...ewwww!)
As a second thought, isn't smiling better than having a straight or grumpy face? And doesn't laughter act as an anti-ageing-something?! But I'd prefer 'wiser' to 'younger' anyday! I like to picture myself as an intelligent, laidback, composed kinda person...and such a comment, which is quite unlike how I try to portray myself, is highly detrimental to my self concept!!! Sheh! Kay karu? ;)

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."
M Scott Peck
I am kinda looking for 'different ways' which just might lead (not to 'truer answers') but more meaningful questions...Confusion isn't a pleasant state to be in. But this time 'round, it isn't the vague anxiety of the GAD kind. It's more specific...and I Know what I'm concerned about. Which is good. It's a step ahead. Yay