Lifeless Lives... (read the story with patience)

She was desperately waiting for someone to knock on her door. Though she was reading the Quran, she was waiting for her husband Muddasir to come home. Nausheed’s husband Muddasir worked as a waiter in one of the famous hotels in the city, where only elite and high profiled people visited. She couldn’t remember the name of the hotel as she was very bad at remembering English names. Muddasir had promised that he would return home early and then they would go to the nearby cinema hall to catch a movie.

Chirag had turned eight and his father took time from his busy schedule to celebrate his birthday at their favourite restaurant. Unfortunately, his mother couldn’t accompany them to her son’s birthday party as she was not well and she didn’t want her son to spoil his enthusiasm so she requested her husband Ashok to take him to his favourite restaurant where he loved eating Chinese food.
Rajeev came to India after 3 years. He was studying in New Zealand, but had returned to India so that he could be a part of his parent’s 25th anniversary. He was staying at one of the best hostels in the city hoping that he would visit his parent’s house the next morning.

All these inter connected lives were woven together by destiny to stay under the same roof, oblivious of the catastrophe that was going to take place. Rajeev was enjoying his solitude to the fullest; he was engrossed in reading a book by Sheldon. Chirag missed his mother but that didn’t stop him from having fun on his birthday. His father was like a friend to him and they were discussing about Chirag’s ambition of becoming a pilot. Muddasir came and served the food for the birthday boy. After serving him, he would be on his way to home. After finishing the dinner, Chirag’s father ordered Muddasir to bring a birthday cake from his son. Rajeev forgot that the world around him existed; he was completely drowned in the literary world. Ashok was noticing Chirag, looking at his face, expressing so many emotions together. The laughter, the excitement, the tiredness. All these expressions could be read by his father like an open book.

Nausheed was reading the Quran, hallucinating that someone was knocking on the door. While reading, she looked towards the main door but after one knock she couldn’t hear further. She was waiting anxiously for Muddasir as of he had gone to war.
Chirag’s mother was getting bored and she started entertaining herself by watching a comedy show on TV.

His father sang loudly “Happy Birthday to you…Happy birthday dear Chirag”. When Chirag was about to cut the cake he noticed the people around him giving a warm smile, as if the whole world knew that Chirag had turned eight. Muddasir was also standing nearby watching him cut the cake. The cake was cut, and then suddenly they heard the noise of a big explosion outside. For a minute Chirag thought maybe someone was bursting crackers for his birthday, but as soon as they all could give a thought to what really happened the monsters appeared in the restaurant.

Rajeev was stunned by the noise of the explosion, he went towards his window but saw nothing. He turned on the TV and saw the headline Terrorist attack on Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. For a minute he didn’t know how to react, slowly his heart started pounding, beating so furiously that he couldn’t control it. He sat down on the bed like a lifeless figure, like his soul was already taken and there was nothing left. But Rajeev was brave, and more than being brave he feared how his parents would react to this news, but thank god they didn’t know he was staying in Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai.

Nausheed heared the continuous knock on the door of her house, this time it wasn’t hallucination but someone outside the door waiting for her. She adjusted her hair and went to open the door like a little girl waiting for Santa Claus, but it was no Santa Claus, it was her neighbourhood friend Mumtaz, looking dead scared, in front of her. From the look of Mumtaz, Nausheed figured out something terrible had happened. Mumtaz didn’t say anything, grabbed Nausheed’s hand and took her to her house. She heard the Hindi news channel saying the terrorist had entered the hotel and they were killing whoever was coming in front of them. Nausheed soon learnt from Mumtaz that Muddasir worked in Taj Mahal Hotel and then after hearing the news, she was searching for support. She threw herself against the wall as if there was nothing more left for her now; she was like a lifeless statue.

Chirag’s mother was turning to other channels bored of watching the same programmes when she came across a big headline on a news channel “TERRORIST ATTACK, HOTEL TAJ MAHAL, MUMBAI”. She was stunned and expressionless; she wore a shawl and went outside. She saw her mother-in-law sleeping peacefully. She went to her room, locked the door and called her sister. Her voice was weak, she was broken and above all she forgot she had a fever.
Muddasir, Ashok and Chirag were at the far end of the restaurant and the terrorists were bit far from them busy firing old women, children and men like a child shoots the balloon in the shooting game. Muddasir told Ashok and Chirag to quickly hide under the table. He then went ahead to save one pregnant lady who was sitting like someone has removed the earth from under her feet, Muddasir went there to protect her to say that her life was in danger and she could be saved but it was too late for that lady to react to the incident. The monsters shot Muddasir and the lady, and hence put a full stop to their life. Chirag and his father watched Muddasir’s body being filled with bullets, and the terrorists were now moving towards the father and son to crush them like ants.
Rajeev switched off his cell phone and was hiding like a deer from a tiger not willing to give up his life in this way. He was sweating like never before.

