Taking the road less travelled by and eating that frog in the woods…

Brian Tracy and Robert Frost are two people who have made me think a lot more than most of my text books and (with no disrespect meant) my professors. I follow their words and have a three point agenda for most things in life:

- Follow your heart, no matter how scary the road looks
- No matter how big or ugly the frog, eat it right away. You don’t care for it once its eaten!
- Keep your pond clear of frogs, and pave way for others to follow your taken path

The reason I got thinking was that what if I walked down the road, the road not taken into the woods and came across the two ugliest frogs ever? What would I do if there are not many who have been there before, and the frogs to eat are giving each other competition on hideousness! And that’s when I realized that I am on that road less travelled by, and standing next to the pond full of frogs, each jumping higher up with every subsequent jump.

It’s quite easy to say that you catch all the frogs right away so that the frogs are no longer your cause of concern; and you tread the woods in such a way that it paves way for many more to pursuit your foot steps. Making time lines, action plans, resolutions, and so on is again, easy to do on paper. How does one end this pursuit… towards the end of the narrow road, towards achieving the improbable dream?

I also recognize that most people have apprehensions about facing life. The “what if something goes wrong” syndrome! Well, you don’t risk something, you risk losing everything you ever had! So even if one fails, have the courage to stand up, and look ahead. Don’t do the same thing again and look around. Ask for help and analysis. Try something new- follow your heart.

And slowly, but surely I realize that the answer is as tough as the question. I’ve analysed and strategize all the time trying to fall in line with the wisdom of the two experts listed above; and every time I attempt a disregard of their advice, the truth of their words reflects back on my life. And what it has done is given me the will and power to not be afraid. Not get scared, no matter the situation. Rather than praying for moving the mountain, I seek strength to climb it.

Let the fire in each one of us burn...

On November 26, 2008, we lost. And we lost badly. To a bunch of kids who ideally would be in college, learning more about balance sheets or Newton's Law of Motion, rather than doing what they did in Mumbai and to the world. No matter how much we talk about our spirit, our lives, unity, harmony, anger, passion, and resilience, the fact is that these 20-something boys who came in rubber dinghys won. They defeated a billion and counting Indians without as much as flinching an eye lid. And they would all look at doing the same, all over again.

Well, they won. Because they achieved everything they set out for. And more! They have given our politicians reasons for politics, scared us and whilst we talk about camaraderie in times of grief, we actually let our ego rule it all. Recall, when asked "what are your demands?" the terrorists smiled and said "we have no demands"… when one of the hostages at Nariman House asked the reason for their anger the terrorist gave arbitrary answers, ranging from Babri Masjid to Godhra and Iraq War. Arbitrary, yes, as the real reason was a simple one: scare each Indian so much that before stepping out of their house they think eight times, would I be coming back?


Yes, the courage and character shown by some to help us all rise is tremendous; but the overall state of affairs is that the terrorists (those with guns and those asking for votes) ultimately get along doing what they want!

Sample the following:

- Pakistani media taunts Indian army, calling our brave soldiers stupid; claiming that Indians unite only when there is word against Pakistan, and that 26/11 is a conspiracy by the Indians to tarnish their neighbors. http://www.hotklix.com/?ref=content/152704
(Err…no…Indians unite on many things. Cricket, movies, Olympic medal hopes, looking for visas to go abroad…. On a serious note: we don’t unite against Pakistan, but are united to fight terror and terrorists trained & brought up by Pakistan. My only point is: we have ample proof to point fingers at Pakistan. If you’re innocent, why so touchy, eh? Why the guilty conscience? Its not very far when your home bred terrorists will start eliminating you guys. That for me, would be fodder for another round of blog and ramble! )

Narendra Modi announces a Rupees One Crore reward to be distributed amongst the slain cops' families, even before the ordeal was over and done with! The Maharasthra Government announces a five lacs reward. With all possible sarcasm- GREAT JOB, Mr. MODI!
(But how does the slap across the face feel when Mrs. Karkare turned you down? And while you're at it, how did a shrewd man like yourself mess this up so bad? Conference at Oberoi, announcement whilst Operation Cyclone was on… you must be feeling pretty embarrassed, eh?! How can you announce a reward for the dead before the ordeal is over? Is it pity money? Shameful! Disgraceful!)

