Three Friends, Two Movies and...

Recently, I saw two Hindi movies which were very different from mainstream Bollywood. They were Delhi Belly and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Both the movies were about male bonding, and in both of them the lead characters were three best friends (in Delhi Belly they were Imran Khan, Vir Das and Kunal Roy Kapoor, while in ZNMD they were Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan and Abhay Deol). However, the similarity ends here. In terms of the story, the content and direction, the two movies were as different from each other as chalk and cheese.

Now, I am a sort of a person who watches movies just for enjoyment, and so it is rare that I dislike a movie. So, as expected, I really liked Delhi Belly and as well as ZNMD, but both of them for very different reasons. Here's a list of things I liked about both the movies, and which one out f the two would I prefer watching again in a movie theater.

I. DELHI BELLY

Why I like it

1. It's Different: When I say this, I simply mean that it is something which I have not seen before. The language used is very bold and it really takes guts to make such a risky film. So, kudos to the director and producer. I know that at this point quite a few of you would argue that this film could have been made sans the abusive language. Well, let me clarify that neither am I justifying the use of profanities, nor am I endorsing it. I am just saying that it was gutsy on the part of the team to come up with something like this.

2. Situational Comedy: I admit that I found the movie hilarious!!! Some of the scenes were just brilliant. Also, the best part was that the real humour did not come always come from the dialogues, but the actions of the characters. My personal favourites are: the scene where Vir Das tries to drink water while wearing a burqua, the one where Shehnaz's face is covered with a paper bag and she tries to run and bangs into a wall, the scene when the ceiling of Imran's, Vir's and Kunal's house falls off and the audience can see only a leg of a kathak dancer, and yes the one where a goon announces "Loondry!". There are many more such scenes, but these ones are memorable.

3. Music: I think the real essence of this movie is its music. The songs are very unconventional and if heard otherwise, might not be liked by many. But somehow they are totally apt for this movie. Again, my favourites in order of preference: Switty Switty, Nakkadwale Disco, Saigal Blues, Jaa Chudail and DK Bose.

4. Direction: The camera work and overall direction is pretty good. The narrow lanes, the unhealthy street food, the shabby house where the three guys stay, every detail has been taken care of. Also, the movie is fast paced and does not let the audience get distracted for even a minute. Lastly, a running time of 93 mintues without any Interval makes it a perfect watch.

II. ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA

Why I like it

1. Spain: I have just one word for it—MAGICAL! The way Zoya Akhtar has shown the mesmerising beauty of this country is just amazing. The sea, the mountains, the villages, the towns, the tomatina festival, everything has been so brilliantly captured in the movie that I just wanted to jump from my seat and rush off to Spain.

2. Acting: After a long long time there came a movie wherein each and every actor was so perfectly cast for their roles, and each of them did justice to their characters. Farhan, Hrithik, Abhay, Katrina, Kalki, Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, each actor brought out his/her character on the screen beautifully. Also, all the actors looked at so much ease that it was easy for the audience to forget that they were only acting out a part.

3. Humour: Yes, this movie also made me laugh very much. But, here it was the wittiness of the characters, the intelligent dialogues, certain expressions on the faces of the actors, amazing concepts like Bagwati, the innocence portrayed by all three friends, and the typical guy stuff that happens when boys get together which brought about laughs and claps and whistles from the audience. However, there were no below the belt jokes and no cheap slapstick comedy.

4. Story: Totally unlike Delhi Belly, this movie had a story, which provided a smooth flow to the narration. It is a story of growing up, of facing challenges and overcoming your fears in life. It is a story of realizing the importance of certain small things in life, such as your own breaths. And most importantly, it is about a journey, as Panky my friend rightly said, "a journey to your soul!"

5. Mature and Practical Characters: This is a commonality I have observed in all movies made by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, that the characters are very mature, practical and close to real life. They are never larger than life, nor are they portrayed as superheroes. The characters are simply real life common people. For instance, Naseeruddin Shah's character, Salman Habib, was so clear in what he wanted from life and made his decision accordingly. Also, even after 25-30 years, he does not regret his decision and his personality has not changed at all. Similarly, Abhay Deol's character, Kabir, is very practical. He does not want his fiance (Natasha, played by Kalki) to change her priorities in life just because they are getting married. Also, as he says, he does not want "Do jism ek jaan types wala pyar."

