Happy New Year!!!

I wish everybody reading this a wonderful New Year ahead!! May all your wishes come true and you find all the happiness and contentment.

I will be celebrating my New Year in Times Square, NY and if you are close by, you are invited to join the party.

Taare Zameen Par, Bollywood at it’s best; My list of top Bollywood movies of 2007

Those of you who thought that Chak De was the last decent film from Bollywood this year, hold on…picture abhi baaki hai mere dost…

Just before the year ended, comes a brilliant piece of work from scriptwriter Amol Gupte, Director Aamir Khan and child actor Darsheel safary. The bar has been raised for Bollywood…

The concept of the movie is very different and very relevant one too… and, the treatment is so well done that it deserves full marks. Iam not going to go on about the story and performances of lead actors since everybody seems to know about that….

I want to talk about certain things which I saw for the first time in a mainstream bollywood movie. The way Director and the writer took pains in showing the abstract world of child’s imagination- through various well shot scenes- was quite different and exemplary…the scene where Darsheel is looking for small fishes in a dirty pond…the scene where his vivid imagination tells him that 3×9 = 3 …the lengthy scene where he bunks the school for a day and wanders in the city deeply observing small little things…..; Amazing pieces of cinematic triumphs…

To pull off scenes like that beautifully in a mainstream movie- where fast pace is expected- is a rare achievement….. The way various characters are etched out and the way they react to kid’s world is another high point of the movie..They talk and react in a very believable way.. I think the guy who enacted the role of the kid’s father was awesome in his portrayal…

The movie talks about something very relatable..Iam sure most of us have gone through similar stuff in our lives..where others want us to behave in a ” regular ” way and where they do not respect our uniqueness or understand our problems…
I hope more and more people-especially parents of young kids- watch this movie..so that they can appreciate and respect what their loved ones possess rather than be too ambituous for them…

Ok, here is my list of Top Indian movies of 2007 in terms of their overall cinematic quotient ( Believability of the script, honesty and motivation of the director, technical aspects, performances, entertainment quotient and unknown X factor)
1. Chak De/Taare Zameen Par

2. The Namesake

3. Om Shanti Om

4. Black Friday

5. Bheja Fry

6 Gandhi, My Father

Benazir Bhutto’s Assasination; Blow to democracy

Benazir seemed to be last hope for restoring democracy and checking fundamentalism in beleagured Pakistan. Her death is a tragic blow for that dream. The repurcussions are heard all over the world ..including the  presidential elections in  the US. It’s very strange that  death of a mere former leader of a failed developing country could generate so much noise and news all over the world. Is is because she was a charismatic leader- A divine looking daughter of the east- or is it because that region holds the future of this world; I think it’s the latter.

West is scared that if the nuclear arsenal of pakistan comes under the control of fundamentalists-who are both within  pak and very close to pak borders and who are supposedly responsible for Bhutto’s murder- the doomsday will be not very far. The killing of Benazir stirs those fears and insecurities…hence so much of interest in her assasination.

I have always believed that a nation’s fate is decided by few people…mainly it’s leaders. Pakistan has been very unfortunate in that sense.  I have known pakistanis very closely after coming to Canada…they could be amazing people…smart..full of life….fun loving..basically people with great potential; But, few powerful people , both in past and present, have screwed up the country…

Teaching

I have loved teaching; Every bit of it actually. It gives me a great satisfaction when my teaching and mentoring benefits people. I love standing in front of 15-25 odd people and connecting with them; Entertaining them with cool techniques, teasing them with tough questions, joking with them and applauding them. I get some amazing feedback from students sometimes…the way they thank me after the end of the course or their emails where some say that I shud always keep teaching as I have a talent for that…; Ofcourse it doesn’t happen with all students…Iam sure some wish they had a different teacher…

But, I am going to take a break from it now..No, it’s not that I don’t like it anymore or have got bored of it…

For one, Iam not very happy with the course structure of the testing company for which I teach for..and as a teacher, I have no control over it as the course design is done by other people..So, Iam just an actor there reading out the script in which I dont blv in many times..How much can I improvise??? I have to stay within the structure after all…

And then, there is this emotional draining. I fall in love with the class every time and hate it when it ends.  For each smile and laugh with a student, I know deep down that the face/s will be replaced after couple of months…

I cant do that anymore….Iam too drained now….And I can excuse myself by thinking that I am so busy with other commitments right now that , in any case, I cannot take out time for teaching….

Let’s try not to know each other very well

How many times I see people not getting along with or criticizing people of their own type- race,nation and even sex- but getting along very well with people who are very different from them. Why does this happen? Familiarity breeds contempt..why?

I think more we know of people, more prone are we to see faults and shortcomings in them. The way human mind works, it is prone to notice negativity more than positivity. Since we understand people from our own family, culture, area and sometimes country very well, we intuitively understand their motivations. The bad things we see in them are many a times reflection of our own vices; Vices, which we know very well. Yes, we can love to death our parents or siblings, but at the same time, we are also subconsciously uncomfortable with too much familiarity with each other….which explains best of brothers sometimes becoming worst enemies or the eternal father-son conflict…

Man-woman relationships are primarily successful-whenever they are- because they don’t know each other well! Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus is a very valid commentary on man-woman relationships. The process of discovering each other-consciously or subconsciously- all through their relationship augurs very well for both of them; I suspect that ignorance is a bliss here.

