A Free Spirit!

The year 2008 had just started... and after the 31^st night bash, I was finding it severely difficult to muster courage to beat the 1^st January chill of Delhi… and reach office at 9:00 a.m. to do the same stuff of Business Development that starts with cold calling and ends up with client refusing to hire your creative agency because the price quoted by the agency appears too high to the prospective client… Phew… But I had to do it or else my bloody immediate morose G**du manager would again scream like hell… G**du is what I used to call him (My hostel friends will rememberJ)… Saale ki *****

While all this was going-on in my life… a friend of mine was getting ready for her marriage. Band Baaja Baraat, beautiful bridal outfit, glittering jewelry, fantastic food, arrangements for welcoming the Baraat were all going on!

Hey wait… saaloon kaminoon… I know what you are thinking but lemme just clear the air… I am not talking of any of my love stories or any lost love… No, it has nothing to do with me. You all know, love is not my cup of tea… me and love are like 2 opposite poles… always apart… That soon-to-be-bride is just a dear friend of mine…

Now, allow me to zoom the camera to Bangalore where my friend Shelly was about to celebrate the biggest and happiest moment of her life…

Oh yes, I forget to tell you about Shelly…. Born in a dignified family… she is the youngest child in her family and everyone’s favourite. Sweet, cheerful, lively and sometimes… mischievous… this is what Shelly has always been.

Elegantly dressed in a beautiful shimmering outfit, Shelly was ready to take the 7 vows during 7 pheras. Her parents had left no stone unturned to make sure that the night is remembered in times to come! They had hired the best wedding planner in town. The venue was a lavish and an expensive resort some kilometers from the city. The lighting, decorations and the mandap were so designed that they could envy even a royal Rajasthani wedding.

Not that her parents were very rich but they had put all their life savings, earnings and had also took some bank loan just to make sure that ‘No One’ returns with a frowning face – When I say ‘No One’ I am referring to the society which is composed of some relatives, some neighbours, some not-so-close family friends, whose only job is to criticize. I wonder, why the f*** we care for such morons.

Finally, the Baraat arrived and Shelly took pheras in the beautifully designed mandap. Shelly, like any other bride, was extremely excited about her new life. She had her own dreams, hopes, aspirations and expectations… She was on top of the world!

As days passed on, life started getting gloomy for Shelly. It wasn’t as she had expected. A sweet girl who was brought up like a princess and was never ever exposed to austerity of life, was about to face the biggest shock of her life. Differences had started cropping up between the newly wedded couple. It’s not that the in-laws were the issue… Shelly’s dream life partner had left her shattered. That man had never accepted her as her wife. He didn’t want to marry Shelly as he was in love with some other girl. But, he was coward enough to declare this prior to wedding. Now, he blamed Shelly for getting married to him!

Things went from bad to worse. He refused to accept Shelly as his wife and showed no respect for her. Life was very difficult for a girl who had never seen any problem in her life. But… when you have no other choice but to be strong and fight for your right, you dare to do what is beyond the conventional pre-defined rules of the game.

Now, Shelly, very unlike her personality, took and bold and a brave move to get divorced. The moment this came to the knowledge of people around her, they started whispering, “Zaroor kuch baat hogi”, “Mujhe to pehle hi lag raha tha warna shaadi me itna kharcha koi thori hi karta tha” and “Ladki ka koi chakkar hoga”.

I must say, she has the best parent. They stood by her through these testing times. Although their relatives, neighbours and not-so-close family friends were always more than desperate to feed her parents with ill-talks about her but her parents are wise enough to think of her daughter’s livelihood. They stood by her and made sure she gets that not-so-manly husband out of her life. Finally in 2009, Shelly was free to live a life of her own and trust me, she didn’t got this freedom by any luck or chance… she earned it.

Moving on, Shelly started working in a software company to focus on her career. But… life had other plans for her. She was the constant attention of her office colleagues. Few bastards around in office started talking ill things about Shelly. They thought that since she is a divorce, so they can say anything they want. But, time had changed Shelly by now. She was strong enough to tackle such mosquitoes.