6. Dialogues: There are certain deep and soul searching dialogues in the film which force you to think about your own life, the direction it's taking and your priorities. Particularly Katrina's dialogues are superb.

7. Imran's Poetry: Last but definitely not the least. Javed Akhtar's poetry, recited in the film by Farhan Akhtar, is the soul of this movie. There are five couplets which come in the background of the movie, and each one is better than the other. Here's the link to Pankaj's blog post if you want to read the four major poems. Given below is the one which is my personal favourite. I generally don't get effected by poems and typically don't go into much depth. But after listening to this piece of poetry, for the first time in my life, I had tears in my eyes, and goosebumps all over my skin. I don't know why or how it happened, but it touched somewhere deep in my heart.

Jab jab dard ka baadal chaya
Jab ghum ka saya lehraya
Jab aansoo palkon tak aya
Jab yeh tanha dil ghabraya
Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai
Duniya mein yunhi hota hai
Yeh jo gehre sannate hain
Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain
Thoda ghum hai sabka qissa
Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa
Aankh teri bekaar hi nam hai
Har pal ek naya mausam hai
Kyun tu aise pal khota hai
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai...

There are several other things which I loved about this movie like the sky diving scene. But, the post has become too long to go into the details of it.

My Pick

Without a doubt it's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara!! Simply because I personally could not find a  single flaw in the movie, whereas, I can point out several defects in Delhi Belly. Some of them, in brief, are: lack of a good story, sketchy characters without any details about them, failure of the movie to leave an impact, etc.

So, which of the tow did you find better? Do let me know!

Signing Out,

The Movie Buff

Is LOVE Real?

I had initially thought of writing a post recounting my experience of a recent trip to Thailand. I had even drafted a rough post in my mind. But, I changed my mind at the last minute. So, here's a post which is probably the most serious and thoughtful one I have ever written.

For the last 2-3 weeks, most of my conversations with friends have started or ended with the topics love, commitment, heartbreak, crush or girlfriends/boyfriends. Also, everywhere I look, I see people either in a committed relationship and looking towards marriage, or trying to work out a long distance relationship and missing their partners, or people desperately searching for love, or people suffering from one-sided love and trying to come to terms with their feelings.

Then, a few days ago one of my very close friends in office asked me, "Have you ever been in love or a in a relationship?" I replied, "No." When he asked my why, I told him that I never found anyone. I also declared that I was happily and willingly single. After that we moved on to other topics. However, somewhere in my mind his question kept nagging me and as I thought about it more and more, I became quite confused, and my inner turmoil grew. This one question had led to numerous other questions in my mind.

The first question I have is: What is LOVE?


I have been around many couples who claim they are deeply in love with each, have seen hundreds of romantic movies—both Hindi and English—and romance is my favorite genre, have heard (and still enjoy listening to) thousands of romantic songs, and have read many many romantic novels (Mills and Boon, Harlequin, etc.) thanks to a friend in college who sent me a link to a large collection of free Mills and Boon e-books (I still read these books for pure fun and time pass, whenever I feel bored.). Despite all this, I have never been able to understand love. I would like to clarify so many things about it.
1. Is love instant, like love at first sight, or does love grow gradually between two people?
2. Can two complete strangers fall in love (as we see in movies and read in books), or is it necessary for two people to know each other before they fall in love (like Shahrukh Khan says in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, "Love is friendship. If a girl cannot be my best friend, then I can never love her.")?
3. How does one realize that the other person is the love of his/her life? Do you just know, or is there some special sign?
4. Does love necessarily involve a physical relationship, or can two people in love have a platonic relationship?
5. Also, can two people be in a physical relationship without being in love with each other? - I would like to explain the root of this question. Well, as I mentioned above, I have read numerous contemporary romance novels over the last 3-4 years. The one thing I found common in it was that a man and woman met each other and felt a sudden physical chemistry. They lusted after each other and after some avoidance and hesitation ended up having sex. This happened mostly mid way through the book. However, they did not fall in love and proclaim their love to each other till the last or second last page of the book. So, I always wondered, how can two people have a purely sexual relationship without any emotions?

The second question which I have is: What does it feel like to be in LOVE?


