Yeh Hai Bombay Meri Jaan

 

26th January (Republic Day) is coming . One of the two days (the other is Independence Day; for them who have forgotten the names) when we, somehow try to remember our past patriotic leaders. Within some days the songs devoted to our nation can be heard in a Paan Shop or a Saloon or hardly in somebody’s home.

School days were better ,when at least we were more interested in celebrating,  not because the patriotism towards the nation,but because the sweets that we were getting on Republic /Independence day. Getting up early , asking mother for nicely pressed cloths , with a rough sketch of national flag in hand, we would march forward to the school premises for flag hoisting. National anthem was shouted out loud at highest pitch and then comes the sweet distribution round, the most awaited.

But the days have changed (we say so ; but its us who changed) ,now I hardly remember the complete verse of national anthem.

I was getting bored of watching all sort of movies (action/comedy/horror and the most boring the love stories) ,while surfing over IMDB came across a Bollywood movie named Mumbai Meri Jaan .

It’s a movie that talks about the aftermath of the serial bombing in the local trains - by which more than half of Mumbai’s life travels each day. An incident that still causes gooseflesh to the Mumbaikars , whenever they recall it.The story is about five persons who are not related together but the bombing has caused the similar affect on each of them. But this dynamic city has a never dying spirit. People start living a normal life just one or two days after the incident. The daily passengers continue travelling by suburban trains , the police is still busy in finding the guilty.

But the aftermath responsibilities are totally different, that is handled by the Government of India and the other country’s . Other nations never forget what those have lost in any terrorist attack .Osama is rewarded death even ten years after his fabulous work in 2001. Unlike in  India , where even if a terrorist is caught he is still celebrating his Birthday year by year inside jail premises.

The movie has a different taste, not related to terrorists or their activities or the political drama on them. The most loving part is one of the old melody from Mohammad Rafi :

ए दिल है मुश्किल जीना यहाँ
ज़रा हटके ज़रा बचके, यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान

कहीं बिल्डिंग कहीं ट्रामे ,कहीं मोटर कहीं मिल
मिलता है यहाँ सब कुछ इक मिलता नहीं दिल

इंसान का नहीं कहीं नाम-ओ-निशाँ
ज़रा हटके ज़रा बचके ,यह है बॉम्बे मेरी जान|

Five Persons I wish I could meet before 2012

Its December 22nd , Winter solstice , the shortest day of the year 2011. Christmas ,two days to go . Nine days to go and New year will be here but its first time, there is no any excitement. The day starts with waking up early ,heading towards a building where an empty chair along with a desktop is always waiting. Daily activities are like checking and forwarding e-mails , keeping an eye on the average working hours ,counting how many days to go for Friday, browsing some study materials , reading and acting to read ,until someone comes and asks the most awkward question
“ Hey ! What are you doing ? ”
Friends are there , who are always punctual at some activities like going for lunch and dormitory, a coffee at CCD  or for an evening walk !
Albeit these tedious days will continue throughout this year , just forget it , here is the list of five persons I wish I could meet before the world ends in 2012 !
      1.  Sachin Tendulkar 
why ? – Because he has been a role model for whole generation of cricketers ,an inspiration to the young generation.
What to ask ? – How does it feel like being a GOD ? 
      2.  Baba Ramdev
Why ? – Because he is the latest swami who became a crusader against corruption.
What to ask ? – Why don’t you come to Jharkhand and help our legendry CM ‘Madhu Koda’ getting cured ? The state is missing it’s great leader.
      3.  Sharad Pawar
Why ? –  There are something we can not do ,        For all those things , there is ‘Harvinder Singh’.
What to ask ? – Why haven’t you offered your other cheek , instead insulted Gandhi by not following his principles ?
     4. Mark Zuckerberg
Why ? -  Is there any bachelor who does not want to meet him !
What to ask ? – As the world is going to end on 21/12/12 , why don’t you make me  partner of your firm ?
      5. Rajinikanth
why ?- To tell him , there is one thing you can’t do :  “You can not read my blog posts !”
What to ask ? – Throughout the year I was searching for the answer of the question asked by your son-in-law . Now I give up. Please tell me “Why this Kolaveri Di ? ”. 

Shit Happens !