After 62 hours of the unexpected catastrophe that left an indelible scar on the minds of the people in India, it was found that Chirag and his father were saved. Rajeev was killed and he died thinking how his parents will react to the worst anniversary gift. Nausheed stood there outside the hotel waiting for the policeman to declare his husband was alive or not. After seeing his husband and son alive, Chirag’s mother broke down into the arms of her husband. Chirag was now born as an eight year old man after having a close encounter with death. The hero was dead, but Ashok could never forget that a waiter saved his life but for Nausheed her life was already taken, she was frozen like an expressionless doll. She forgot her life after 26 November 2008. Rajeev’s parents kept trying on his number but the phone was switched off. They were informed later that their son had died an unexpected death. They were planning to get Rajeev married, but now the plan was changed. They were preparing for his funeral.
This is just a fictional story based on the terrorist attack of 26/11.I hope the reader will be able to empathize with the people who suffered and lost lived on 26/11.For them, every single day is 26/11.

3 Idiots - Review.

Since People couldn’t keep their mouth shut by praising about the movie “Three Idiots” therefore curiously I went to watch the movie. The hall was empty because I went to watch it after 1 month the movie got released. But my bad luck is that I always sit beside people who act so excitingly and laugh-out-loud at such lame jokes that I am forced to believe that they have never been to cinema hall but then again I shouldn’t be so harsh with my words because theatre hall creates an environment which makes you want to forget everything and live the movie. The movie started of well with Sharman Joshi, R Madhavan and The chatur guy (whose real name I don’t know) searching for Amir Khan. Then the story takes a flashback and shows the college life of the three idiots in the movie. Amir Khan was again acting like pop philosopher in the movie. His character was too white to digest. Screenplay, Direction and Cinematography is what makes the movie so good. Shimla, Manali and other hilly places were looking just wonderful in the movie. Also not to forget the acting of Boman Irani and Chatur guy made people laugh. The weak point of the movie is hard to find but I guess sometimes it’s too illogical. The scene where Amir calls Boman Irani “murderer” and the delivery of the baby with the help of a vacuum cleaner is too much of cliché. The film if you will notice carefully is a mixture of Taare Zameen Par and Munna Bhai M.b.b.s. We see the same Amir from Tzp lecturing about his ideas of education and then we see the prankster Sanjay Dutt from Munna Bhai doing whatever he wishes to in an institution where people with brilliant marks and brains study. On the whole, it’s an enjoyable movie but certainly not that great. Kareena Kapoor doesn’t have much to offer in the movie except her geeky look. A family entertainer and a clever movie giving social message as well as sticking to the same commercial genre of Bollywood Film. I am not telling you to watch this movie because you all must have seen it by now. I am also not saying is “All is Well” because I feel like a moron when I say it.
The promo of Love, Sex aur Dhoka looks really good.Looking forward to watch Ishqiya nexttttt!!

Wake Up and Watch the movie!!

Wake Sid is certainly the most beautiful film of the year. The film as you know is about a boy refusing to wake up until he meets a girl who changes his life. The concept of “opposite attracts” is so beautifully shown in the movie that yes you can now puke on to the posters of movies like kambaqt ishq and all (though I haven’t seen the movie). Konkana Sen Sharma can adapt herself to any character. You can’t challenge that acteress.She has made a position for herself in the industry. Ranbir Kapoor was almost perfect in the movie, there isn’t a minute you feel that he is playing a character instead you think Ranbir is like Siddhart (the main character in the movie) in real life too. And yes I like Supriya Patak and it was really good to see her playing Ranbir’s Mom in the movie. Okay, now the best part of the movie is the director of the movie Ayan Mukherjee. The debutant director has captured all the small things of life that makes it beautiful. I mean the waves, the rain, the smile and used various other things to make the movie more youthful and larger than life. The best part is the art direction, cinematography, acting music and Ayan’s direction. The director himself is so good looking that he could have also played Sid. The songs of the movie are simply amazing. O re Manwa is the best melodious song of the year for me. And it has one romantic English song which is great too.Ok I suppose I am all praising for the movie because the movie is very fresh and “stylish” as you can term it in its own ways. It’s better than Jane tu ya Jane Na because the plot of this movie makes sense. So don’t forget tom watch this movie.

