My Place

I remember my first day in school. When I entered into class room, I saw some low and high benches. Four (or may be five) boys were supposed to sit on each bench. It was just 1.5 ft space on the low bench to sit and similar area on the high bench to keep your bag, books etc. The same low bench-high bench concept continued till my eighth standard. The only change came in, was the amount of space to occupy. From 1.5 ft, it came to 2 ft. In my ninth standard class room I saw individual desks. It was really a very good feeling for me at least thinking on my own desk. Geometrically I got the same space, but the comfort was more. It was designed to keep your bag under the desk-top, separate place to keep the pen/pencil started making me proud of my desk.
In college days the look and feel of the desk got changed. It wasn’t wooden anymore. The structure was framed using rot iron pipes and plywood. I was overwhelmed with the sophistication.
Once I left college and join L&T InfoTech in Mumbai, the definition of “My Place” has got changed again. In training days we used to sit on push back revolving chairs but the concept of cubicle was not there. After training when I joined in Pune office, I got my cubicle, my own cubicle. Wow!!! For me it was like dream came true. My work place, my cubicle, what else do you want in life. The size of the cubicle was almost 7ft by 6 ft which accommodates 4 persons. I got my chair, my desktop, clipboard, one small board, one big and three small table drawers, my name plate and most important my own desk phone set. I was not anyone special there; everybody around me was having the same stuffs but did they feel like me when first time they got their cubicle? May be I was so happy with all these because I never thought of all these. I saw people decorating their cubicle with show pieces. I never decorated my cubicle but still I loved mine more than anyone. It was my heaven and I liked to spend most of the time of the day their only. It was real fun working there. Like everybody I also used to share my cubicle with three other colleagues. Chit chat between works, pulling their chairs, messing up with their show pieces just kept adding more on the fun part.
Once I got moved from Pune to USA, the definition of cubicle got changed. Here I got a complete separate cube of size 8ft by 7ft. having a desktop with larger screen, attached lights for reading, some big drawers, multi functional phone set, hanger rack to keep jackets, big white board to write something. Phone set was allocated to my name so whenever I call someone, they can see my name also. I was having so much of space that I can put all my study books I read in my life. I again thought WOW!!! This is life all about. What better thing could I get? I stood in front of mirror and said to myself “Hey listen, now you got the best work place so don’t think anything better at this age and at least for next ten years”. It was true also, ten years down the line if I can get myself up to some position then only I can think of my own cabin.

I was completely wrong; something more was waiting for me. Once I moved into some other project my cubicle got changed and now I am sitting in a cubicle whose size is 8ft by 12ft. I am having all the stuffs in my cube which I can think of. I also have a separate discussion table in my cubicle. In Pune I never decorated my cubicle but now I already started thinking to decorate this one. The first day I entered in this cubicle, I was just looking at it for several minutes. I was so amazed. In the very next night a little boy came in to my dream and I saw him calling me to sit with him. It was a tiny bench and while sitting there my knees were almost touching my chin. But I started loving it. I was also shouting with them “Jack and Jill went up the hill ..... It took me to my nursery days and I realized that 1.5 ft space is still sufficient to be happy if you want to be happy.

KKR or Sharukh or Sourav?

