The Hat Trick - Part 2

Continuing with 'There is more"!! We were desperately squiggling and fidgeting in our seats and were anticipating for the arrival of...No! not the father Vijay or another of the can't-even-remember-the tune songs.! We were eagerly awaiting for the word " Interval" to be displayed on the screen to make a dash out of the theatre and escape from this savage inferno. Looking at the time, we were barely into 50 minutes of the movie. I quickly equated this horrible feeling with Einstein's The Theory of Relativity and framed a new example - "50 minutes in Puli is like spending your one life time of 71 years, be reborn and still the interval would not have happened when you are watching it in your second life". The pace of the movie was so slow that even the oldest of oldest tortoises would have overtaken the movie's speed! Its not that I was bothered on the slowness of the film. I have watched many slowly moving movies - Gone with the wind, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Barry Lyndon, Lolita etc. These movies had stuff.  Substance that made it worth investing my time and effort. But, Puli belonged to the elite cadre of slowness combined with abominable balderdash that made us to want to dash out of the theatre at the slightest opportunity. Finally, the interval arrived after what seemed like aeons. We contemplated whether to make a run for it during the recess. But, our hard and well earned money and effort has been spent to buy the tickets even depriving our sleep on the Mahatma Day. So, we hatched up a brilliant plan to sit through the full movie and comment on every single scene to get the true value for our money. Second half began. The massacre continued from where it was left before the intermission. Chimbudevan and Vijay were really on a mission. We were severely slaughtered by the blunt screenplay and story. Nevertheless, the icing on the cake was yet to come. The story moved into flashback. Then, suddenly a man rides a horse and arrives to save the people of the village. It is revealed that it is Vijay again. Words seemed to slip away from me. My mind was blank on seeing the scene. 

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...was the loudest comment that I could muster up. The entire theatre was looking behind instead of the screen. My friend asked me to shut my mouth as some Vijay fans were starting to hoot and root up for their hero. It took me some time to come back to normal state on seeing the appearance and make up for father Vijay. Like Neelambari in Padayappa who watched the marriage scene again and again,  I felt like playing that scene over and over again whenever I was bored or serious. It ate up Tom & Jerry hands down as if the entire cartoon series were a cherry! Finally, the last of the bashing, bashing, bashing happened and Vijay was crowned as the King to end this abysmally horrible extra ordinary piece of narration stitched together rather badly from various sources. I wanted to come screaming out of the theatre gates issuing a public warning to have their lives insured before watching Puli. But, my friend restrained me from doing such an impulsive act lest the SPI employees issues a mandate to us from ever entering their gates again. I overheard a guy saying to his friend "Machi. I am going for the 630 pm show at Prarthana today. Wanna join me?".  "There are better options for a second suicide" The bursting comment was so very spontaneous that the onlookers around me burst into fits of laughter. 

I always believe that there is always a silver lining to any situation. I must say and appreciate the director's pluck and boldness to visually entertain the audience in a grandiose manner. It would have actually clicked had it not been for the insipid and lacklustre screenplay from many known and popular sources tailor-made to suit Vijay's image. I felt the injury caused by this Puli was very painful and damaging than my sustained injuries during the accident. But, as they say. The best was yet to come. I still had "The Black Mass" and "The Martian" to make me forget the unforgettable Puli.

---To be completed---

The Hat Trick - Part 1

It started with an innocuous phone call to my friend with whom I hadn't spoken for quite some time. Knowing that I was badly injured after the accident and hadn't be up for a month during the weekends, his initial reaction was to catch up with some movie over the long weekend of Gandhi Jayanthi. Searching through the numerous movies in spi cinemas site, we finally decided to watch a comedy to start with on Oct 2nd. Little did we know that our assumed comic film would turn out to be a ridiculous and a farcical nonsense. After watching 'Kathi', my friend and I were under the false delusion that Vijay's 'Puli' would live up to the expectation set by its predecessor. As they say, Expectations hurt. My friend and I learnt it the hard way. I had booked for the 8am show @ S2 Thyagaraja and got up @ 6am itself for the movie. I have never even gotten up so early even during my classes in engineering! though experience has taught me that that's not the case in a professional working atmosphere. On time is the mantra ever since I started to work. It clearly reflected in the fact that I had reached 900 seconds before 8am and was waiting patiently for my friend to show up for the show. We stepped into the theatre and occupied our seats when the long needle in our watches struck 12 and the small needle was @ 8. Let the show begin!

