Real life tales .... wish they were untrue

Just heard a story where a woman returning from office at midnight was struggling to open the lock of main gate to her house while her family slept peacefully saying that the gate is already open and assuring that she can just walk in easily. She spent 5 mints standing on main gate figuring the lock and other hinges of the gate. Now knowing how 'safe' Delhi is – whether day or night -, had the woman been mauled outside her house (as we know has happened in some cases in Delhi), would the family muster courage to admit that they had been careless in this entire situation? Probably, they could’ve claimed that it was woman's fault for returning home at wee hours – “what’s the need, you see?”. 

Would they admit that they'd been careless handling the entire situation? Is sleep so precious that you can compromise on somebody’s safety?

U-turn in entertainment

Till recently, we have watched Tv serials 'inspired' or plainly adapted from movies, where the serial's story-line simply follows a popular movie's plot and it eventually becomes successful. Recent one is 'Pyaar Ki Ye Ek Kahani' (PS: title is as tacky as the series) which is very similar/inspired to the popular vampire love story Twilight series. Also there's 'Love U Zindagi' running on TV which is an adaptation of 'Jab We Met'.


Now this trend is about to change with successful serials replicating their story lines on the 70mm screen. We recently had 'Khichdi: The Movie' in 2010 which was a cinematic adaptation of the famous tele-series by the same name. Now Pankaj Kapoor's famous Office Office joins this league. Kapoor's new movie (tentatively titled) 'Pension Ki Tension' which is a take-off of his popular sitcom Office Office. Kapoor, along with his co-stars from the TV serial are living up their tele-image on the big screen as well.

If this movie is a hit or not is yet to be seen but it is certainly a pointer of many new trends coming in entertainment.

BTW, do you want any specific tele-series to be made into a movie? You can share in the 'comments' section.

Hair and there... Wise-crack from an ordinary day

Bad hair day turns out to be the day when I was noticed most. The usual morning rush and migraine stroke didn't leave me much time to wash hair this morning. Result: I landed in office with olive oil dripping from my hair.


I hoped to lie-low and just be confined to my workstation all day. Just then an urgent department meeting was called. My super-boss introduced us to his successor and everybody stooped ahead for a generous hand-shake with the new guy. With dismal smile of my face and oil-soaked hair I also welcomed him. I'm sure he nick-named me 'oily', 'greasy-looking' or any other phrase that suits this description in Japanese. (PS: my super-bosses are Japanese)

"What an impression," I yelled at myself and walked back grudgingly to the workstation. In next hour, we got a mail about formal lunch in the honour of my new super-boss. Entire floor was invited for the fiesta... "humiliation" was the only word running on my mind then.

I got along with three other female colleagues, who in turn give me 'oh-there's-something-wrong-with-your-hair' look. Of course in corporate squares such things are never mentioned directly, your looks say it all. I quickly put up false attitude and pretence, but sub-cautiously I tried to hide myself in the crowd, I tried stay behind of others, I tried to walk next to the wall and tried out ten more cheap tricks to make myself invisible.

Horror struck when I found the cafeteria full of dignitaries and expat officers, of course including all top-bosses. The MD called for everybody's attention, introduced new super-boss, thanked the present super-boss and called for quick introduction with prominent people in the place.

Department heads stood up for introductions, suddenly I heard my immediate-boss's name. I froze, she was sick and hence out-of-office. I stepped forward to tell everybody about the situation, the present super-boss called me to explain 'little' about our team. With oily hair I marched ahead, managed an impressive speech about internet, websites, social media etc. I step down and more introductions continued.


The generous new super-boss took over the stage. He didn’t remember most names, so he used generic references to thank all people there. And then he lobbed a bomb at me, he thanked me referring to me as "the lovely lady with stylish hair-do" - I had just waited for this moment. Wanted to die-that moment but thought about my parents and discarded the idea. Now, everybody's been teasing me with this incident.

PS: Many here think that new-boss is impressed with my hair-style, wish I could tell him the truth.

(This post is a work of fiction, it doesn’t have references to actual people)

Sachin and his (im)possible makeover

‘Is Sachin Tendulkar undergoing a makeover?’ I asked myself. But then I dumped this question outright and realised that Sachin is definitely not a person who needs/has to undergo image makeover. He has a larger-beyond-life persona and things like makeover are only for attention-deficient glam dolls, Sachin stands at a pedestal beyond comparison and explanation.



My reason for such a question is this advt -

Just spotted this advertisement of a popular brand of cameras that Sachin Tendulkar endorses. Noticed that Sachin’s hair have been morphed - our Master Blaster is known for his eccentric curls and this advt. features him in straight hair. For once I thought that this could be Sachin’s attempt at make-over, but this could well be a photoshop job. No offence but I like Sachin with curls, with his trademark sincere look and down-to-earth attitude.