- “KKR is back”
- “KKR has shown the critics what they are capable of”
- “The new Jersey brought KKR’s luck back”
- “Wasim Akram still rules the world”
- “We can do it without McCullam and Gayle”
I am sorry, I don’t agree with any of the statements above which are floating around. Kolkata Knight Riders just won the inaugurating match against Deccan Chargers. It’s just a single win nothing more than that. I can understand every small feelings of each KKR fan. I know how the IPL went bad last two years for KKR, especially last year. They might have every reason to jump into joys and conclude KKR is the best after defeating the defending champions. But logically speaking this win doesn’t prove the above statements.
But this win proves some other things. It’s not about KKR, it’s not about Sharukh Khan, neither about John Buchanan. It’s all about Dada, the prince of Kolkata, The Bengal Tiger, SOURAV GANGULY. I believe this win is entirely goes to Sourav Ganguly’s credit. Technically speaking what special thing was he having in his team. Four overseas players, one rejected from South African national team, one rejected from English national team and rejected from Delhi Daredevils, one who never really made it to Australian national team his permanent position and one who is part of Sri Lankan national team, but yet to get some international recognition. If you look at the domestic players also it would be hard to find any renowned national level player other than Chiteshwar Pujara. Still they able pulled off the victory. In T20 cricket, no one is favorite, so when the match started I don’t believe Deccan Chargers was having any edge over KKR. But yes from confidence point of view they were way ahead of KKR. When some controversies follow you, it is very difficult to get rid of it. But it was Sourav Ganguly, the king of comeback; even Wisden stopped calculating how many times actually he made his successful comeback. KKR didn’t play like champions. They lost 4 quick wickets, managed a mediocre score of 161 and conceded 56 runs in first 5 overs. Still they ended in winning side. The difference is made by one man only, the captain. If you remember last year almost all the matches KKR lost very closely. In crunch and crucial stage only you need a person to lead you, a person to take decision and that is why captain should be there. Statistic says Buchanan’s multiple captains never made it through. I remember last year KKR lost to Deccan in one match where in last over 16 runs were required almost similar to today’s match and first ball of the over was called noball because of sufficient fielder was not inside the inner circle. World saw McCullam arguing with umpires on that, for what reason I don’t know. In similar condition today KKR did everything right in last over. That is the essence of Ganguly. He started his international captain’s account in Nairobi mini world cup where he was given a second grade new team. He came back with the cup. He has the dare to win anything by hook or by crook. He has the dare to take out his shirt at lord’s balcony, he has the dare to take the fight to the opponent camp, he has the dare to backing up his boys who lag in performance, he has the dare to fight against selectors for his choice and he has the dare to protest against zonal partiality in selection. What other quality you need in a captain? Definite question will come if at all he is the key to success then why didn’t they perform well in 2007. Well if the entire team cannot perform, captain can’t do anything. They were losing but they were never looked like eleven different entities on the ground like IPL2. And there is one more factor, if you tie up a tiger’s face, cut his nails and ask him to fight, he might lose the battle against any one. Let the Tiger fight the battle in his own way. If still he loses then raise the question. Our Bengal Tiger is 37 already, but never looks like. Does he? He earned respect from the cricket fans that are beyond zonal discrimination. That is why still he gets a roaring welcome even in Chennai, Mumbai, Nagpur, Mohali. He is the man who is the founder of Team India from Indian Cricket team. Team India started dreaming for number one spot under his captaincy only. It was so close yet so far. The more his success gave him pride and pleasure, the more his failures gave him insult and frustration. His captaincy was taken away; he was dropped from the team after performing well. And then KKR captaincy controversy, what more does anyone can digest. Has anyone tried to see what and how that brave man thinks about life? No one even bothered I guess. They are just doing their own business. I don’t blame Sharukh Khan. I don’t think cricket really does matter to him. He is a style icon, nation’s face. He can do publicity stunts, he can lead mass. That is why in 2008 IPL; in spite of finishing at 6th he earned the highest revenue. He took the decision to remove Ganguly as captain along with his team management so he suffered with his team’s performance. But what we, the all KKR fans got out of these? Nothing but pain and agony. I lost my all hopes of seeing this team back on track, but may be one person thought it differently who never lose his hope. My thought process is nothing in front of his. I only can salute that person. The Performers, the fighters, the champions cross pass all the hurdles. People FEEL they can do it, but Champions KNOW they can do it. That is how they are different from others. Had Moti Nandi been alive he might say “fight dada fight”.