Maybe because I haven't experienced this feeling ever, I am ignorant, and hence, asking this question. But I have always wanted to know that what happens to a person when he/she falls in love with someone that it alters his/her personality completely. A perfectly logical and rational human being suddenly starts behaving in foolish and crazy ways. I have observed people's priorities change, outlook towards life change, relationship with others change and several different changes. So, just like my first big questions, I would like to understand some things here too.
1. When a person falls in love, do all the other things, like family, friends, career, etc., take a back seat and only that one person becomes the number one priority?
2. Does being in love mean that you keep constant tabs on your girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse/fiance and give him/her an update about everything that you have done in a day or are doing at that very instant, including something as trivial as watching TV?
3. Does being in love make you totally unaware of your surroundings and your life revolves around that one special person in your life?
4. Does it become difficult to spend even one minute or second apart from each other, and your thoughts are constantly crowded only by him/her?
5. Does loving your partner feel the same like loving your parents, siblings and family, so much that life without him/her is unthinkable and unimaginable?
6. Does love make you forgiving and you are ready to forgive anything wrong your partner has done? Does being in love make you strong enough to forgive something as serious as infidelity?
7. Does being in love leaves you at the mercy of only one person, so much that you are willing to do absolutely anything, go to any lengths, to make that person your own, or have him/her love you back?
8. If a person can fall in love, then can he/she fall out of love too, or is he/she is bound to love only one person for the rest of his/her life, irrespective of the fact that he/she may not receive that same love in return?
9. Does being in love give you the strength to fight all the superficial barriers of caste, religion, age, traditions, rituals, etc., which the society has put up?
10. Is love a strength or a weakness?

My very last question is more for myself and I cannot seem to find an answer for it: Can I see myself falling in love with someone and feeling this powerful emotion?
Some days back, a colleague in office did a psychological test on me. After the test she told me that I am ready for a commitment, that I am ready to take the plunge and not wary of it. Also, I was told by someone once long back that I am a very passionate person and when I fall in love, it will be a very passionate relationship and I would give myself completely to it, so much that I would not care about the world, society, my family, or anyone else.
However, when I think about it, I feel differently. Somehow, I cannot see myself loving someone so intensely. I might be wrong, but this is my personal opinion. All my life I have been friends with so many guys that I have lost count. But I have never ever felt anything other than a friendly liking for any of them. So, I am totally clueless in this matter.

If you have answers to any of the questions I asked above, then do give them to me. It would help me to understand this emotion much better.

Signing Off,
Clueless about Love

A Different World Altogether

Hello Lovelies :-)

Long time no see!!

Although my intentions were good, I couldn't update my blog for a long time because of lack of time. But now that I am here, I will try my best to do a "Good Job"!

Some of you must be wondering as to why am I writing in such a weird manner. Well, it's just that I went on an outbound training from office recently, and I still seem to have the Mukteshwar Hangover!!

More than a training it was sort of an adventure camp with several physically challenging activities, such as trekking, rock climbing and rappelling. Also, we stayed in tents with no electricity, and no modern luxuries like refrigerators, geysers, internet etc. Overall it was an exhilarating experience and an immensely enjoyable trip. But, this is not a post where I recount all the tasks which did in Mukteshwar. Here, I just want to share with you all my experience about one particular task, which was completely different from all the other physically exhausting and adrenaline pumping activities. This was the very last task of our training program, and it was the one which exposed me to a world which was completely in contrast to the one I have known and lived in for the last 23 years of my life.

Well, the activity was pretty straightforward. We were divided into teams of three members each and taken to a small village near Mukteshwar, called Dhoopgarh. There we had to approach the local villagers and offer our services in return for lunch. Basically, we had to work for them and earn our lunch for the day. It was quite a tricky task as we had no idea whether the villagers would welcome us, or what kind of work would we be expected to do, or would they trust us enough to give us entry into their homes. With all these questions in mind, along with just one objective, some how to get food, we set out towards the village.

It was a long walk of about one or one and a half hours through a very rocky terrain. The sun was out in full force, and by the time we reached our destination we were all burned, tanned and filled with sweat. As we spotted a few houses we increased our pace and went searching for the villagers. I was a little ahead of the other two members of my team, and as soon as I spotted a house with a lady working courtyard which had not been approached by any other team till now, I went there to introduce myself. I told her that I worked in a company in New Delhi, had come here for the company's training program, and was staying in a camp in Mukteshwar. As a part of the training, we had been given the task to visit a village and spend a few hours at a house in the village to observe the rural lifestyle, and help the household members in their daily chores. I did not mention that we needed food in return. By that time my two other team members had also arrived and we made the introductions. As expected, the lady was a little apprehensive and was thinking about what to do next, when suddenly her mother-in-law, an old lady of around 70 years of age, emerged from the kitchen. She was very excited to see us and immediately told her daughter-in-law to open the first floor drawing room and make us sit there. After that we were treated like royal guests at their place.

