Pro Choice

I hate dictations. Remember the spelling tests in lower classes? The teacher would dictate a word and we had to write it. I was pretty good at that; but still, I hated it.

Dictating words is one thing.

Dictating life is totally different.

I don't want a life where I am dictated things. If I am the only one who has to face the consequences of my actions, why should you dictate? For lemonade?

So let me live.

Live smoking.

Live drinking.

Live making out.

Live making in.

Live working.

Live lazing.

Live eating.

Live working out.

Live doping.

Live meditating.

Live travelling.

Live sleeping.

Live playing.

Live fighting.

Live writing.

Live reading.

Live farting.

Live puking.

Live blogging.

Live commenting.

Live thinking.

Live dreaming.

And if you don't agree with me, I will buy you a lemonade. See I CHOOSE to buy. Or I CHOOSE not to buy. You CHOOSE to accept. Or you CHOOSE not to accept.

Dev D - From a curious onlooker

I accept I am kind of a newbie when it came to knowing about Anurag Kashyap. I don't know what made me buy the 2-DVD pack of Black Friday. But well, I put money into it. And it blew me away. Narration that doesn't preach. Editing like it's sprinting towards a finish line in Olympics. Special effects that didn't shout "LOOK AT ME!"

Later I looked into his filmography and was mindblown! Many films that meant something to me. Including the shelved Alwyn Kalicharan. I still remember seeing a small teaser image of the movie. A fleeting glance, but a longlasting image.

Paanch, with its brilliant score. It was like the opening of a floodgate in an unknown dam. We all felt the rush, but never realised where it came from. Watching Paanch is something I want to do before I die.

No Smoking. His first film after I was a true blue fan boy. And was I excited! But a step too many that one. I liked it. I couldn't dislike is more appropriate. But not many others felt the same.

And now, Dev D (I am not mentioning Hanuman Returns, well for whatever reasons). My curiosity is peaked. The trailer runs in my iPod and I hook it up to my speakers and listen to the all-too-short strains of 'Emotional Atyaachar.'

Here is the trailer of the movie.

And here is the poster.

I want to know what you guys think about the poster and the trailer. I know there ain't many of 'you guys' out there. But whatever trickle nevertheless is water.

Picture courtesy: www.passionforcinema.com

Trailer courtesy: Utv Motion Pictures

I know you love me...

... so why don't you buy me a PS3?

Death: Home Delivered

He was probably close to 80. Yellowed teeth (a few missing, probably 'coz they were too yellow), hollowed cheeks and grey hair so light, it was like a dense fog that settled over his scalp. 

He stopped me outside my gate. I presumed he wanted a lift somewhere.

"Can you do me a favour?"

His voice definitely didn't hide his smoking preference. It was a hoarse whisper at the loudest.

"Where are you heading towards?" he asked. 

"Oh, I am sorry, but I am just going to the junction. Not anywhere far."

I rarely like the prospect of giving lift to strangers. Humanitarian considerations have taken a quiet back seat, thanks to Bangalore newspapers.

"I want a small help from you. Can you buy me a pack of cigarettes?"

Now this was more than just a regular dilemma. This has become a moral issue. One of conscience. The man was obviously hiding his desire for nicotine from his family. Else I'm sure he'll have an able-bodied son or grandson to get this task done.

I decided to play the white samaritan.

"I am really sorry. You shouldn't probably be smoking at this age. Plus your family might not really like it. I'm sorry."

There. I have said it. Being someone who smokes a strict four cigarettes everyday (never less,  often more), it was a dire decision for me to make. Does it imply that I don't care about my health as I do about others'?

I brushed the dilemma off my white samaritan uniform. After all, he was pretty old. I wouldn't be smoking at that age. So it's best he too doesn't.

I couldn't get that old man out of my head. I kept thinking. He was asking out of possible desperation. A desperation for something that might seriously affect his health. Now if a packet of cigarette can have such an effect on me, what about euthenesia? Both are questions of personal choice. But to hand it to them, you need someone else.

Can I pull the plug on someone suffering from a possibly terminal disease?

I remain a huge advocate of euthenesia. I am ready to keep money aside for a flight to any country were euthenesia is legal, and get my plug pulled. But who will pull it? If my life doesn't go into progressively deeper ditches, I am sure none of my close family will.

And if ever someone asked me to stop his aching heart from its miserable journey, I don't think I can. There will be a dear someone, somewhere in the world who wants to see the ailing man live how much ever he can naturally. Who am I to decline their needs? Who am I to decline the dying man's needs?

See why this is a question of moral dilemma more than just of personal choice? There is no answer here. My hands are empty. Probably yours too.

As I came back after my short ride. The old man was still there. I don't think there passed anyone else who granted his wish. Will the cigarette pack make his today brighter and tomorrow pitch dark? Is that what he wants? Or a bleaky today and a bleakier tomorrow?

I didn't look at his face. I couldn't stand the question anymore. I was too scared.

Bite my Rave

(Courtesy Nikhil Chinapa's note in facebook)

"Rave parties are a heady mix of drugs, Alcohol and sex", say Headlines Today.

Music anyone? Did we forget the music? Rave parties are a heady mix of free spirited individuals, gathering together to celebrate life under the influence of some of the best music in the world. Screw drugs, screw alcohol, screw you, Headlines Today - you clueless bunch of useless journalists who wouldn't know a "Rave" if it stood up, poked your eye and bit you in the leg.

