I wanna grow up once again....

... these are the exact words why I will watch this film, probably, a zillion times. Aamir, Raju Hirani, Maddy, Shantanu, VVC have done a great job according to the film (3 Idiots) teasers; but it's this very song (give me some sunshine) that thrills me despite how good/bad the film may turn out.

The deepest desire of a grown-up is, most of the times, to grow up once again. And as fate has it, it's among those unfulfilled desires that intensifies as the grown-up grows older. I am not sure whether it's because of not wanting to grow older or wanting to be young forever. Or it could be because of the realization that they could not accomplish a few things that need to be, during the young years.

As we grow mature, we gradually lose the luxury of doing a few things as freely and shamelessly as we could do while being immature. Somewhere down the memory lane, those free and shameless moments tickle the funny bone and if someone lacks such moments to recollect, he/she would end up sounding serious and mechanical (or so-called 'practical').

Weekend Plan: Being Funny

The funny thing about being funny is that, most times, the fun is derived by the entertained at the cost of the entertainer's embarrassment. Not many people have the courage and attitude to conceal that instinct of embarrassment, when laughed at. And out of those few, fewer folks have the humbleness not to counter the prank and stick to what they aimed to be: being funny.

Contrary to the modern generation's taste for smart humor, I somehow seem to be more inclined towards the 'being funny' kind of humor. There are technically two reasons for it... one, that I lack the intelligence for smart humor; and second, I feel the challenge of counter-prank heavier than the embarrassment of being laughed at. So I feel so much likeliness to the 'little tramp' character played by the greatest, in my dictionary of great actors: Mr Charlie Chaplin.

Never in any of the roles played by him, did I find him make fun of the audience/society which laughs at him while watching him being funny. Though this applies to most comedy actors, being fanatic is normal. And my fanaticism over Charlie Chaplin emphasizes my normalcy.

Today, out of nowhere, a few scenes from the movie 'City Lights' flashed across my mind and felt a sudden urge to watch the movie. Though it would take a couple days for Netflix to send the DVD, I decided to watch his other films online. That's the plan for this weekend: to laugh at 'being laughed' (myself).

Paa... Like Anjali

At the very outset, let me confess that the following is written not to criticize Balki's Paa, but just to compare how the structure of this story is comparable to Maniratnam's Anjali.

Like Anjali.... Paa is about an abnormal kid, Auro, who finally calls his parent affectionately before he dies. In Anjali, Anjali's last word before she dies is 'amma'. And in Paa, Auro's last word before he dies is... 'paa'.

Like Anjali.... Paa is the story of conflict between the parents of the kid, because of the kid.

Like Anjali.... Paa has children who are more mature and decent than normal kids.

Like Anjali.... Paa is a sensitive and sensible tear-jerker.

Like Anjali.... Paa has brilliant BGM by maestro Ilayaraja.

Like Anjali.... Paa has an awesome cinematography by PC Sriram.

Any more reasons required for Anjali fanatics to go, watch and love Paa? This is a highly recommended movie, folks!!!! Watch it.

Fluidity of Want.....

This week there was a go-live at work. And when things didn't go well, I had to stay awake for a couple of nights. And guess what? I wanted to sleep all the while. I prayed for the issues to get solved so that I can go to sleep. Even after I got some sleep the next day, I felt of sleeping on time later.

I began to wonder, why I was not able to sleep the previous month, when I was so conscious about getting some good sleep. And that's where the key lies..... being conscious of sleeping. The more conscious I got, the more insomniac I became. And this week, when I had work as priority on my mind, I wasn't conscious that I need to sleep; and thus, I slept. Of-course, there is the tiredness factor attached to. But I think consciousness is the main culprit.

Want.... is as fluid as water. The more we try to hold it hard, the quicker it flows out of our palms. The consciousness that it will flow out will actually make us clench our fist to hold it hard; and thereby we lose our want. So, as long as we are careful enough (make a crest so that the water stays in your hand), and keep our palm open, the water remains with us till we quench our thirst with it. Now, stop arguing about the natural process of evaporation!!!!

The Turning Point.