No matter what the society said… no matter how hard the people tried to convince her parent to not to support her… no matter how much filthy creepy office colleagues tried to put her down… but Shelly had proved everyone wrong and emerged out winner with flying colors. She faced all the non-sense that she received from society and had the audacity to give them a reply that is good enough to silence such so-called ‘society’.

Today, Shelly works in one of the Fortune 500 companies… Shelly yaar mujhe bhi apni company me job dila de, I am good in Public Relations… thora bahut content bhi likh leta hoo, please…

Well, Shelly is now an independent, confident and a very positive girl. She attends parties with friends, makes international presentations and is doing superb. The marriage and divorce hadn’t shattered her. Infact, she has come out very bravely and is now someone who stands for determination, who stands for strength, who stands for liberty and much more… She is not scared of any challenge. She has proved her point and is ready to take the world by storm. Great job Shelly!

And yes, those who are thinking that we have reached the end of the blog and I haven’t said anything about myself… I have just one thing to say … Chor na yaar… hamara zikr phir kabhi sahi...

Thanks Readers!

Itsamanshathing

                                                   

Raanjhana – A die-hard lover or a fool!

Raanjhana  Hua Main Tera!

Hello friends, you must be wondering that these days I am writing blogs frequently! But this subject is so captivating that I couldn't stop myself from writing this blog.

One of my friends asked me to watch this newly released movie Raanjhana. Though I usually don’t get time to watch movies and Jab Tak Hai Jaan was the last movie I saw, I somehow left office at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday and decided to go for Raanjhana.

Excited and in high spirits, I went for the movie. 

The movie started with Dhanush (Kundan) drenched in blood, being hurried into an Operation Theater by 2-3 people. At this point, he starts narrating his love fable in flashback. With center point being Banaras, the story is of a Hindu Boy (Kundan) who is madly in love with a Muslim girl, Sonam Kapoor (Zoya). The movie shows how his love started in childhood and blossomed over the years. Kundan is a die-hard lover who is emotional, sensitive and is ready to do anything that can bring a smile on the face of his love. He is not a qualified boy and doesn't work in any MNC or private company. Zoya, on the other hand, is very practical, highly educated, witty and talented and is an active member of a newly formed political party.

We see how Zoya makes a mockery of Kundan’s feeling in the entire movie. Kundan has always been by her side for almost everything. 

Kundan crossed all limits when he convinced her father to get her married to Abhay Deol (Akram or Jaswant) as she had asked him to do so. No, don’t get it wrong. It was not so that Kundan never shared his feelings with Zoya. He did it in almost every scene. But Zoya, being practical, wanted something that could match upto her stature.

But… But… But… Zoya had lied even to Kundan. She had concealed the true identity of her love from Kundan. Whom everyone thought to be a Muslim guy, was actually a Sikh boy. Our hero learns this from a newspaper which had coverage of Abhay Deol with his name as Jaswant – PR played a pivotal role in Kundan’s life too… Phew!

Concerned and discomforted, Kundan exposes Jaswant and Zoya’s marriage is ruined. Don’t get our hero wrong. Any lover would have done that. His point was that if religion was not a problem for Zoya then why she always rejected his love. Anger, wrath and fury ran into Zoya’s relatives and they badly beat up Jaswant like anything. Zoya, on the other hand, blames Kundan entirely for her misfortunes and attempts to commit suicide. Ah, I forget to mention, it was the same day, when Kundan was supposed to get married but he was so very occupied in Zoya’s matter that he completely forgot about his marriage. When he finally reaches his home, he is beaten-up by his father and disowned forever.

The lover boy returns again! He goes to see Zoya at hospital and promises to re-unite her with Jaswant. The two leave for Punjab without informing anyone. Poor Kundan – Only a true lover can understand, how painful it is!

Another twist awaits Kundan and Zoya: Well, by the time, they reach there, Jaswant is dead. Remember he was beaten-up badly by Zoya’s relative. Zoya blames Kundan again and they walk their separate ways. Worried and disturbed, Kundan learns that Zoya didn’t return to Banaras and is out on a mission to find Zoya. He finally finds her in New Delhi where she is actively involved in the political party that was previously headed by Jaswant. He makes sure that he is always around her by taking up petty jobs like serving tea to the group. But this never mover Zoya’s heart! 