Big Boss 4 – Seema brings back old memories

Big Boss 4 comes to an end today. Not that I watched it every day or I will miss the drama there, in fact I'm happy that it’s over and here's hoping it may be replaced by some meaningful/entertaining show. I don’t detest this show, but didn’t find it entertaining enough. I only watched its handpicked episodes and that too for the sake of just one person - Seema Parihar. Sounds unbelievable, but it’s true.

She was certainly the most non-glamorous characters in the BB house and possibly the only one who didn’t have any big recollections to flaunt there. Throughout her stay there, she seemed like the only one who didn’t utter swear words. That seems like too much of a big deal for a person who has seen a rather rough side of life, when compared to other contestants who seemed city bred and so-called well cultured.

I had spoken to her way back in 2006 when I was working with HT and was doing a story for cinema section. The story was about real people telling their own stories through films. Seema had then just finished shooting for her biopic - Wounded directed by Krishna Mishra. You can read it here - http://www.hindustantimes.com/Real-heroes-take-to-reels/Article1-107951.aspx

My conversation with her was very short but it was a very frank account of her life. She told me she didn’t need glycerine to act in her film because a mere recollection of her past life and incidents make her cry. She told me she is very uncomfortable settling in big city life. Now, it seems she has become more comfortable with people and the ways city life. Saw her jiving to Munni Badnam and whatever numbers. Good luck to her, hope she remains as rooted to her sensibility as she seemed.

Eleven resolutions for 2011

Even though making resolutions may sound obsolete in this age, I still feel it’s a good practise because its puts you in a thinking mode about your personal goals. Even if you achieve just half of them, you would be able to change your life by some miles. 

So here go my 11 resolutions for the year 2011 – 

1.       - Get rid of driver’s phobia and not think that everybody on the road is about to hit me when I’m at the wheel

2.       - Get back to reading, even if I can finish just one book in three months

3.       - To stop watching stupid Bollywood flicks and instead spend this time and money on buying books

4.       - Get into fab zone, a possible U-turn from the flab zone where I’m currently headed

5.       - Remember imp birthdays even if I have to get a tattoo to put all the dates

6.       - Stop thinking about office when I’m at home

7.       - Not obsess about rules and regulations everywhere, especially when I’m in Noida

8.       - Just chill at times

9.       - Take short trips back home more regularly

10.   - Learn pottery painting

11.   - Last, but the most IMPORTANT – get a punching bag to my divert anger

Living in the age of Reality TV

Got a mail last week. The subject line was as provoking as its message, it read - ‘Stuck With Wrong Parents’. It is a promo for a show being aired on UTV Bindaas where the lifestyles of youngsters are pitted against the older generation. Saw its promos on TV as well where youngsters are yelling and screaming for possible ‘interference’ and ‘intrusion’ in their lives and later the shouting turns into name calling. 

Of course, it looks like great ‘masala’ and a sure shot formula to gather enough eye-balls for the show but a sad pointer to the fact that TV producers will go to any length to win more audience. Also, a stark reminder of how gullible our generation is (me included). 

Gone are the days when people wouldn’t give out their secrets for anything. Remember the age old saying – maine use zubaan di hai (I have made a promise) and people would go to any extent to keep up their promises and reputations. People wouldn’t hang around with folks who had tainted reputations.  No one would dare to start any controversial topic, leave alone become a centre pint of any uncomfortable conversations. 

Now, things are different. Our generation is more than happy to be a part of controversies. ‘Gossip’ is the buzz word everywhere, and the gossip mongers are as happy as their subjects.  We are dying to be part of shows like ‘Big Boss’, where every bit of lives, every moment of our day will be on display. We don’t mind losing our cool in public, retorting or responding to any claims or allegations heaped on us, even if it is coming from a dead fly. Patience, calm, grace, dignity are words found in the dictionary only. Otherwise in practical life we are all willing to give up everything for five seconds of fame, some Lakhs of Rupees or some recall value even if its comes for all wrong reasons. And this is where the clever producers win. They whip up shows where our meanest instincts are on display and they get more TRPs for bringing out the worst in us. Thanks to this new trends we have no bodies turn into instant celebrities, look at the likes of Rakhi Sawant, Raja Chaudhary, Dolly Bindra.

As for the UTV show ‘Stuck With Wrong Parents’, I would say Shravan Kumar must be turning in his grave after hearing about this shows. 

PS: Shravan Kumar is the mythical character who carried his aged, blind parents everywhere to fulfil their last wishes.