They first served us a sweet drink, a sharbat, which was a welcome relief after walking so for so long. Then, the lady got peaches and plums, freshly plucked from the family's own plantations, and fed us the fruits. In the mean time a male member of the family had joined us and we started speaking with him about his family, his work, the general state of affairs in the village, and other general things. At that time the old lady also walked in and told us, rather ordered us, that we could not leave without having lunch! Internally, we all breathed a sigh of relief :-) A little while later their children also came in we started asking them questions about their education and school. When the kids were called downstairs by their mom, I also accompanied them into the kitchen. Once there, I tried to help the lady with her work, but she would not hear of it and made me sit on the floor and started chatting with me. After finishing her work, she also sat besides me and we spent a good 30-45 minutes discussing the difference between village and city life. She also inquired about my family and background. Then we were told that the lunch was ready. All three of us tried very hard to let us do some work, as we felt that we did not deserve the food we were eating. But, they wouldn't even hear of it. But when we became adamant, just to placate us, they offered to let us help them after we had eaten the food. Lunch was quite a lavish affair, and we ate rice, pulses, potato subzi, salad, mango pickle and tomato chutney. It was all very delicious and our stomachs were completely full by the time we finished.

We still had one more hour to spend with them. So, when I told this to the old lady and asked her what we could do to help, her reply was, " We will place the cots in the courtyard, and why don't you people take a nap for an hour?" :-D :-D However tempting the offer was, we declined and again started pestering them to let us do some work at least. At last, they told us to go with the children and gather some fruits from the trees located a short distance away from their house. We are quite happy to finally get something to do, and went to pluck fruits. We were very amazed to see the wide variety of fruits hanging from trees. There were peaches, plums, khurmanis, pears, apples, and many more other fruits. We plucked peaches and plums, as rest of the fruits were not yet ripe, and went back to the house. As we gave them the bag of fruits, they refused and asked us to take accept it as a gist from their side. Again we were dumbstruck and could not say anything to them. Soon it was time to leave and as we said our goodbyes, they all told us to come and visit them again. We started on our journey back. After we had covered some distance, we heard some noise behind us, and turned out. We were shocked to see the old lady carrying lots of plums in her hands and running after us. We stopped and when she reached us, she forcefully put the plums in our bag and told us that these were for the rest of our group.

All the way back I could not help but wonder about the generosity and hospitality of these simple village folk, and compare it with the totally opposite attitude of those living in cities. Theses people trusted complete strangers, allowed them into their house, and treated them with utmost respect. Simply unbelievable! While in the cities, people do not treat even their very close relatives this way. It was an eye opener for me and I felt so overwhelmed and humbled by their genuine affection and love. This activity was, no doubt, the best out of all, and was a lesson in life to me. I wish I could go back and spend some more time with these wonderful and caring people.

Here are some pictures I took of them.

The old lady with her dog

 Me with the kiddos.

 The lady of the house

Still more to come, but for now.

Signing Out,

Still Mukteshwar Hungover!

A Happy Post :)

With a sudden drop in the level of activity on this blog, you all must have realized that I am back to work. My life has again started revolving around the office, and all my thoughts are in one way or the other linked to my workplace. I had been meaning to update my blog for the last two weeks, and had even started some posts, but as always, I lost my train of thought somewhere in the middle and had to drop the idea. Then on Friday a weird thing happened at work, which made me aware of the fact that how small gestures and words can bring a smile to someone's face and lift their spirits. In this case, that someone is yours truly. I decided that I just had to write this post. My hands were itching to type it as soon as possible.