Mysore, July 2nd, 2011
Venue : Hostel No 85
Saturday , One of the holidays the Company celebrates every week. I woke up late in the morning by a phone call threat,from one of my mate,the movie maniac.
“Wake up ! We have to go for movie tickets. Get ready  soon,otherwise I will miss the movie, I don’t care about you missing it. Hurry up !”
‘Sleeping’,the most pleasant activity because it has dreams in it ; dreams, where I find myself not less than Rajnikant ! Somehow I paused my dream ,got ready ,and marched on for Mission ‘Movie’. Till we reached the multiplex, the queue for tickets had been one and half kilometer long .  My friend frowned at me , why not ? He missed the first show of Aamir Khan’s production “Delhi Belly” just because of me. Frustrated ,depressed he went near the poster ,looked at each characters thoroughly, read the tag line of the movie “Shit Happens” ,came back to me with frowny face , as the first Shit had happened to him. All I could do was to assure him that we would be the first one in the queue for the next show.
But someone had planned differently for us. I went to the clinic for the check up and ,the nurse there ,examined for 2-3 minutes and finally announced :
“Oh ! We have one more case of Chicken Pox.”
Looking at me she said again “ You have to get admitted in hospital as you are not allowed to stay here, in the campus ,any more.” Another Shit of the day,that had happened to me.
Venue : Apollo,Mysore
I, along with two other friends was waiting for check-in at accommodation desk.
“Sir ! We have three types of  wards available, named as, Silver ,Gold and Platinum. Silver is with single bed ,a chair but no a/c. Gold is with extra facility, a/c and a normal TV in it. Likewise Platinum consist of microwave oven, freeze and LCD TV in it. Which kind of room you want to book ?” She said in one breath and an artificial smile on her face.
“OK. Book the room with lowest price.”I replied in a low tone, checking the sign board again ,wondering, was it a hospital or a three star hotel. 
“Sorry Sir ! As this is a patient season we don’t have rooms available in Silver ward for next 7 days and there would be room available in Gold ward by tomorrow. Should I book a room in Platinum ward ? Rooms in this ward are very comfortable with….”
“Do I have any other choice ?” I interrupted her in between.
“No Sir !”
“OK book it for tonight, but I will get it changed to Gold ward by tomorrow.” I said and counted how much money would I have to put for getting cured. I got a wicked smile as I remembered the conversation with my brother on the day I got my first salary , 30th of June, two days ago. He had asked how would I spend my first salary !
A nurse entered my room with a letter pad, without any delay started interrogating :
“What happened! Do you smoke? Alcoholic ?What are the belongings with you ? Laptop ? Mobile ? Any jewellery ? Married ? Children ?”
All I could do was to nod yes or no with making a face at her.
“The doctor would be visiting you ,soon.” She left after noting all the information.
As she had said , an overweight person came within  half an hour, along with four beautiful nurses , in between the ages of 20 to 25. Looking at them and the doctor I sighed, cursed myself  “Why hadn’t I opted for medical science , six years ago!” 
The next morning I got my room changed to another ward , the quality of facilities changed ,and likewise the ages of nurses ,in between 30 and 35!
Days passed , nights elapsed, shits were over, I came back to campus repenting over missing a movie full of shits !

What’s not in a Surname

 

“Tell me your name Boy”

the person sitting in front of me asked, while he was writing something on the letter pad.

“Its Sudhansu, S,u,d………”. I replied humbly, while he continued writing in a non-readable format. I was wondering, why all doctors have such a good hand-writing , that can only be understood by the doctor himself or the person sitting in the medical shop !

“What’s the problem with people,today ?Why don’t they tell their surnames? ” he asked as if I knew the answers.

“What’s in a surname ,Sir !” the only words I could think of as a reply.

“Oh  ! What’s not in a surname ! How can I know , which caste do you belong ?”

“Sir ! Do you prescribe medicines based on caste ?” I asked with amusement.

“No! Surnames are the criterion ,Indian people consider , when they need to know which caste other Indian people belong . See , our corrupted politicians ! They are very much good at it. How do they grab public attention when they visit some unfamiliar region of different caste and creed, for their rally ? All it matters is our surnames” he said, like he was the most hurt by corruption in our nation. “Now if you are in no mood of telling your surname , Should I write your name as ‘Sudhansu  I’ ? Do you know what ‘I’ symbolizes ? ”

I nodded a negative reply.

“Oh ! ‘I’ is for Indian. Think ,….how  good it would be when we all Indians ,have the same surname ,‘I’. There would be no distinction based on name, in a country.Likewise we should have ‘P’ for all people from Pakistan, ‘B’ for Bangla Desh and so on…..” he explained and slid the prescription paper towards me. “We will meet together ten days later.”