The film would have been a massive hit had it been released in the theatres at least 15 years earlier. But now, at the beginning of the movie itself, my friend and I were in tears - sadness and hilariousness. Sadness - as we had missed out on our good sound sleep and hilariousness because of the sound of idiotic punch dialogues thrown so loosely, unintelligently and effusively in the movie. As we hadn't watched movie for more than a month, my friend and I wondered whether it is only we who had lost our sense of cinematic touch.  But, excepting the die hard vijay fans in the theatre, everyone else shared our miserable plight of sadness and desperation to punch those punch dialogues! The best was yet to come. After one point of time, when things became really unbearable, the theatre was abuzz with numerous outright and downright comments which were extremely hilarious and worth every penny hearing those witty and sarcastic dialogues compared to the mundane-MGResque sentimental dialogue scenes. The entertaining comments from the audience were more than chucklesome. It left us with a rib tickling, hysterical and too funny for words laughter throughout the film. Leaving aside the good portion of the film which is we making snide remarks, the worse part was yet to come. Puli was totally a jumbled assemblage from comics, novels, hollywood movies and MGR films. The director had copied from Gulliver's travels - the scenes where Vijay and his helper friends are in captive by the little men, Asterix - the potion which makes Vijay to acquire superhuman strength , Vampire and Twilight series - where the vedhalam have blue eyes and teeth like the vampires who have red eyes and fangs! But, the grand daddy of all this herculean copying effort is undoubtedly and unanimously reserved to Sri devi's costumes and reactions! I think the director might have watched Snow White and Maleficent many times to duplicate, imitate and replicate the costume designs and expressions for Sri devi's character!!  There is more.

------to be continued------

The Karmic Love - Teaser 4

It was midnight. Suddenly, Harsha burst the door open with a bang, rushed into the room and switched on all the lights. Slightly opening up his eyes, he could see the distinct height and weight of Harsha standing in front of him who was gasping for his breath. "Fuck You, Harsha. What the hell is wrong with you at this time of hour" screamed Rahul. Rahul was utterly dejected as he was slowly taking Swetha's hands into his when Harsha came barging into their room. "You Dick Head. I have some big news to tell you guys. So, stop sleeping and open your ears" exclaimed Harsha loudly. Now, Ankit, Anij and Balu woke up from their slumber one by one. "We have a long day at the camp tomorrow. Four of us are here. It would better be good,dude. " Ankit gave a stern warning to Harsha. "Guys guys. Chillax!! I was there when it happened. The news is true. He kissed her". Harsha was immediately under attack by a barrage of ballistic questions from everyone. There was a pure and an unadulterated cacophony that engulfed the room then. Harsha knew he was the cynosure of their eyes, ears, nose, mind and heart at that moment. He was silently smiling with patience for the boisterous din to subside. When the initial crescendo of clamorous questions had slowly descended to a pin drop silence, Harsha cleared his throat. Ankit, Anij, Balu and Rahul waited with bated breath for the big news. Without warning, they could hear the blaring "Nakku Mukka nakku mukka" breaking the stillness. Balu's mobile was ringing very loudly on the window sill. He just brushed the call off with a nonchalant shrug. "Bro. Enough of this suspended suspense. Who kissed whom?. Tell us quick" bellowed Ankit. "I was walking on this lovely night" started Harsha when Rahul interrupted him sharply like a biker cutting in front of another vehicle "Get to the point, you motherfucker!". Sensing that he might be beaten to pulp, Harsha apologetically muttered an apology and said " I was coming back from my walk. Then, I saw Swetha speaking and laughing with Sriram". Rahul's heart skipped a beat. His insides were churning and twisting like a coiled up reticulated python. He was waiting for that dreaded news to reach his ears. Harsha continued "There was another couple. Kumar and Ayesha. You guys know right?". Everyone nodded their heads. "Dude. Tell me what Sri and Swetha were doing" chipped in Rahul. "Ah ha! I knew it. Bugger. I  always smelled a rat at your animosity with Sri. We will deal with you later" came a mischievous reply from Anij. "Dude. Continue the story" yelled Rahul. "You guys keep on talking and not let me finish. What can I do"? replied Harsha softly. "CONTINUE" came the unanimous murderous response from everyone. "Okay okay. I was entering the doorway when the power went off. Then I heard a giggle and a soft voice was saying do not come near me". Rahul felt that his heart was in his mouth now. "Then suddenly, I heard a swift 'pachak' sound. At that instant, the power came back and I saw Swetha going back towards her corridor smiling and blushing at Sri". "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". Rahul was screaming at the top of his voice.