CID - turned into a comedy show these days

Let me tell you one detective story. One widow mother and her son died in an accident. They got burnt in their own house. When detectives came to investigate they found both of them we severely injured and thus were not able to run away when the fire broke up. There they found one more guy laid down outside one of the window unconsciously and semi burnt. After forensic test it was proved that the mother and her son were killed because of the stabbing not because they got burnt. Detectives started thinking that the guy they found unconscious will reveal the secret. He might be the murderer and somehow trapped into the burning house.
They found one Italian passport in the injured person’s pocket and came to know his name is Max. He came here from Rome 9 days back. The guy max wasn’t ready to talk, making excuses of being sick. With having no other option they went to that burnt house to check if they find anything there. They wanted to find the motive behind Max’s visit to India. It was hard to believe that only to kill two persons, he came so far. That means something should be there which he wanted to get from that family. While searching in the house they found one simple finger ring which was hidden inside television set. When they scanned the ring they found one code word, 3 RAT CAT 3. When they said Max that they knew what 3 RAT CAT 3 is, max died immediately by cardiac attack. From his shirt collar they came to know about the club where Max was staying in Mumbai. They went to the club and searched his room. There they found one dead body in the bathroom. Club owner said that guy is Pranav Mehta; he also came from Rome one day prior to Max and was staying in another room. From Max’s coputer they found three photographs. In one of the photograph they found Pranav Mehta, the murdered woman and her son together. While searching Pranav Mehta;s room they found one iron chest with combination lock. In the mean time DNA test proved Pranav Mehta was husband of that lady who was killed with her son in Mud Island area. To break the combination lock they used the code 3 RAT CAT 3 and that worked. There was one cell phone inside the safe. That phone doesn’t contain any dialed number or text message. But on it’s battery something was written like “15 week raam shaym”. After searching on internet they got to know it is basically a cinema hall in mud island area. They rushed to the cinema hall and found under one of the 15 numbered seat one pen drive was secretly kept. They took that and were moving to head quarter. All of a sudden senior inspector got a call from a lady from an unknown number saying in the next signal they should return the pen drive to her else she will blast the bomb kept under their seat. Detectives didn’t take chance and the lady took the pen drive. Afterwards finally they found the lady and while interrogating the whole story came in front. Pranav Mehta was a scientist working on some software against terrorism. Max and the group wanted to have it so everything just happened.
Now what’s the big deal in the story? If you ask me I would say it’s just a crap. There was no link, no base nothing. Just think, a scientist who is working against an international terrorist organization, kept data in pen drive under a seat of a cinema hall, then wrote that cinema hall name in mobile battery, then charged the mobile and kept it in a big safe with a weird combination. After that wrote the combination in a ring and hide the ring inside a television set. Why? Why didn’t he put the pen drive inside the TV? Wouldn’t that be easier?
It was so disgusting. Then why I wrote this here? Well this story was telecasted in Sony Entertainment Television’s one of the most long running, oldest show CID. The weekly, crime based serial CID came into television in 1997. It was one of the best shows. It also holds a guineas world record for 111 min continuous shot. But now the quality of the show, deteriorated so much one can’t imagine. No Story, no logic nothing. I don’t know why they are continuing the show. Do they still find it worth broadcasting!

Bollywood is sick!!!!

Progeria, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Alzheimer's disease, Anterograde Amnesia, Dyslexia, Asperger's syndrome, schizophrenic, Multiple Personality Disorder
These are not tongue twisters. Then what are these? These are the successful recipes of hit Bollywood movies in last few years. Yes, all of them are names of some unusual diseases. If you notice the trend, every year two or three movies are getting released where the central character is suffering with a rare disease. Most of the cases public liked these and those movies are either super hit or at least got some public hypes. It’s not true that bollywood has never seen this kind of script before. Remember the 70’s old movie “Aanand” where Rajesh Khanna was suffering from Lympho Sarcoma of the intestine. I don’t think before that movie many of the viewers actually knew any detail of the disease Lympho Sarcoma of the intestine. Once the movie got success, everybody came to know more about it.
But these days, script based on a disease, is not coming once in a blue moon. It’s very frequent. In 2003 Salman Khan appeared in the movie Tere Naam in which he became a mental patient after losing his mind. Next, in 2005 the movie Black came into theater, where Rani Mukhrejee was a deaf and dumb girl and his teacher Amitabh was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Viewers appreciated the script very much. 2008 released movie U me and Hum was also having influence of this Alzheimer's disease in the script.
The movie Bhool Bhulaiya, released in 2007, was based on a story where Vidya Balan is a patient of Dissociative Identity Disorder. In subconscious mind she used to do some strange things which made others start feeling paranormal activities around. Similar kind of script was seen in the movie Aparichit, released in 2006. To be precise, in this movie the hero was suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder.
When the movie Bhool Bhulaiya released, almost in the similar time Tare Zameen Par released. Here the child actor Darsheel is suffering from Dyslexia. I think this was the finest movie among all these I already talked. At least it could spread across some awareness. Then the well hyped movie Ghajni got released in 2008. In this movie Amir Khan is a patient of Anterograde Amnesia, in every 15 minutes he loses his memory. It sound silly, but the movie didn’t impacted by this. It was also hit, however that was because of Amir Khan and his 8 packs abs, not because of Anterograde Amnesia. I have not seen but heard that the Tamil movie from which Ghajhni is influenced is better to watch. Next year means in 2009, Amitabh Bachchan came with the disease Progeria in the movie Paa, where he was a kid having abnormal growth. I didn’t see the movie, so can’t comment on the movie; however people were really excited about the makeup which Amitabh put on. I hope they were not disappointed. Recently Farhan Akhtar also joins the party with Schizophrenic. He is a patient of this mental disease in his latest movie Karthik Calling where he always portrays virtual character in his life.
In this long list almost every famous actor is there, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Amir Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan. Then why not Sharukh Khan!! With the successful trend his movie My Name is Khan released where the character he played Rizuan is a patient of Asperger's syndrome. Now the funny part is till date he used to repeat the characters in his dialogue like “ki..ki..ki..ki..kiran”, now in this movie he is repeating the whole sentence. Well this disease made his acting life easy I guess.
Then what’s next? Hritik Roshan. Hope to see some new disease in is upcoming movie Guzarish.