Once a lover always a lover – Kundan still tries to make sure that Zoya never gets trapped in any sort of trouble, irrespective of the fact that she hates her to death. In the process, Kundan becomes the blue-eyed-boy of the entire group and is the new leader of the group who is bound to make a difference in the upcoming elections. Worried about her future, the Chief Minister of New Delhi plots a conspiracy with Zoya to kill Kundan in a political rally. But then Zoya had to make sure that Kundan goes for that rally. She, for the first time, expresses love to our poor hero and asks him to go. Kundan, the lover, goes for the rally and is badly wounded with a bullet tearing him apart.

Finally, Zoya realizes that how Kundan has always stood by her side and never let he face any difficulty. She exposes the conspiracy in a Press Conference and is ready to go to jail. Then…  she gets the biggest shock of her live…  she comes to know that Kundan was aware of her conspiracy and still he went for the rally just because it would have made Zoya happy – friends, what limit would you set for such love!

Finally, the movie ends with the lover breathing his last!!!

Phew… long story. I am turning out to be a good narrator!

Now, the question is was Kundan a die-hard lover or a fool? Certainly, we all will have different point of views.

In today’s time, we all are wise enough to understand what is beneficial for us. We are intelligent enough to not to be fooled by this so called chestnut ‘LOVE’. Like Zoya, we all are practical. We have been taught in management schools to be smart and to maximize profits – be it professional life or personal life. We are not like Kundan, who is a fool and ends up giving his life for someone who never loved him for a nanosecond. We have brains and prefer applying it rather than being an idiot who listens to his heart. There is nothing wrong in being selfish.

But then, there is another breed of people. Those who always listen to their heart… Those who believe that love is always giving and never asking for anything in return! They are the people who epitomize this cliché called LOVE. For them, love is worship. They just live for their love. They are ready to give-up everything for their love.

Taking lesson from the movie, my wise friends will certainly have an opinion that Kundan made a mistake of always being with Zoya. He should have left her alone to face the problems. Well friends, Love is not like that!

They are often referred as morons who are emotional but then when had lovers listened to others.

A lot of us would have identified themselves with Kundan and lot of us would have thought of Kundan as a futile lover. We all our free to have our opinion. I know which class I belong to. You decide yours.

Besides, you must be wondering why this blog is written in red. Well, red is the color of love and this blog is dedicated to all those in love – itsamanshathing

C.M. Sahab bahut kaam karte hai

Itti si hasi… Itti si Khushi… Itta sa tukda chand ka…

Khawaboon ke tinkoon se… chal banaye aashiyaan…

Aadhi aadhi baant le… aaja dil ki ye zameen…

Thora sa tera bhi hoga, thora mera bhi hoga… apna ye aashiyaan

Well friends, don’t be scared! I am not trying to participate in Indian Idol nor do I have any plans of participating in India’s Got Talent… Phew! I hate reality shows. They are so monotonous.

This is my new caller tune which Suraj hears everyday (Arre yaar, Suraj is my health insurance agent and not the sun which rises in the east and roses in the west), when he calls to remind me of the new policy. Poor guy has been following-up a long time – So bad of me, I always postpone my plans of buying a new policy…. HAHAAHAHAHA J 

Actually, I am thankful to him. His call works as wake-up alarm for me.

We all know how a salaried person feels on Monday L

With a heavy heart, I mustered the courage to get ready for office. Hey, did I tell you guys that your foodie friend has started taking a decent diet and is also running in the morning. Cool na! Chicken Tikka, Tunday Kebab are like my ex-girlfriends – Gone with the wind… Hahaha

So finally, I started for office at 11:30 a.m. – you all know how punctual I am. But mind it, I work really late. I had barely crossed the Wave Cinemas, I saw a man dressed in Khakee with a cap and a stick asking the traffic to stop. With the help of his several colleagues (I guess that’s what policemen call their fellow workers) managed to stop the entire traffic, creating frustration amongst the public. The point was that the Hon’ble C.M. was about to commute from the same route.