The Lone Man

No no no no!! The Lone Man is not related to any Hollywood movie. Nevertheless, it is still a movie. This blog is dedicated to a film which has piqued and captured my interest ever since its release as it has garnered great acclaims from everyone especially coming from the stables of M. Raja. Yes. you are right. I am talking about 'Thani Oruvan' in this blog. Because of my injuries, I couldn't catch up with the film when it was released earlier. Finally, I got the opportunity to watch the film with my mom today. I was completely flabbergasted and stunned to see M. Raja in an altogether complete new avatar in this film. Without much ado, here goes my review for this wonderful film!

Though he has given several blockbusters albeit remade from other languages, I have always cursed M.Raja for not making any original scripts despite him being a good director. So, when I heard the critical positive reviews from my friends that M.Raja has actually managed to make an original script and had pulled the rabbit out of the hat, it was like Harris Jayaraj doing a score for Shankar! When people get used to do something in their lives and more importantly, when they have a winning combination at hand, they are highly unlikely to disturb the successful relationship especially when the stakes are really high in the film fraternity. M.Raja has had always played the safe card by remaking hit movies in other languages and given super duper movies in Tamil with his brother. Yet the news was for real - M.Raja's Thani Oruvan is a fresh script and stylish too! Just like Anniyan's music was a big hit, Thani Oruvan has single-handedly ensured that other directors would be remaking M.Raja's film in multiple languages for the first time in his career. Such is the power and impact of the script. When I watched it with my own eyes, I was simply dumbfounded and wondered why it had taken so long for M.Raja to create this masterpiece. 

I am not going to dive deep into the screenplay or the script but rather concentrate on the finesse and the flair with which the film was handled with much self assurance and self aplomb by the entire crew. The movie transcends the general cat and mouse genre. It was like a fight between T-rex and a Velociraptor in the Jurassic movies. One with tremendous power, brutal strength, intelligence and operating alone while the other operating in pack, relying on intelligence and trying to outsmart each other by living life on their own terms. Jayam Ravi was the epitome of a true police man along with his friends and has done phenomenal justice to his character until he ran into a more sinister Siddharth Abhimanyu who literally stole the show from Mithran IPS. It was actually refreshing to see Aravind Swamy breaking all the barriers from the regular, stereotypical role of a villain that has been etched in our minds from time immemorial. No shouting. No rambling unwanted punch dialogues. No unnecessary item songs with police entry. No cuss words. Infact, he spoke GRE words like incorrigible! Very sophisticated, suave, cold, calculative with a domineering personality. Even incredible and unbelievable would sound normal for such a stellar and sublime performance by him. Other notable performances include Thambi Ramaiah's and Nayanthara's characters.

Instead of merely dancing in scantily cladded clothes and involving in unimportant romantic sequences utterly unrelated to the storyline, it was really heart-warming to see a heroine play an important role in the movie much like Asin's character in Ghajini. It could have been better if Nayanthara had been seen in more scenes throughout the film as she was a forensic expert. Likewise, Thambi Ramaiah simply eased out in his portrayal as a timid father who says yes-yes to Abhimanyu. I was literally clapping my hands when he knew he was delivering a wrong message during the press conference and still continuing with the delivery thinking that his son had told him once that he would become a CM one day thus following his son's words verbatim. There were several noteworthy and whistle blowing scenes in the film - the many twists in the movie, the bug detector, the gun case, the white board writing. M.Raja has really given this story a great deal of thought and attention to detail to the script like placing a GPS with audio into Mithran on the pretext of removing a minor bullet casing from him in the hospital. The BGM was equally in sync up with the mood of the film casting aside the irrelevant duet in the middle of the film. But considering the entire film as a whole, that song can be forgiven.