Brave?? or stupid??

Yesterday I was searching for some videos on youtube, and got one interesting one. It was a clipping from a Pakistani stunt based reality show. In the show one guy claimed that he can grab a burning red hot piece of coal with bare hands. The host was saying the temperature of that coal will be 600 degree Celsius and keeping that in hand 15 seconds may damage is palm permanently. The boy said he was ready for the consequences. After that he made a comment like “My neighboring country hosts some fear factor kind of reality show and I will prove that, they can’t beat me, no one can as fearless as me. The stunt I will perform, no one from that country would have imagined.” I didn’t find anything wrong in this statement. Here neighboring country means obviously India. If that guy wants to prove himself better than the best of India, there is nothing wrong.
Now coming to the stunt, I had no idea how dangerous that stunt can be and what safety measures they took before performing the task. Because I have seen in all the stunt based reality shows, whatever stunt they perform, some safety measures they always take. So even if the contestant fails to perform the task he/she never gets a major heavy injury. But this guy was beyond all these and took the coal in his hand for 15 seconds. As a result his hand was severely burnt and he was hospitalized. In the hospital he made one more statement which made me very irritated. He said “No Indian can perform this task”. I admired his previous comment because it was natural instinct of people to prove himself best, but when he made the second comment, on that time I have seen the stunt. With the context of the stunt I must say it was the most stupid thing I have ever seen. I don’t think based on his this performance he can claim his superiority. That guy thinks stunt means doing something daring and the more you hurt yourself the more the stunt will be successful. But if you hurt yourself what is the significance of technique in doing stunt. If you hurt yourself badly in stunt, that means you failed in it. Somebody may question me on this “what is the daring part of performing any task knowing nothing will happen to you as all safety measures have been taken?” Well, what I feel is, your safety precautions can give you confidence that nothing will happen, but it can’t help you in doing the task properly.
But I can understand why that guy selected this task. They are stupid; their definition of bravery is altogether different. They don’t have right culture to distinguish between good and bad. We Indians are not stupid that we are going to perform some task which might harm us badly. I have seen people in Bengal jumping on sword, knives and many other sharp tools in some occasion. But in spite of doing these, they never hurt themselves badly. They have the right technique to perform it. Don’t you thing they are brave enough. I would say brave and matured.
People of my neighboring country are not matured enough and that is why they can’t choose the good thing always.
The story doesn’t end here. These small things can show how extremist people are there. Destruction, violence, unrest, humiliation, all these are there in their culture. That is how you find so terrorism activities there. If a college going boy can burn his hand to show his bravery certainly some day he might not hesitate to kill himself by becoming a suicide bomber.
I don’t know when they will learn what is the meaning of peace and how to gaining something without harming anyone. They should stop encouraging these activities immediately. I don’t think that day is there in future.