The incident (I don't know whether this is a correct word to use, but I can't think of any other more appropriate word right now) turned out to be quite funny, but it just made my day! Here's what happened:


It started as a normal day. As usual, I woke up at 5 AM, got ready in my workout gear and hit the gym. After working out for an hour, I came back home, got ready for work, and was sitting in the office cab by 8 AM. Since I was feeling a little sleepy, I put on my headphones, started listening to songs on my mobile, and closed my eyes. The last song I heard before reaching office was Quit Playing Games With my Heart, by Backstreet Boys. It's quite an old song, but I simply love it. I still remember when I first heard it. I was in the seventh or eighth standard, and my cousin had got a "cassette" recorded from a music shop nearby. He had given me the cassette to listen to his choice of songs, and had specially recommended this number. I admit that from the first time I heard the song, I fell in love with it. Since then, it has always been there on all my music players, cell phones, PCs, laptops, etc, and I listen to it as often as I can. Well, coming back to the topic at hand.


As I told you, this song was the last one I heard before I reached office and switched off the music. But, the lyrics were still swirling in my mind. There are these particular lines in the song, I am extremely fond of. They are:

Deep within my soul, I feel

Nothing's like it used to be

Sometimes I wish I could

Turn back time

Impossible as it may seem

But I wish I could

So bad

Whenever I listen to these lines I get a different sort of feeling, which cannot be expressed in words. Since the lyrics were still going through my mind, after I had switched on my computer, checked my mail, and logged into AOL messenger (our official messenger), I made the lines my status message on the messenger. Then I started on with my work. Barely five minutes later, I received a 'ping' from my counselor, which said: "Hi, how are you? Are you feeling fine?" To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised at receiving this. Before you make any assumptions, let me clarify that I share a very good relationship with my counselor. She and I chat pretty regularly and whatever problem I have, I go directly to her to discuss it. But, despite our good bonding and friendly relationship, it is still a little weird to get a ping from her out of the blue, and that also at the very start of the day. So, I replied by saying that I was fine and everything was going well. At this point she questioned me, whether I was telling the truth!! Again, not a normal question at all. So, I 'pinged' her again and asked as to what made her feel that I was not fine, to which she replied, "I got worried after reading your status message. It sounds sad. So, I thought I'll ask you what the problem is." Wow!! Now this was unusual. I assured her that nothing was wrong, and I just like this song and hence, put some lines from it as the status. But she still asked me to meet her after sometime and have a casual chat. So, I ended up having a half an hour long discussion with my counselor during which I tried to convince her that everything was great on my side. I also ended up giving her this song, as she was also quite fond of it.

But, this was not the end of it either. After sometime, a friend of my mine came to my workstation and straight away asked me, "Kya hua? Itni dukhi kyun hai?" (What happened? Why are you so upset?). I did not understand the question and just kept on staring at her with a puzzled look on my face. After a minute she told me that my status message gave the impression that I am sad and depressed. I started laughing and assured her that it was nothing, just a song. She got convinced, we talked generally for a few minutes and then she left. About 15-20 minutes later, another friend of mine dropped by and asked the very same question! At this point I was thinking to myself, "These guys give so much importance to status messages on AOL!! What's wrong with them?" But, I repeated the very same answer, which I had given to my other friend earlier. He also started laughing and went away shaking his head.

The story does not end here also. One of my cab mates was on leave that day. But, she was online from home, in an invisible mode. Suddenly, she sent me a ping which said,"Awesome status message!! But what happened? All well?" This is it, I decided. I had to change my message. I never knew that a status message can create such an impression on people. I gave her the very same reply once again. Soon after that I removed the controversial message, and instead put something simple instead.

After reaching home, when I looked back on the incident, I had a really good laugh. But also, I felt humbled by the concern of so many people. A mere status message made me realize that there are people, other than my family and a few close friends, who genuinely care about me. Thanks for all your questions and worries guys! It meant a lot to me.

Signing Out,

Ciao!

Think About It

My mom recently went to a Parent Teacher Meeting (PTM) at my sister's school. There, each parent was given a circular which contained a few paragraphs, depicting the reality of today's life. After reading the circular, I thought of sharing those lines with you, as they are so relevant in today's times.

Think About It

The paradox of our time in history is that:

We have taller buildings , but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses, but smaller families; more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, but less solutions; more medicines, but less wellness.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too. We've learnt how to make a living, but not a life; we've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbour.

We've conquered outer space, but not inner space; we've split the atom, but not our prejudice. We have higher incomes, but lower morals; we've become long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of tall men, and short character; steep profits, and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace, but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition.