What do you guys think?

Navjot Singh Sidhu- fall from grace

I liked Sidhu, the cricketer. As a member of Indian cricket team, he was always an underdog..always struggling to cement his place permanently…but he was also tenacious..persistent..always coming from behind and silencing his critics. He was like a phoenix..He hardly used to speak much during those times ..was known to be an introvert, a shy person..sort of an intellectual and philosopher who read Leo Tolstoy and Vivekananda and admired Sam Manekshaw….

I was not sure of Sidhu, the commentator. I mean , yes, he used to speak eloquently and amused people with his high voltage commentary-bordering on theatrics sometimes–. But, somehow I didnt take much fancy for this ” loud ” Sidhu and his famous sidhuisms..Nevertheless, I didnt have much problem either..I mean I thought if he is happy doing that and atleast some people like his style, that’s fine…

The Sidhu I see now is a pain in the ass. I hear he has become a successfull politician now and is a prominent face on Indian Television ,where he features on some comedy/reality shows..I havent really seen these shows except some random clippings on youtube..but, those clippings are enough to tell me that what he is up to….He has become a parody of himself and seems to behave in a silly and annoying manner in these shows.

Recently, I came across this clipping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvI29DRaWIk

Here, this joker is idolating Narendra Modi, the murderer, during an election rally. I almost puked while watching this piece..I guess I puked less from his theatrical idolation , but more from thinking that here is a guy whom I almost looked up to not so long ago!!!

Doctors

My closest buddy is a Doctor..well, not just a plain doctor but almost a super specialist now ( Studying for his fellowship )..We talk almost every second day on phone..we talk about almost everything.. except his profession..he hates to talk about that…but, the curious mind Iam, I still keep on trying to find out how his mind works and what drives him…

I have utmost respect for doctors..I could have never become a doctor..good I never tried for it..

I go nuts sometimes taking decisions on trivial issues -professional or otherwise- where a bad decision will mean -at the most- loss of money, loss of time or providing wrong information to clients….that’s it..

But, what if I was a doctor? Just giving a wrong medication or a faulty diagnosis can impact a patient’s physical condition for long..or worse still, if I was surgeon operating..one wrong cut and patient’s whole life is in danger…!!!!!

The implications of your decisions are much more severe when you are a doctor..compared to implications of decisions of any other profession ..

But, my friend make things look very simple…I think that’s his genius..genius of not making a big deal about something so difficult and impossible to achieve…he, and many of his ilk, are part of some other world I suspect..a world which I can just dream to visit…

My salute to him and his brethren..!!

It sucks!!!

Yesterday night , I opened the windows of my bedroom for some cold air to come in…and you know what? It was almost -15 degree celsius outside !!! And, I kept the windows open for whole night..Now, why Iam such a fool??? It’s because the heat inside had become so unbearable that I  wanted to make the room cooler immediately, rather than lower the thermostat and wait for some time ..such an impatient person Iam..!!!

And that foolishness of mine has paid dividends…I have been feeling dizzy and weak the whole day today and Iam certain that either viral or cold is on it’s way..In the office today, my office mate was fixing interviews with candidates across the world for one position in Finance in our faculty..They are going to interview 40 candidates for just one position..I shudder to think that all of them are Phd’s from the top schools….Anyways, her constant talking on phone made things worse for me.

In the afternoon, I had an appointment with a dentist ..and the gorgeous assistant of his twice injected me with sharp needle  to numb the area where she wanted to remove tarter from . Well, she also tried to be funny while doing it..actually, she was flirting with my teeth you see..  my eyes were closed na.. Anyways, my whole mouth is numb now… less from her flirtations and more from that injection…

Hey wait…in an hour, I have to go and teach a class for 2.5 hours….and it’s too late to cancel that..

Hasnt my day been great folks?

But,  the thing which intrigues me the most is that I  have the audacity to think that these combined inanities and trivialities of this inconsequential day of my inconsequential life will find some takers among you guys..

I need a life… seriously..

Please help folks!!!

Guys,

Iam having trouble setting up things here on wordpress…

Although I set up a blogroll, it doesnt show on the right side of my blog..neither do categories, recent comments and other stuff which I usually see on other people’s wordpress blogs..I tried different things but could not figure out..

Snow Everywhere

Nature spared no one today with a cross-Canada blast of wild winter weather. For early December , it was a record snow in probably last 15 years. This is my fifth winter in Montreal-one of the coldest cities in the world- and I havent seen such a snow storm as witnessed today. Most of the employees in my office didnt show up ..The GMAT class I teach at Kaplan in the evening was also cancelled..
It’s predicted that we are going to witness one of the worst winters since the last 15 years….thanks to a cooling effect known as La Nina
I grew up in high altitude regions of India ..so, Iam not new to snow, but my fascination for it still remains the same..Today’s snow reminded me of the snowfall we used to witness in Dalhousie ( almost two decades back)….because , like then, there is a complete blanket of snow eevrywhere and it’s difficult to walk ( because of the continuous snow and snow storm, shovelers are unable to clear it as fast as they do usually)..
But, unlike then, there is no razai and pakode this time….only central heating, which has conquered the cold but has betrayed the celebration of nature…