Woof!! Thani Oruvan is slick, racy, clever, smart with a social message built into the entire framework, thus marking another feather in the cap for M.Raja's directorial venture. Hats off to him for making his creative genie out of the lamp for such a bold first attempt. Though his name RAJA, it is the story which is the real KING! :) 

The Prodigious Power of Passion

"Success comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion in life. To be successful, it is also very important to be humble and never let fame or money travel to your head."

- A.R. Rahman

Though the definition of success is highly subjective and individualistic, the essential secret ingredient to achieve one's own definition of success is by following one's passion in their lives. 

We have seen and heard many famous celebrities and eminent sports personalities speak enthusiastically with a positive vigor when asked about their respective vocations. When we closely look at them speak, we can see for ourselves the sparkle in their eyes and how fired up, committed and exuberant they are when discussing their daily routines. This is the effect that passion can have on a person.

"You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out."

- Steve Jobs

No wonder Steve Jobs was exceptionally successful in developing the highly revolutionary, innovative, admirable and profitable Apple products despite the fact that he was kicked out rather unceremoniously from his own company. I am not going to go in detail about Steve Jobs or his accomplishments. The world already knows it. This blog is going to be focussed specifically on what passionate people does different which makes them to stand out unique in their professions from the normal and average people.  

First, let me start with the burning question - what's passion?. Simply put, if you can wake up on a fine Monday morning and say "Yahooooo! Google!! Bing!!! I am going to work today". Voila! You are infected with passion and the prognosis of your medical condition is that you are condemned to work more productively and happily. 

Passion is the innate, ever-producing power-source that enables an individual to find their true calling in their profession so as to have a definite meaning and purpose in their lives. It need not be confined to professions alone. It can also be extended to your avocations or relationships too. Thus, Passion is the impelling force of an individual which is extremely motivated from within that enables them to attain their goals thereby making a dent in the world around them.

As we spend a greater part of our 168 hours at work, it is very much imperative that you do something that excites and drives you to not to just earn money but also to excel and shine brightly like the sun. Money, fame, status and respect are the by products of our work. Unless there is enough commitment from our end, neither money nor status is achievable. I have seen many people grumbling and complaining that they do not like the work they are doing. Gradually, this leads to severe cognitive dissonance and causes stress to crawl into them like a snail. As a result, they become dissatisfied and unhappy. Even if they decided to switch companies, unless and until the work is up to their liking that suits their personality aptly, they would be caught up in a perpetual web of job changes and disgruntlement. 

For instance, I like sales a lot. I see sales as an opportunity to solve the other person's problems. It makes me happy when the people who buy the products from me are satisfied and happy. But, I love writing very much. It is not that I do not like Sales but speaking relatively, my preference would be towards writing. As a kid when I started to read comics and then slowly transitioned to novels, I have always been fascinated by the art of writing. In fact, I started my blog as I found it an ideal medium to express my passion whenever I found time in my spare time. I knew when I started my blog that I was not a good writer. I used to get continuous feedbacks and suggestions from my very close friends who are really good in the language so that I can improve myself as a writer. I took their suggestions very seriously and implemented them in my subsequent blogs. Gradually, they were able to see a marked improvement in my quality and standard of writing. The changes were immensely visible to them. I just write because it keeps me extremely happy and realize my full potential. As a matter of fact, I was disconnected from my blogs for more than 2 years. I did not have any sense of purpose - just work, come back home, work and come back home. It was very good for me to rediscover my writing side once again. Now, I am looking forward everyday to see something new and interesting in my life so that whenever I had the time I could connect with my passion and articulate it, thus ensuring that the spark in me is kept flaming in constantly without fanning out.