These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stock-room.

Before ending this post, I would like to share a quote by RW Emerson (again given in that same circular), "We are always getting ready to live, but never living."

Happy Thinking,

Ciao!!

Sathya Sai Baba - A God Man or Just A Man

In the last few weeks, especially since last Sunday, Sathya Sai Baba has become the biggest news in India. You open any newspaper or switch on any news channel, you are bound to find atleast one article about the man. For those who don't know who I am talking about, let me give you a small introduction to the man who called himself God.

Sathya Sai was (and still remains) India's most popular God man. He has approximately 40 million followers across 168 countries in the world. He was born in 1926 in a small town, Puttaparthy, in Andhra Pradesh (India). At the age of 14 he claimed to be the avatar (re-incarnation) of Shirdi Sai Baba. Thus, began the journey of this self proclaimed God and spiritual leader. He died on April 24, 2011, at the age of 84, of multi-organ failure.

With his death came the overflow of information about him, his deeds of philanthropy, miracles performed by him, and what not. Andhra Pradesh declared a four-day state mourning in his honour. Every high profile politician, right from Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh to LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi expressed their grief on Sathya Sai's passing away on national television. Channels constantly showed pictures of lakhs of devotees assembled in the ashram in Puttaparthy, crying as though they had lost a loving member of their family. They also aired old footage showing the various 'miracles' performed by Baba, such as suddenly producing vibhuti (holy ash) in his empty hands and distributing it among his followers, or magically producing watches, necklaces, gold rings and other accessories out of thin air. One video showed a 3 tonne gold lingam (shivling) emerging from within Sathya Sai body, at a Shivratri function in his ashram, in 2004.
Newspapers carried first hand accounts of devotees who had experienced life changing events after they came in contact with Sathya Sai. They also showed photographs of many high profile celebrities like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar breaking down while sitting in front of his body before the funeral.

I, like every other citizen of India, had heard about Sathya Sai Baba. For me, until recently, he was a guy with long curly black hair who wore only orange clothes, and whose name was similar to the name of another God man. I have been raised to believe that the only God is a power above in the sky, and that no man or woman on Earth can possibly match it. So, I was never interested in learning anything about Sathya Sai, or for that matter any other baba or guru. Then, one fine day in December 2000, I came across an issue of India Today (a leading weekly magazine) lying on my grandfather's bed. I started flipping its pages without much interest, and suddenly came across a story about this self proclaimed God. The article alleged that Sathya Sai was a paedophile who sexually abused small boys and young men, and demanded sexual favors from his devotees. There were first-hand accounts from ex-devotees who described their ordeal and torture in detail. As I read through the story, I felt repulsed by the man and was convinced that every spiritual leader is a fraud who plays with the emotions of innocent and ignorant people to accumulate wealth. However, with time I forgot about the story and about the man itself.

But, with the great influx of news about him in the last few weeks, I became curious. Any news channel I saw or any newspaper I read, I could only find positive stories about Sathya Sai. There was no mention of any controversy around him and no one spoke about him negatively. As I vaguely remembered that old magazine article about him, I started searching about him on the internet. After a few articles which praised him, I found loads and loads of web pages, stories, blogs, and international newspaper articles which condemned Sathya Sai, and told the tales of his misdeeds. During my research, I also stumbled upon a documentary made on him by BBC, called The Secret Swami. The 60-70 minute documentary was a revelation. It contained interviews with devotees, ex-devotees, politicians, and rationalists. It exposed all of baba's 'miracles' as simple magic tricks. Also, it revealed how the BJP government, under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had taken out an order to close down all the investigations against Sathya Sai, related to sexual abuse and the murder of four of his close aides in 1993. Following are the links of the documentary that can be watched online for free:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

After watching this documentary, my mind was actually in a turmoil. It was very difficult for me to understand that how could people be so blind so as to ignore the facts staring them in their faces. It was so easy for anyone to just stand up one day and announce they he/she was the avatar of some God and convince foolish people that he/she had magical powers, by showing some cheap tricks. All I could think was that becoming a baba or spiritual leader is the most profitable business worldwide today. Look at Sathya Sai, that's exactly was he did, and gradually became the head of a trust worth Rs. 40,000 crores (approximately $9 billion).

In conclusion, I would just like to say that the picture of Sathya Sai baba that formed in my mind after watching the documentary and reading the numerous articles was that of a con man, and not a god man. What are your thoughts on it? Do let me know.