"That would be a great idea. At least our political problem would be solved .But it is worth saying.We could do nothing in it!” Later I bid him good bye with a thank you and a smile. I am waiting for next appointment with him where I  will tell my name ,adding ‘I’ as surname !

When a Stranger Calls

• Venue – Boy’s Hostel(3rd year) ,No. –12
• Timing – around 11 pm ,December ,2009

KC , my 1st year roommate , comes to my room .He is a movie maniac. Whenever he entered my room  late at night , it was sure I had to watch a movie with him. That day he came with a pen drive and a movie in it. Without any discussion about which movie to watch , he plugged in the pen drive . It was horror movie name     “One Missed Call ”.
Movie was decided , so it was time to make room environment unfriendly for a horror movie. Lights were switched off , woofers were connected, door was shut and windows were opened as of making a bypass for spirits. Movie was started around 12 am .
Story was about a chain of people who received terrifying phone calls from themselves in the future in form of  voice mails that include the date and  exact time of their deaths. The death chain continues as the victim receives a call from the last victim. Some scenes were quite scary to have goose bumps. Well , the massage of movie was  “ Should you ever receive a phone call from yourself dated in the future , do not answer ! ”
The show  ended around 1:30 am ,and as usual it was time to have a brief discussion on it , the missing manual : what , why and how the  story proceeded in movie. The discussion went about one and a half hour, firing philosophy of ghosts by two of us .In the end I requested him to sleep on the bed next to me ,as ghosts of different shapes were performing ‘Tandava’ in my mind.
It was around 3 am ,when the silence in the room was pierced by nokia tune. My heart rose to my throat.It was an unknown call.  I looked at KC , he was also looking at me with his mouth open. He was in no mood of receiving the call , so I had to grasp it, answered “Hello” in a breathless voice.
“Is Sanjay there ? I want to talk with him”
came a girl’s voice from the other side. I took a sigh of relief, recalled, Is there any one named ‘Sanjay’ in my corridor : ‘No’ , Is there any one named ‘Sanjay’ in my branch of strength 30 boys : ‘No’.  I handed the phone to KC , thought, she might be looking for him. He stammered as he said “Hello” in a low tone.
“I want to talk with Sanjay , hand over the phone to him”
“Are Bengali phone rakhega, Sale ! sone do .”
 his irritation rasped in his voice as he hanged up the phone.
“He is ‘Bengali’ ,on the other side. He’s using some mobile app that is used to translate a male voice in a female one.I’ve seen it on TV”
 He explained to me that the person on the other side might be one of our batch mate “a bengali guy”. I thought he should be correct otherwise  my time was up as received a unknown call like seen in the movie. Meanwhile ,the phone ranged the second time, displaying same unknown number. I picked up again ,the same voice came
“Why don’t you let me talk with Sanjay ? Its urgent”
“There is nobody called ‘Sanjay’ here. Now, would you please stop ringing me at this time”  I replied.
“No, its urgent. I have some problems” she said again.
“Sanjay is nowhere present here, how can I hand over phone to him”
“OK, then you must help me . I am a 12th class student and I have some problem in solving H.C. Verma’s Physics book questions” she said like she had called in a Physics helpline center .
“Is this the time to ask  questions related to Physics , now , just get lost and let me sleep” I  replied in a harsh tone.
“you just get lost….” I could hear before hanging up for the second time.
 I looked at KC , who was about to leave my room because of disturbance. I pulled him back to bed ,as the phoned ranged for third time.
“Just help me to solve one question -   A man throws a ball with velocity 'u' and angle Θ,from a lift  which is moving upward with velocity ‘v’ .With what velocity does the ball touch the ground ?” she asked as I picked up the phone.
“OK its ‘v+u’ multiplied by cosΘ divided by under root sin2Θ plus 'u' by tanΘ” I replied in a random guess as KC was chuckling beside me.
“No, its not the answer , tell me the correct one.” she said after waiting for few seconds , might be checking the answer.
“Then I don’t know how to solve it . Now please hang the phone up and let me sleep , I have to attend morning sessions at College. If you have any more questions, call me in the morning.. no in the afternoon, I’ve classes in the morning.” I slammed down the phone without waiting for a response. Put the phone is silence and went bed thinking of that person who was more than just a scary ghost from the movie.

• Timing : around 8:30 am

I woke up , grasped the phone, looked at its screen. It displayed….
“+9197…….. 
39 missed calls” .