"Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone -- Kindness in another's trouble, Courage in your own."
-- Adam L. Gordon
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
“Babu Moshai, ham sab rang manch ki kathputaliyan hai jinki dor uparwale ke haatho me hai. Kab, kaun, kaha, kaise uthega yeh koi nahi janata” (Friend, we all are puppets in the hands of the Almighty. Who will go when and how – no one knows). Anand had told his Babu Moshai the final truth of life long time back. But as Yudhishtira told the Yaksha in Mahabharata, the greatest mystifying thing in this world is that all of us go on living as if we are immortal even when we see death claiming people all around us!
The truth hit me like a sledgehammer when I opened my mailbox 3-4 days back and saw an email informing me of a death of a batchmate from my B school. He was more or less of the same age as me!
I must confess that this isn’t the first time that someone I know has died but usually they were older people. I have also read about the deaths of people younger than me but they were usually strangers. This time death has struck with a force that seems terrifying because it has picked someone my age and whom I knew. I could barely believe my eyes as I read the mail twice.
And now I am determined that I will not forget that the life is short. I don’t mean it in any melancholic sense. I am looking at the silver lining to the cloud. Since I don’t know how much time I have still left and can’t realistically pretend that every day is my last, I am going to use every moment to its fullest. I am going to try hard and get rid of every negative emotion like jealousy, depression, anger, hatred and fear. I am going to fume and fret less. And I am going to work through my ToDo lists. I know I won’t be able to do it 24 * 7 but I am going to give it a try.
I don’t want another reminder from Anand. :-(
The truth hit me like a sledgehammer when I opened my mailbox 3-4 days back and saw an email informing me of a death of a batchmate from my B school. He was more or less of the same age as me!
I must confess that this isn’t the first time that someone I know has died but usually they were older people. I have also read about the deaths of people younger than me but they were usually strangers. This time death has struck with a force that seems terrifying because it has picked someone my age and whom I knew. I could barely believe my eyes as I read the mail twice.
And now I am determined that I will not forget that the life is short. I don’t mean it in any melancholic sense. I am looking at the silver lining to the cloud. Since I don’t know how much time I have still left and can’t realistically pretend that every day is my last, I am going to use every moment to its fullest. I am going to try hard and get rid of every negative emotion like jealousy, depression, anger, hatred and fear. I am going to fume and fret less. And I am going to work through my ToDo lists. I know I won’t be able to do it 24 * 7 but I am going to give it a try.
I don’t want another reminder from Anand. :-(
Ich Bin UPite!
Trouble finds some people when they least want it. But some people go on looking for trouble when it is least expecting them. Jaya Bachhan comes in the 2nd category.
Technically speaking, she is not from the UP – her husband is. But the true Indian wife that she is, her hubby dearest’s home is her own and so thus spake Jaya Bachhan. And now people are wondering if she will be able to say the same thing in the land of the “Puraachi Thailavi”. Wanna prove them wrong, Jayaji?
JFK was luckier than Mrs. Bachhan. People might say that his “Ich bin ein Berliner” had Germans rolling on the floor laughing as it translated to “I am a Jelly Donut”. But there at least is an alternative explanation. “Ich bin ein Berliner” can also mean “I am one with the people of Berlin” whereas “Ich bin Berliner” (which some claim is what JFK should have said in the first place) means “I am a citizen of Berlin”. So there is a possibility that JFK couldn’t have made the faux pass.
But not Mrs. Bachhan! Her “Ham UP waale hai, Hindi me hi bolenge” doesn’t really leave much room for any other interpretation, does it now? Maybe there is a “Little Kolkata” tucked somewhere in the land where the “Chhora Ganga Kinarewala” lives :-) Ich Bin UPite!
Technically speaking, she is not from the UP – her husband is. But the true Indian wife that she is, her hubby dearest’s home is her own and so thus spake Jaya Bachhan. And now people are wondering if she will be able to say the same thing in the land of the “Puraachi Thailavi”. Wanna prove them wrong, Jayaji?
JFK was luckier than Mrs. Bachhan. People might say that his “Ich bin ein Berliner” had Germans rolling on the floor laughing as it translated to “I am a Jelly Donut”. But there at least is an alternative explanation. “Ich bin ein Berliner” can also mean “I am one with the people of Berlin” whereas “Ich bin Berliner” (which some claim is what JFK should have said in the first place) means “I am a citizen of Berlin”. So there is a possibility that JFK couldn’t have made the faux pass.
But not Mrs. Bachhan! Her “Ham UP waale hai, Hindi me hi bolenge” doesn’t really leave much room for any other interpretation, does it now? Maybe there is a “Little Kolkata” tucked somewhere in the land where the “Chhora Ganga Kinarewala” lives :-) Ich Bin UPite!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Correct me if I am wrong but aren’t advertisements meant to make the consumers want to buy the product? Why is it then that some of them end up strengthening your resolve not to go for it even if offered for free? There is not just a single case in question – but two of them.
The first one is the Tata Sky ad featuring Aamir Khan acting as husband and wife both on their wedding night arguing about whether to go for Tata or Sky for their cable needs. The husband plays along his wife for a while before he tells her that they are the same thing. Pardon me if I have not got the plot straight because every time the ad is aired I curse the “creative brain” who conceived and executed this mediocre ad.
Aamir’s makeup for the role of the wife is so tacky that he practically ends up looking like an enunch. We all know he is a versatile actor but it's too much to make him play both the parts as if it was a “buy one get one free offer” just to emphasize that Tata and Sky are one and the same. I think if they had invested in a lady model instead the plot would have worked out okay except for the hugging and groaning at the end. I am not a purist but I believe everything has a place and this plot didn’t call for it.
If this is their idea of life going “zingalala” I am better off without it ;-)
The first one is the Tata Sky ad featuring Aamir Khan acting as husband and wife both on their wedding night arguing about whether to go for Tata or Sky for their cable needs. The husband plays along his wife for a while before he tells her that they are the same thing. Pardon me if I have not got the plot straight because every time the ad is aired I curse the “creative brain” who conceived and executed this mediocre ad.
Aamir’s makeup for the role of the wife is so tacky that he practically ends up looking like an enunch. We all know he is a versatile actor but it's too much to make him play both the parts as if it was a “buy one get one free offer” just to emphasize that Tata and Sky are one and the same. I think if they had invested in a lady model instead the plot would have worked out okay except for the hugging and groaning at the end. I am not a purist but I believe everything has a place and this plot didn’t call for it.
If this is their idea of life going “zingalala” I am better off without it ;-)
The other ad that’s driving me up the walls these days is that of Reliance BigTV. There were other ways of driving home the “Big” aspect of their offering. The fat vegetable vendor who topples the vehicles in her path by just screaming like a banshee is plain over-the-top in the noisy Indian streets. And I really thought that the fat king disintegrated in million pieces as he landed on ground before I realized that he used his bulk to bring up water for his thirsty citizens. :-)
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