- RR Patil says "bade shehron mein choti choti batein hoti rehti hain” (small incidents like this happen in big cities ordinarily) thereby scripting his own obituary and attracting the wrath of a billion Indians; The Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh thinks it's a wonderful idea to impart life sciences lessons to his film-star kids and their producer/director friends whilst visiting Taj on an official state visit; The Government sacks the Home Minister Shivraj Patil and tells the voters 'see, we are punishing the incompetent fool in-house too'

(Well, Patil clearly worships ShahRukh Khan’s Raj in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I understand DDLJ is still running at Maratha Mandir. I'm sure Patil would go see it again a few times, and learn a few more clever gaffes, maybe even call some lady politicians Senorita! Clearly, there was a note within the Maharasthtra ministry offices that it’s the "Bring- your- child- to- office- day", hence Mr. Deshmukh took his kids & buddies to Taj. And OH SERIOUSLY! Shivraj Patil was useless. But would sacking him (implying his incompetency) make us look up say someone else would have prevented this tragedy? We dont even review intellgence reports!)

Some idiots thought it's a very smart comment to make "oh now that the elite in 7star hotels are affected the whole of India wants to spring into action" thereby making this a fight of the masses and the classes! Strongly urge for us to not take the Hindu-Muslim or the Rich-Poor shield as a point of divide and argument!

You get an sms appealing you to wear a black shirt to show support to Mumbai, you get another one saying wear a white trouser. Then one asking you to wear a red bandana. And the list of this goes on. Why? Because everyone cares, and everyone wants to show-off (not show support, but show-off) about how noble they are; This is perhaps the greatest achievement of the terrorists. They have managed to make sure that we can’t even unite for a strong show of solidarity, rather we'll make small noises claiming regret, shared aims and cohesion. But no, we cant freeze on ONE DATE ONE CAUSE ONE METHODOLOGY to show harmony!

We are happy to see Mr. Unnikrishnan give it back to the politicians trying to act weird about his martyr son Sandeep, but don't have the guts to make a Sandeep within our family! We easily talk about another Netaji and Bhagat Singh, but don't do much to encourage the young one at home!

They've caused mass havoc and most importantly, they have managed to instill fear in all of our hearts and minds. A fear that would perhaps never die down. Fear of losing our lives, families, identity, everything. And worst of it all, our politicians have gotten a chance through all this to make it look like a joke; obviously this has become an election moot point.

Muslims talk about a backlash; Hindus talk about a betrayal; Christians talk about being subdued being a minority. Oh SHUT UP! Dont you guys see its NOT a religious battle? Don't you guys see the terrorists want you to use religion as a dividing point? So MOVE THE F*&% ON!

(For clarification, I don't suggest for once that our soldiers failed when I say that the terrorists won. Our soldiers succeeded in what they set out to do-eliminate the scumbags. But we as a society, have failed and failed miserably, as we allowed the terrorists to achieve their target as well)

And we lost because we don't want to bother learning from this! Not one bit! We will keep our egos in place; we will blame our politicians yet not do anything about it; we will let our politicians make a mockery of us and the legal system; we will go on talking yet not unite in action. And, we will keep our doors open to terrorists to come in and destroy us or train our children inside and make them terrorists, because we are simply too busy to give a damn!

Let the fire burn. From the penthouses of Cuffe Parade Mumbai to the colleges in Park Street Kolkata. From the projects in Nehru Palace Delhi to the IT parks of Hosur Road Bangalore. From the backwaters of Kerala to the tea gardens of Assam……
Let the fires rage. Let it burn to bring each and everyone to ash then let the waters rise and submerge this whole, rat-infested place. If this is what it would take for us to give a damn, SO F^@*!?ING BE IT!


Thank you, Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, Shashank Shinde, Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Hawaldar Chandar, Gajendra Singh, for protecting us until your last breathe; thank you, all you other heroes in uniform - many of you whose name even is hidden from the world- who put your lives and health on the line to see us smile; thank you, the brave staffs at CST, Cama Hospital, Taj, Oberoi Trident, and Leopold Café who stayed calm in this gravest hour to give hope to billions of Indians to rise above it all and respect humanity. Thank you, to all the families, for having honor and guts to take on the political bigwigs in your saddest moments. Thanks Ryan...you made every Xaverian very proud!!

Thank you firefighters, NSG, Mumbai Police, Army, Navy, RAF and all you soldiers for protecting us, letting us sleep every night. Thank you, all of you, for taking one on the chin and opening our eyes in the process. Thanks!

Thank you, Mumbai, for accepting once that it's time to get into some action rather than hanging on to the age old spirit of resilience and bouncing back. All of us are with you, and yes, its not just time to get back on our feet, but use our feet to kick some @$$. God bless Mumbai and God bless India!