I'm not for a second condoning drug use or even attempting to stand behind the often used argument of, "Oh, but drugs are everywhere". Yes they are, but for the millionth time, the people who do the drugs continue to do them with or without the music!! Will you moron's stop maligning the music I love and reinforcing public paranoia against electronica and electronic music artists?

The media are all the same - in a rush to report anything and sensationalize the latest "hot" story. I still don't know what EXACTLY happened with the so-called terrorist encounter in Delhi where Inspector Sharma lost his life. Which channel is continuing it's coverage that story? Screw channels, which newspaper is still covering it, or EVER covered it? As far as I know, all they did was mouth the official story.

Same story... different city. "Police bust drug fuelled rave". "241 revelers arrested" "Large quantities of drugs confiscated." Really? did the cameras catch the "large quantities" or are you just taking the word of our lads in Khaki? Are we going to get statements from the peddlers, from our arrested revelers... or will we only continue to loop the same footage of carefully worded statements from the authorities?

Come on Headlines Today, NDTV, Times Now... either shit or get off the pot.

Real jounalism. I crave for it in my country.

I wonder if someone will deport me off this country. What should I do for this? Any suggestions? Rave perhaps?

IT - Indian Terror

The news channels are going berserk. Finally a terror outfit that functions like an MNC. There are designations, project plans, risk analysis and territorial delegations.

The recent crack up of the Indian Mujahiddeen has presented itself as a five course dinner for the news channels. Especially hungry are Headlines Today, Aaj Tak, India TV and Star News. No surprises there.

Headlines Today aired a show called the Web of Terror yesterday (September 25, 2008). What they also managed to do was to grab a hammer, take a nine inch nail and drive it straight through your skull. No. They were not finished yet. That was just their bg'm'. They proceeded to pluck the nine incher, firmly placed in the thick of your brain, by announcing that the information they are so confidently airing is from a "secret source" in the Police Department. Then they hammered the nail back into our skulls with the rest of the show that actually convicted these people. Isn't there a clause somewhere in the rule books of news channels that a person not yet found guilty by the court of law has to addressed as "accused"?

The show presented the Indian Mujahiddeen as something we all could relate to; an IT company. You know those blue-collared, knotted-on-the-neck professionals responsible for the Indian economy's flourish.

So with the show, someone became the Head of Operations of their Delhi unit. "Like the CEO of a company," they informed us.  There was a Human Resource manager who "recruited" new blood into the outfit. And this one takes the cake. They have a Public Relations Officer. A Public Relations officer for a terror outfit. And I thought I had seen everything. Or heard everything.

You can just imagine the role of a Public Relations officer. Once they have successfully completed a blast, the Public Relations guy calls a press conference. He then proceeds to inform the world in front of camera flashes that it was their diligence in planning and executing this operation that has successfully killed hundreds. You know this is going into his annual performance review.

So. I'm a buns hole sitting in my chair and trivialising a national menace that has killed thousands. Adjust those glasses a bit and tune your hearing aid. 

I did not start this. One viewing of the programme in discussion that was aired on national television ( ! ) and you see there is a responsibility at rapid threat here - integrity of news channels. The supposedly serious matter has been trivialised or sensationalised for TRPs. It is a much blown horn of concern this, decline of integrity. But I bow down before you, my majestic audience, and blow it just once more. Pom!

Darkos, Drives and Desi Smokers

Herd mentality is a bad thing. You are stuck in a crowd, and you start thinking like the crowd. Your individuality goes for a toss. 

Imagine you are in an elevator with five other people. There is a next-to-zero chance of you striking a conversation with them. Now, if the elevator gets stuck somewhere. You crack a joke about saying your prayers. Or the sad state of elevators. Somehow, a common fear always brings people closer.

Is that the reason why 'No Smoking' bombed? 

You are in a movie theater with a hundred odd other people (I saw it on the first day of release, so the count is justified). The movie chugs along better than most other movies, with a story line which is weird, but still comprehensible. And suddenly, the elevator stops. You lose connect with the movie. The last half an hour beats your intellect. Now that is really a question for your highly inflated ego. You are a successful businessman, or IT professional, or whoever. You cannot fail to comprehend something. That too something as 'trivial' as a movie. Our sixth sense kicks into action, and we sense the same fear in others. Ah! Now its time for the jokes. The director must have lost it. Your boo is echoed by other boos from the crowd. Result? Bad movie.

I liked the movie and was ready to 'overcome' this slight issue of not getting this movie. I had faith in Anurag Kashyap, and knew there was something in there. This though not obvious at first, is definitely there. It has to make sense somehow. But how many of us are really ready to take that step?

Recently I saw two familiar movies, which made no sense at first. But the way these movies are made, you build this faith in the director. He will not take your hand and guide you through the movie only to throw you off a cliff in the end. You sit down and think. (SPOILERS) Donnie Darko has some obvious references to time travel, so maybe the end can be justified with that theory. Mulholland Drive has this reference about dreams. So maybe, you can interpret the movie as a surreal dream. These are again just interpretations and not necessarily a conclusive fact.

Good art, they say is like connecting the dots. You remember those numbered dots you have in children's books. You connect them and you get the picture. Now you take the numbers off these dots. This series of seemingly unrelated dots can be interpreted to many images. It can be a duck, or a dinosaur. Appreciating art is all about interpreting art.

No Smoking is a very well made movie. Its production qualities are some of the best ever in Hindi movies; even better than the big budget super-hero kinds. Sadly, it didn't work. Because our brains are better put to use in our 9 to 6 jobs than in a two-and-a-half hour movie. And please, we cannot be wrong. The director was smoking Afghan Hash.