The promo of the new movie Qurbaan looks good. The movie has an interesting plot but I have seen a movie like qurbaan and surprisingly that too on national geographic channel. The movie is about a man falling in love with a girl and the girl doesn’t know the man is out there to destroy twin towers of America. It was a film showing how they plotted against 9/11. I bet the film will be similar to that movie but kareena is looking stunning in black and the music of the movie is good. The sex scenes as shown from the promo are shot esthetically. I hope there would be some movie in Indian cinema where the directors would try to push the envelope and shoot sex scenes with sensuality because there is not a single movie in Indian Cinema where sex is portrayed in an esthetic manner because they fear the censor board would give them A certificate which would not allow the under 18 people to watch the movie.

Randomm.

One of the most sophisticated and interesting award function which I have seen in India, not in reality but on television was GQ MEN of the year award show. It was an award show filled with people from every sphere, be it sports, fashion, art, politics and of course bollywood. And what was amusingly surprising was that the award show was filled with humor and the people present maintained their dignity by not pulling each other’s leg or by giving boring speeches like “thank god, thanks my dog” etc but there were all in a mood to have a good fun. And the people getting the award were all deserving candidates. This is one of the least award function were you get to see the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mr. Omar Abdullah making the audiences laugh through his humorous speech and of course the chandler bing of politics Mr. Shashi Tharoor also managed to win the heart by delivering a nice speech. Not to forget the ndtv journalist Srinivasan Jain was also given the award for his excellence in the field of journalism. I remember that guy was present 24x7 in front of the television box giving us the latest updates from 26/11 attack that took place last year in Mumbai. The poor guy didn’t even get the chance to change his shirt for two-three days. Now that’s what I call real Journalism! The bachaans were seated behind Omar Abdullah, saif bebo didn’t leave this stage also to flaunt their love life (as their new film qurbaan is on the verge of being released) Abhay Deol, (my fav actor) got the first award of his life and he was thrilled to receive it. It was a wonderful event filled with humour and sophistication, you can see the award show on you tube or can wait for it to be aired on STAR WORLD.

I manage to see almost all the interviews possible of all the people. I love watching interviews. It really shows if a person is politically correct, blunt or not and yea dumb or not. If you will notice the interviews you will see most of the celebrities will have the same answer to every question. ASK a female celebrity whom see had a crush on? She will say Sharukh Khan; you know why Sharukh because every actress wants to work with him so as to grab the position of No 1 queen of bollywood which is all media speculated stuffs. Ask a male celeb, whom he had a crush on? He will say madhuri dixit.Now; I don’t know why madhuri but answers are all same. Ask celebs about nudity? The females will say no-no because they are image struck actress and you can’t expect them to be like nandita das or seema biswas who are ready to showcase their soul in celluloid. The male celebs are now flaunting it, but more then showing it they are just talking about it. The clever madhur bhandarkar publicized about Neil Nitin getting nude for his film and then he pixilated the nude scene in order to grab both the audiences of both under 18 and above. The film industry is also like politics. You will get a prepared answer for all questions, and the worst of all answers is when asked about playing a homosexual role. They all will say I don’t want it to be a gay-bashing film I want it to be more like Brokeback Mountain because they all know no one is going to come up with such bold script to them because Indian Actors are less about performance and more about how good or bad their Image is in the public. That’s why you see such disastrous film coming up with no experimental cinema. But times are changing. Its time that yash raj also realist that every movie has to have a good script in order to run in box office. We had enough of Punjab and NRI people. Now people like bhardawaj, kashyap and akhtar’s are going to rule the Indian cinema. Till then let’s hum the songs of wake up Sid!! Haha.

Our so called "good education system".