Work?No thanks! We're from Kolkata!

Gosh. Ever considered working? Of course you have. Ever feared that everytime you make an effort to work you would have to take eight steps back for every step taken forward? Of course you haven't, unless you are from or have been to Kolkata.

Sigh. Strike. Bandh. Power cuts. Broken roads. Traffic. Protests on streets. Adda Sessions. There always is a solid and valid reason for a Kolkatan to not work. And no matter how much some of us miscasts try otherwise, end of the day,we look like foolish people.

Take for example the last week. Mamta Banerjee has been giving the Tatas a lot of grief over the Singur issue. (Not aware of it: come on, stop being one of us. Google it! NOW!) As if scaring the industries away was not enough, Mamtadi (as she is rather affectionately called..hmm) thought it would be a brilliant idea to stall traffic and shut down th city, bringin everything to a complete halt. So, if you were driving at that point of time on a Thursday afternoon to go meet you girl friend or you were taking your grand father to the hospital, it was your too-bad. Come on, you should be aware of what the politicians are doing. Our Hon'ble Chief Minister spoke againt the strikes and road blocks, an the poor guy was given more than a mouthful from his own party members. And all this was followed by some procession on the main streets of Kolkata, followed by statements to the media, followed by more protests on the steets.

Some other prominent businessmen spoke in support of the Tata plant in Singur, and bam! their stores were damaged. Most Tata Motors ditributors are requesting a Z level security. And why not? They are currently more at threat than many others in the State.

Aah! My 10AM meeting would take place now. Its 17:30, and my client has just about made it now. You see, there was some protests all day long on the streets. The city was brought to a standstill. Bravo, I say. This is the image of the new Kolkata. Modern, developing, and full of bottle necks.

Oh, and as if the political turmoils aren't enough, a leading media channel thought it was a wonderful idea to have a road show to launch their new channel. Nothing wrong with that. But geniuses, a road show in a residential area that has many old people and infants, and is about 500 metres away from a major hospital: good idea, eh? Okay, you'd say forget the noise. The traffic snarls, diversion, inconvenience etc should be overlooked too?

I guess it should all be overlooked. Afterall, this IS the modern Kolkata. Nicely splashed all over the globe "we're changing and progressing".

You see, work happens here, but a little late. Sometimes years late, sometimes decades late. You see, we are like this only. We like to make deals about smallest of things. We write articles, blogs, have adda sessions abuse each other, but hey, we kind of never leave the city. This is THE metropolis that doesn't work constantly. And why should we? Heck! We're from Kolkata! We're the initelligent race. We are cultured, educated, and yes, we're too busy with our social agendas to work all the time! :-)

So, with a smile on my face I welcome you all to Kolkata, the land of strikes and bandhs, the land of babus and adda sessions..the land of culture and the land that has become regressive!

Cheers!

The Dark Knight : Joker scares and how!

Sir Heath takes the Bat to epic standards

When I first saw the online trailer of The Dark Knight, my wife said “so do you reckon the movie would be that good, the man bettering Jack N’s Joker, or its just a well made trailer trying to cash in on Ledger’s legacy?" Not really a fanboy, I just ignored the question shrugging my shoulders.

I am glad to say that now, I can answer the questions in a major affirmative: yes, the movie is that good; Heath Ledger makes Jackie boy’s portrayal campy. And thank God that for once the hype created for a superhero movie by Warner Bros. doesn’t just live up to it, but far exceeds it!

One wishes that there be spin-off graphic novels based on The Dark Knight, not the other way around; its far superior to ‘The Killing Joke’ and ‘Death in the Family’. For Gotham looks and feels like a real city, with real people and real emotions. This is a complete movie and you start feeling for the characters, you wait with baited breathe for your hero to succeed and you don’t ridicule the villain, nor do you empathise with him: quite simply, you’re very scared of him. You shiver every time he says "WHY SO SERIOUS! "

The plot is fairly straight forward and perhaps splashed all over the internet. Here’s a quick recap: The last good cop Lieutenant Gordon and Batman, assisted by his Man Friday Alfred and able brain man Luscious Fox are on a cleaning spree, joined by the new District Attorney Harvey Dent (who is, btw, dating Bruce Wayne’s ex-flame Rachel Dawes) and whilst all the bad boys are being put in jail, the Joker makes an offer to the underworld to kill Batman. Quite simply, he won’t do something that has a price for free. People die, Batman’s insecurity and vulnerability is brought to the fore, the Joker bleeds yet laughs; and as our hero undergoes it all, we hope and pray that the movie never comes to an end!