This is my personal experience. But, there are still many people out there who want to pursue something but does something else. In the short-term, life will be all dandy and full of candy. However, when encountered with failures and defeats, you will be ready to cave into the pressure of your frustration leaving you behind with considerably sufficient lack of fulfillment. But,when an activity is pursued with passion, it is like a spring which makes a person to be truly resilient despite several failures in their attempts. It creates the mental toughness to withstand any obstacle and makes you to realize your real potential to tear apart those stumbling blocks and emerge out as a beautiful butterfly amidst the many turbulent turmoils. 

Passion makes you to be tenacious, resolute and patient with your ideas and ideals to accomplish the objectives to its fruition. Also, passion drives you to take more risks and makes you to move out of your comfortable zone to live your dreams. It gives you the clear focus and the clarity to enable you to decide what should be done and what should not be done so that you can invest your valuable time and effort in shaping up the future. 

To sum it up,

"If you don't love what you do, you won't do it with much conviction or passion."

-Mia Hamm

Epilogue:

I started writing this blog around 840pm. I had no idea until I saw the time that 150 minutes had elapsed since I had begun writing tonight. Discover your passion too!!

The Karmic Love - Teaser 3

She was sleeping in her bed when her ladylove awoke her with a start. She could feel her ladylove's lovely lips pressing passionately against her soft skin. Her gentle impressions gave her the exhilaration from within her body. She felt a sudden upward surge of electric energy rapidly flowing and engulfing her body completely through her nerves. Wrestling with her mind and forcefully pushing aside 1 joule,1 coulomb,1 ampere and 1 volt which her teacher had taught her about electric charge and electricity in her school, she wanted to be happily immersed fully with her honey-comb in that present exciting moment. Her bumblebee was unleashing her formidable tongue as an effective foreplay weapon to explore and discover "her" zones. The rapturous joy was inexplicable and inarticulable by the available words in the dictionary. She was besides herself when her buggy love undressed her gently and started to slowly caress her delectable cupcakes. Inch by inch, she was heading towards her climax when an abrupt streak of lightning and a venomous thunder broke apart the crowning point's rhythm and ultimately her dream. She woke up startled as the dream was so real. She could still feel her lips against her nubile body. She was breathing nervously and a deep unsettling fear began to creep into her like a tiger moving stealthily towards her prey when she was inundated with thoughts like "Am I a......?". She shuddered to even think of that taboo word. Yet the dream was more than real. She recollected the amorous glances and signals given by her whenever her eyes bore right into hers. "Does she also reciprocate my feelings?". "What will my parents think?". "Will the society accept us?". Another clap of thunder brought her train of thoughts to a chugging halt. 

The AUTOnomous Man's Gorgeous Grey Matter!!

Because of the accident, I was forced to book autos to and fro to my office everyday. I can very well buy at least 7kgs of onions for the total cost that I needed to pay for OLA cab during a single trip to my work place. Such was the effect of *2.4 times the normal rate for OLA cab in the peak hours. Still, without burning my pocket, OLA auto was the bright and shining knight-in-armor to me in the desperate hour of need, literally and metaphorically.  

It has been more than 10 days since I have been a regular customer for OLA. There were also definite clear and visible signs that my injuries were also on the right track of healing. I decided to make use of Baasha's alter-ego's automobile until my injuries were completely healed up.

Instead of having an insipid and monotonous journey, I used to have engaging discussions with the auto-wallahs to know and understand their lives from their eyes. Most of them with whom I spoke to were in the age group between 35 and 40 years. They had certain things in common - rented auto, 2 kids, ailing mother/ father / mother & father, night "enjoyment" with friends, go home late after booze, get up in the morning and work for the loop to continue again and again. They were also seriously fed up with auto politics in the stand. I empathised with them as I had also undergone harsh office politics when I initially joined in my current company. 

It was then that I encountered a one-of-a kind person during such a trip to office. As usual, I had booked OLA auto in the evening to return to my home after a long day's work.The first booking was cancelled. After several repeated attempts, I was finally able to book another auto. The return ride turned out to be more than just a conversation. It was intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying. 