Signing Out,
Still Confused

Anger Management

Before you cancel this page just by glancing at the title of this post, and start cursing me in your mind by thinking, "WTF!! Another crazy and amateur person trying to teach us anger management techniques!!! I'm just so sick of this..@#$@#", please let me explain. This is not a post to teach anyone anything. Although, I would safely call myself an expert on anger management advisory. Believe you me, I have heard and read about the weirdest of ways there are to control your temper. Now I am sure there'll be a bubble coming out of your head with a question, which is: How and why does a sweet, innocent, soft spoken, and shy girl like Aastha know so much about controlling anger? I have never seen her lose her temper...To answer your question, I am sure you all must have heard the saying that Looks are deceptive! So, the bottomline is that I am a very very very short tempered person, and when I get angry I get totally out of control and say things to people which I generally don't mean. Also, my bursts of anger usually last for days at a stretch and I become completely uncommunicative. I know it's my biggest character flaw and overshadows all my positive points. At this point, I would like to just shout out something:

MOM, DAD, GRANDMOM, GRANDAD!! LOOK I FINALLY ADMITTED THAT I HAVE A PROBLEM AND I NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

Whew...that feels good. Why I did this is because my family is very irritated by and at the same time, worried about by temper. So much so, that they recently went to a pandit (a complete shocker for me, because my dad considers himself to be an atheist!!!!) and, on his suggestion, have made me wear a pearl ring to cool me down. Also, whenever they come across any article related to anger or anger management, they cut it out of the newspaper or magazine, and then force me to read it. It gets so very irritating after a while, to see your table cluttered with bits and pieces of paper everyday, and all saying the same thing, in either English or Hindi.

Ohh..Sorry, I strayed off for a bit. Coming back to the topic at hand. So, as I was telling you that my bouts of anger last for days altogether. However, for the past few weeks  months, a weird is happening to me. Suddenly, I have become hostile to some people (mostly people at the office) and remain angry at them all the time. So much, that even if I see them from far away or if they pass by my workstation, or for that matter if someone just mentions their name in a general conversation, I feel my blood starting to boil. My whole demeanor changes and I feel like just picking up something and smashing it against the wall. I really don't know the reason behind this behavioral change, but sometimes it gets really frightening. I feel very guilty sometimes, because some of these people are or were very good friends of mine. But, at the same time the reaction is not in my control. I try to shake away these feelings, but in vain. Also, with time, instead of diminishing, my anger at these people has increased manifold. It may be their attitude, their personality or their behaviour which I dislike, but it gets very scary when you feel that level of rage at a person.

However, after saying all this, I must thank some people, in addition to my family, who really make all my bad temper, anger and frustration go away in a jiffy. They make me laugh even if I am in a very sour mood or going through some problems. Basically, they help me keep my cool and sanity at work and sometimes at home too. First and foremost are two very special people - Preeks and DJ, with whom I have spent the best four years of my life. We have laughed at everything under the sun. Even now, they can make me smile with just a stupid remark, a silly SMS, or just by seeing their name being flashed during an incoming call on my cell phone. A biiggg thank you guys  :-) Next comes a person who I truly idolize. She is one of the wittiest and funniest (dunno whether this is a word or not) human being I have come across. At the same time, she is a great advisor, a brilliant counsellor, and a fantastic motivator. She is, the one and only JENNY!! A true friend in every sense, she is simply awesome!! She has been through a lot in life, but you will never see her greet you with anything but a dazzling smile that will make you forget all your problems. Thanks for always being there Jenny, you are a source of inspiration and strength to me.

I know this post has become horribly long, but I still have to thank some more people. Next in line is Panky, a person who listens to all my cribbing, my fears, my problems, without being judgmental. I feel very light headed and good after talking with him. He has a whacky sense of humor that totally cracks me up. Also, we have so much in common that we can go on chatting for hours and not run out of topics. Thanku Panku!!!

Then there is Jassi, who is very protective of me. He considers my problems to be his own, and gets agitated if I am tense or unhappy. Dude, it's real fun concocting imaginary conspiracies with you against some people :-)

I know I have missed out on many more people, but I will have to stop before the readers fall asleep.

Will come back with more later. Till then

Signing Out,
The Anger Consultant