I know I am late to comment on the “scraping of board exam for class 10” from 2011.But then personal views on any topic are welcomed at any time. We still have something to say on Jinnah and Gandhi and Hitler and many others even though they are resting in peace. So let’s talk about the judgment made by the HRD minister of India MR.Kapil Sibbal on the need to reform the education system of India. Class 10 board exam of CBSE board will have grading system from 2010 and then the board exam will become optional from 2011. Hmm, well this decision has different notions on people’s mind. Those who have scored above 90 in boards even though before the board exam they were a mediocre students, they must have had a terrible heart attack after listening to this verdict. I was watching CNN-IBN and some so called “intelligent and hardworking students” were obviously disappointed with the fact that they cannot show their competitiveness in class 10.I mean why do we need to judge the student’s academic performance so early at the age of 15. This age of studying, playing, discovering your roots apart from academics not to sit with big fat book of R.D. Sharma for hours. Not to be a part of traumatizing experience at the age of 14 or 15. I believe studying should never be considered a burden for anyone. Especially when you hear so many students committing suicide after not getting the desired marks it really hurts (reminds me of the ad of airtel featuring saif and kareena, it hurts one). I think those who are willing to participate in this board exam should be given the freedom to do so and those are not should better concentrate on the exam taken in the school that are far more satisfying and non-bias then those stupid teachers who correct 100 to 200 papers a day depending on their mood whether they are going to give you marks or not. But then I am also disappointed that nothing is being done for the students of class 12 who feel far more traumatized and depressed because everyone wants to be in a good college and the cut off percentage in those colleges are very high and there are lack of good colleges in India. Why should “board” exam be given the only priority to judge the student’s academic performance and the worst of all is a student doesn’t really know how is his being checked and rely more on “who will be checking his paper” rather than being confident of his own performance. I, myself being a student hear such things like “I was expecting 71 in maths and got 91” so is this a correct platform to judge how academically brilliant a student is? Especially when this board phobia has caused so many suicidal feelings on students mind and colleges are relying only on this system to judge the student’s performance. The whole education system surely needs to be reformed and I think it is being given the attention by Mr Sibbal.I will be a part of this pathetic system of board exam next year and when I hear the cut off percentage of studying economics in St.Stephens College is 97% I would rather think of killing myself than studying in that college, who will take you even if you have 60% provided you are a son of some minister. And it wouldn’t be wrong to say that all successful people are college dropouts because they are not willing to lead a robotic life by studying throughout till their hair becomes grey and they feel contended working under some multi national companies in other countries just to lead a common life. The very idea of innovation is not given a damn all that matters is either high marks or the power of money in Indian education and yes the system of reservation where dalits or scheduled casts have become the hero of the colleges because the seats are “reserved for them”. So our education system apart from academics comprises of what cast you belong to, who is your father a neta or a hero, and how much money can you spend to be a part of good college.

"My name is celebirity Khan"

Well I am upset with this srk and his hypocrisy .I know I got no right to judge these celebrities but what I also know is that people are blindfolded by what they hear or read in the news so much that they don’t apply their so called “common-sense”. Shahrukh is one of the richest and famous celebrities of India who says he is actually “famous than tom cruise” and we all saw how famous he is in the west when he was being detained in the airport for 2 hours. Many people including shahrukh khan and his close friends found it offensive that a person like him is being asked such questions relating to the security of the nation. But according to me when it comes to the security of the nation no one should be left out even if he or she is the president of the nation. When these celebrities can indulge in rape case, cocaine smuggling etc who knows what they are upto. And the actor is claiming that he was asked to go through all these procedures just because his surname was “Khan”. I would ask Mr shahrukh khan to recall that moment when Emran Hasmi was proclaiming that he was not given a flat in mumbai and how he commented on it by saying that “I never felt alienated as a muslim” now where has his peaceful and noble thought gone? Perhaps gone with the wind. If tomorrow I am being asked about my identity in other nation no one will care if I claim I was asked because I belonged to this religion but when it is a celebrity and he is asked to do that he would certainly be offended because his star status is not given value in that situation and because his ego is hurt and because those fully professional security guards are not asking for his autograph.
We should also not forget that because the security in America is so strict post 9/11 the country is in no mood to give any special reference to anyone which had a good result as well. A terrorist would think twice before devising a plan to attack America.

It’s not India were you are a neta or a celebrity so things will be easy on you. So those who think that their ego is hurt by such things should realize that nothing comes before the security of the nation and its people.

Ugly desires!

It feels great when you are back from hell. From those sleepless nights rolling here and there thinking about what will happen tomorrow and after continuous failures and rejection I got the big good news. I got the admission in a good school and when the news came out I just didn’t know how to react. It was because“good news” was something my ears were never accustomed of. But all’s well that ends well. I am now an expert when it comes to going off to various places for your admission and this is surely going to help me when I shall try for colleges. But everyone wants to be in a well known colleges and schools nowadays. What stupid life a teenager in India has and how ugly are his desires. Yes the ugly desires. As an average student you will just think of studying this and that and all that shit to pursue your ugly goals.
Now let me explain what these ugly desires are-
1. A student will put in his hard effort. Mug up the book. Lick every pages of it so as to score good marks.
2. If he succeeds then he will go into a good college.
3. Three years later he will be having a degree of this and that.
4. After that he will go to a foreign country to lead a better life.
5. The angrejis will make them work for hours and hours utilizing the Indian brain.

So these are the goals of every Indian nowadays. Flying off to good countries leaving their parents to rot in India and will make use of their nerdish life by serving for others.
None are concerned with politics or doing something different. It’s mandatory for every one to get a degree in his hand.
So don’t be a pappu and start thinking about reaching the place where no one has dreamt of. Try being Laxmi mittal and not an average middle class Indian.