Late Heath Ledger is simply outstanding as the Joker. He’s eight steps ahead of everyone-including the trying-to-workout-the-plot-smarty audience. There is no denial that he deserves an Oscar nod, and if posthumous Knighthoods are bestowed, sign me up for the petition to get him one. He’s crazy, psychotic, calculating, and makes the audience think forever as to what is up his sleeve. His portrayal instils fear even with a pencil! At the expense of probably being the one-billionth person saying it, Heath Ledger’s Joker surpasses all hype & expectations, is way better than Jack Nicholson’s take on the same character and makes the world realize what a great actor we’ve lost.

It’s hard to put the rest of the cast in the same level as Ledger, but everyone does brilliantly. Had this been any other movie, probably right now everyone would be rooting for Christian Bale and Gary Oldman’s magic on screen. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Maggie Gyllenhall are so perfect that you possibly can’t imagine other actors playing these characters. Aaron Eckhart is efficient, but just leaves the audience a little wishing-for-more from Harvey Dent/Two Face. One wonders if Good Will Hunting Matt Damon would’ve scored the areas that Eckhart missed on.

If there is one person who matches Heath Ledger here is the Director Chris Nolan. Take a bow, Chris, as you have truly created a masterpiece, without compromising on the comic book charm or the tragic hero pathos, or the twists and thrills we have known and loved you for. Thank you for rescuing Batman, and giving the movie colour you did! Please don’t stop here, and we look forward to your final instalment in this trilogy

All in all, it’s a wonderful movie. A movie that deserves respect and admiration, more importantly repeat viewing to fully appreciate the little tricks that Nolan has left.

As I sign off, once more, my salutes to Heath Ledger, the actor, who’s swansong is this magnum opus, and May You Rest in Peace, Sir Heath!

Towards Zero

Finally, after many, many years (six to be precise) I return to theatre! I'd be acting again and producing for the very first time! My lovely wife Priyanka is one of the other producers :)

On May 21st & 22nd 2008, Theatrecian production of an Agatha Christie thriller, Towards Zero at Gyan Manch, Kolkata, India.

It all began with a pretty simple conversation between Priyanka and me about my previous stint in theatre (12 professional plays whilst at university before the MBA bug bit me) and her keen inclination towards the performing arts. One thing lead to another, and before we knew it, we were speaking to good friend and founder of Theatrecian, Tathagatha (affectionately, or for the sake of pronounciability, called TC) about looking at this as a proper business venture. And after many rounds of chai, samosas, arguements, melodrama and serious contemplation, we froze on Christie's whodunnit, Towards Zero

Thankfully, we have good friends in TC, Dhruv Mookerji and Deborshi Barat, who are very highly respected names in theatre and cinema in Kolkata. The mere mention that we wanted to get into this got them keen and interested in the venture.

Without further delay, we had a young breed of highly talented actors and technicians on board

I am surprised that the theatre lovers of Kolkata have never craved for anything beyond MOUSETRAP so far.

So here it is; an un-adulterated drama-thriller; a rich aunt; ex-flame; nephews, one with two wives; plenty of friends; and a bunch of suspicious servants... ladies and gentlemen, I give you TOWARDS ZERO!

The past few days have been particularly tough. To give you an idea, since going freelance, I have been working for four clients, and at least three projects for each client at the same time. Its' like having twelve jobs! There have been moments of extreme vulnerability, when the decision to move away from the comforts of a 9-5 job with a supervisor and an assistant with an entire team to work together became lucrative again. There have been hours of staring on the computer screen in dis-belief as to how bad could MY life be; a chance look at an email made me come across this quote:

"Expecting gratitude in exchange for having done something that was hard. Yes, you built a company, you might even have bootstrapped it. Yes, you’ve got the machinery and the packaging and the retail space. Yes, you’ve navigated hiring people and yes, you finally shipped. I couldn’t care less. I’m not going to buy your brownie/consulting/services just because you worked hard on it"

Inspired me from the moment I read it. And so, I am going back to work! NOW!

Cheers.

Begin BLOGGING!

Finally, after a gazillion years of contemplating, I begin blogging today!

About what...well.. I don't really know. I have never been much of a focussed writer, so heck, why should this be any different. As and when things come to my mind, I'll pain the internet community with my rambles.

Thanks for reading, and keep tuning in!