"What happened to your confidence, dude?" A good friend was asking me, a while ago. "Why are you sulking and self-pitying all of a sudden?" Putting a blank face before her, I wondered for a long time: Did I ever carry the self-confident look before? If yes, then why am I not even able to remember how I felt like during those days?

"What do you mean, all of a sudden!!" I chuckled. "I was like this all along!" I declared with a fake confidence. She looked at me with a concerned look. "Don't begin to get comfortable with your failures, Purnesh. You will lose yourself very soon."

Oooops. Now that's over my head. "What do you mean?"

"Your blog entries for the last couple of days are not about your failures in life."

"Then?"

"They are just a proof that you have embraced failure. You don't like to challenge your failure and step up, because you feel you are comfortable by embracing it.... by pretending to like it.... and sulking in it. It's easy and relaxing to say that you can't do something; and you have totally lost your ability to say that: you can."

Just then her extension began to ring and she took call; and I felt it's time to escape more of her lecture. I casually ambled across the aisle to my place, trying to ignore her words. But, my 'I CAN ignore her words' attitude was dominated by my 'I CAN'T ignore her words' attitude. And, as I blankly stared at my no-new-mails inbox, my screwed-up mind got disturbingly furious; and I began to think...............

As humans, we always have tendencies to put ourselves in comfort zone. It's our mind's mechanism to make peace with the world around. But, the issue is not with being in the comfort zone, but choosing the wrong zone as a comfortable one. A stable job, trust-worthy friends, a caring life-partner, a good house, a great ambition, etc are all shades of good comfort zones. The bad ones are innumerable; and failure (self-pity) is the darkest of all. Choosing failure as a comfort zone is undoubtedly the worst choice ever made by all the innocent souls, who lack friends like mine, to make them realize their folly.

/* Dedicated to all my friends who bear all my crappy-ness and hope that someday I will see the brighter side of life. Thanks, folks!!! */

Yours Faithfully: Based on true stories........

Once more....
Take One. The guy loves the girl. So he displays his honesty (yours faithfully) and tells her that he doesn't have a job yet; but he is sincerely trying for one. The girl rejects him and marries someone with a job; later, the 'devdas' gets a job.

Take Two. The guy loves the girl. So he hides the fact that he has committed murder, a few days back. He fakes that he works for an upcoming software firm. In due course, the girl falls in love with him. In a few more days, the love gets deeper and madder. They elope away and marry each other. A month later, the police catch the guy and put him behind the bars. The girl continues to love him (I know many women who consider their self-respect linked to being dedicated to the person whom they fell for; it's very much an ego problem).

Now, ignoring the simplicity with which the stories are narrated (mainly for dramatic effect), I wish to combine both the stories. And the resultant story is obvious. Why are we taught those simplistic moral science lessons from childhood? Had the first guy not been honest, and faked that he has a job, which he eventually would get, and then made the girl fall for him, it would have been a much healthier climax to the story.

Now, you folks may argue that, what if the girl gets angry on the guy for lying to her. My dear's, just check what happened in Take Two. Even if Take Two may not apply to all girls, my take is, a girl who cannot forgive her beloved for the simple lies that he told to get her, is not someone whom the guy should waste any more of his life (or lies) on.

So, my point is, the deserving-ness in the whole world is misplaced. Our fable tale moral science no longer works. Reminds me of Somerset Maugham's version of 'The Ant and the Grasshopper'.

Erich Segal's Love Story

Last night, when I picked up Erich Segal's Love Story from my bag-of-books, the memory of having turned the same pages five years ago flashed before me. It was quite an experience those days while reading this book. On the whole, I think I read this book more than five times: twice, fully from first page to last, and the rest was read like Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

A simple story of a simpler girl and a rich guy, dwelling into their flirting, romance, love, the girl's terminal illness and the melodrama that lingers from there. The best part of any death story is the liveliness of the characters in it. Jennifer Cavelleri's quick-witted character haunted me, though not like a ghost, whenever I needed an imaginary girl-friend to make me laugh.

I was so very crazy about the book that I yearned to read more from Erich Segal and ended up buying his 'Oliver's Story' (sequel to Love Story) and 'Only Love'. And I stopped buying more. Years later, though I have read 'Doctors', Love Story remains as Erich Segal's masterpiece; and there can only be one masterpiece.