The conversation started with the basic traffic when out-of-nowhere a biker suddenly crossed in front of us and would have been gravely hurt if it weren't for the auto driver's strong and crisp brakes. Out of an impulsive outburst of emotion, I was deploring the way that the current two wheelers were driving crazy in the city - zigzagging and criss-crossing as if they were playing "Zippy race" video game. To which he responded, "Not all of them used to drive in such a manner, sir. I have been driving for more than 30 years and I have not caused or been involved in any accident." I was amazed at this man's quick jump at recognizing and pointing out the fallacy in my opinion and even more amazed when he responded to it in such a cool and composed manner despite it was he who was directly involved with the situation. Muttering a sheepish apology for generalizing things, our discussion turned to the whys and wherefores to the intensity of the traffic prevailing in the city. He was giving me multiple reasons like bad planning, poorly maintained roads, many number of cars due to reduced bank rates, corruption in contracts, pathetic construction etc. Then, he continued and started to speak why the autos were in yellow color in Tamil Nadu by giving me scientific explanation and justification for the choice of color. 

Just like switching gears in his auto, he changed the topic by lamenting on the politics in his auto stand. He held the same view point as mine - When people come together, politics happen! All we can do is just do our work sincerely, be patient and go silently without engaging in any verbal combats. I was very happy hearing it. Before, I could speak another thing, he started to speak on the present politics in the state and country and was praising Modi's abroad visits for bringing in FDIs into the country. I was thoroughly impressed with him then as even many educated people failed to understand and had found Modi's foreign visits as mere waste of time and money. Inquiring into his educational qualification, I found that he was 12 th pass. But due to his family circumstances, he was forced to give up his studies and work for the family. However his hunger for knowledge never diminished even one jot. He was up-to-date with the current events. I complimented him that he was highly knowledgeable. To which he replied instantly and humbly that just because a person knows something in the world, it doesn't mean they know everything. Likewise, just because a person knows many things in this world, it still doesn't mean they know everything. At this juncture, I realized and understood that he was also a very philosophical person who used to reflect immensely for any given situation.

Our conversation careened to his day to day operations. He was telling that most auto drivers earned around Rs. 1000 - Rs 1400/day driving from morning 7am till 10pm, paid their daily rents, petrol expenses,drank heavily and finally saved around Rs.300 - Rs.600 /day whereas he used to begin his daily drive after dropping his kids at school by 8am, roam completely till 7pm and still used to save around Rs 800 - Rs 900/day. He told me that he observed the other drivers that paying daily rents and drinking used to cost them a hefty sum. So, he calculated and decided that having an own auto and paying the EMI was much cheaper and economical than shelling out his hard earned money as daily rent to some Ram, Ramesh and Mahesh. Also, he abstained from drinking which contributed to his savings considerably thus enabling him to purchase a house for his family. Further, he added that since he usually winds up his work by 7pm and return to his home, he would have sufficient time to play with his kids and spend time with his family thereby having a healthy work-life balance.

I was lost for words. What I had toiled and learnt in MBA for 2 years, this person had learnt it by mere observation and implemented it in his real life ensuring that he does not commit the mistakes made by others. Here was a person who is a pure Finance genius, HR manager and Operations optimizer without a MBA degree. Not to mention his impeccable sales skills. The way he was driving the topics with such ease and flair infused with sound logic and profoundness, I was overawed and overwhelmed with emotion and thought that if this person had continued to study further. he would have surely made a dent in this world. 

It was well-past 8pm. The traffic moved slower than the slowest snail in the world. Finally, after a snail crawl, we arrived at our destination. The meter read Rs. 163. I gave him Rs. 200 and asked him to keep the change. He promptly replied it was against his principles and value system to accept anything more than the assigned amount of Rs. 173 (Rs.163 + Rs. 10). He gave me the remaining change, wished me speedy recovery and sped off to his next destination - Home!

It was a very different and a new experience for me. I do not know whether I would meet another person like him again in my entire life. But, I felt happy for him at the end of the day for his character and attitude towards life. Also, the incident made me to understand that life is an extremely big mysterious force that keeps unravelling itself very slowly at the right time at the right place through the right person to the concerned person.