25 minutes had passed, but the C.M.’s car didn’t passed from there. In anguish people had moved out of their car to enquire about the status. They were chatting amongst themselves. While some were tweeting the same on twitter, some preferred to post it on their fb wall.

Impatient – that’s what I am- I came out of my car and went to chit-chat with 2 traffic policemen standing near my car.

“Kya haal Ji” – I asked them in our hindi language just to strike a conversation.

“C.M. Sahab aaye ka hain (C.M. is coming)” – One of the policeman said.

The other one was quick to add, “Kahe aa gaye… rail gadi banye hai (What coming, he has made our lives hell)”

“Hamare C.M. sahib bahut kaam karte hain (our C.M. really works hard)”, said the first policeman

Now, my turn, I also needed to contribute my bit so that I didn’t sound moron. I added, “Haa Ji ab C.M. ka kaam hi kuch aisa hai (The profile of C.M. is so designed).

The second policeman started itching his armpit – Yuck! This is how these filthy policemen are. He whispered, “Pheeta kaatat hain (He cuts ribbon)”. Inquisitive, as I am, I asked, “Kya hua (what happened)”.

He said, “Ab ka bataye. Inhai jo hai… bas ghuma kari… jab dekho jabran pheeta kaat rahe hai, park ma jaaye rahi hai, chief guest bane hai, party ma jaat hai, flyover chaalu kare hai, haspataal me eeta rakhe… bas daftar ma na thahariye…  (Now what to say… C.M. is always out – either he is doing a ribbon cutting ceremony or is inaugurating park or is chief guest somewhere or is attending a private party or is inaugurating a flyover or is putting the foundation stone of a hospital. He does all this but is hardly available in office). Long translation… Phew!

The first policeman gave him a hint via a wink of an eye. It was meant to not to share such things with people. But he didn’t got it. He went on to say, “Shaher me bijli nahi hai (There is paucity of electricity in city)”. Just then, the C.M.’s car along with a fleet of officers in protocol passed through the wave Cinemas.

Relieved all, they started moving their machines (cars). While I was driving, the words of the second policeman echoed in my ears. To an extent, he was right.

The city is plunged into darkness but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain.

There are no doctors in Government hospitals but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain

The youth is jobless for lack of opportunities but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain

Law and order is not worthy of mentioning but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain.

Discipline in government colleges is nil but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain

Clerks in Government Offices are still concerned about a paper with the photo of our Father of Nation on it but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain

Issues like water logging, improper infrastructure, etc. have not been addressed but C.M. sahab bahut kaam karte hain.

Indeed, C.M. Sahab bahut kaam karte hain

Finally, I reached my office and resumed my duties.

So friends, bottom line is somethings never change. No matter how many ministers come, the system won’t change. The Government set-up is hell.

Well, bye for now. Thanks for being patient and reading one more blog. Will pester you again in some time with another irritating blog J J

One More Time – I Dare!

I never thought I would do this, but here I am doing it again.

Once again I dare to appreciate THE ALMIGHTY’s creation,

Once again I dare to dance in rain,
Once again I dare to think of someone,
Once again I dare to believe in GOD.

Once again I dare to not eat anything and still don’t feel hungry,
Once again I dare to spent sleepless nights,
Once again I dare to get lost amidst gatherings,
Once again I dare to believe in GOD.

Once again I dare to carry pain in my heart,

Once again I dare to be not with friends and associates,
Once again I dare to flip TV channels without paying attention to any of it,
Once again I dare to believe in GOD.

Once again I dare to be at crossroads,

Once again I dare to put a fake smile,
Once again I dare to pretend, life is fine,
Once gain I dare to believe in GOD.

 

Once again I dare to dream,

Once again I dare to see someone in my dreams,
Once again I dare to fulfill my dreams,
Once again I dare to believe in GOD

 

Once again I dare to be in love

Once again I dare to express my heart, irrespective of consequences,
Once again I dare to love someone, unconditionally,
This time, I dare to walk with my love!

Amen!