Strings Of Life

Once a dog was passing through the jungle when he noticed a lion coming his way. He got scared, the lion may kill him. He noticed a bone lying on the ground and immediately turned his back towards the approaching lion. When the lion came very near, the dog yelled at the bone, "You bloody lion, you think you are the strongest of all the animals?, Now see you've become my delicious meal. And don't you dare forget the lesson."  Hearing this, the lion got scared, that the dog has already killed one lion, and he is strong, he may kill him too. So the lion backed off and started running into the woods.

A monkey was watching this from the nearby tree and he thought why not approach the lion and narrate the actual fact?. Hearing this the lion would appreciate him and would never eat him. So the monkey ran for the lion.
After a few minutes the dog saw the lion angrily running towards him followed by the monkey. He immediately realized the situation and again turned his back towards the lion and started yelling at the bone, "You know?, You could have not become my meal if you would have not followed the advise of the monkey. See now, he has gone to fetch another lion."
The lion heard the dog, got scared, and again escaped the scene. The rest you can very well imagine.

This story has a very strong message, "beware of the monkeys".
These monkeys are everywhere, in the offices, colleges, social gatherings. All I wonder is that what do they really get out of all this?

"Catch them young" is an old and a bit outdated adage, you realize this only when you are old enough, and an old man with a young catch? definitely there is some error in the code.

There was an era when "Have a bike, have a girlfriend" was a major hit. But these days who doesn't have a bike? and guys seem to have learnt it the harder way. You and your friend follow a girl on bike & she hardly gives any Bhaav (Value). Her silence means "Guys, this is old fashioned, try something new."

Every era has its style of love, firstly there was the era of Sacha Pyar (true love) where the girl's family would get her married to anyone except the guy of her choice. Then came the era of "Hogi Pyaar ki jeet" or we may say the era of "Love never dies". Here the girl would love against the family wish, only to realize later that the guy of her choice was not like what she thought of him and then she would decide to marry the guy her father had chosen for her, but at the very last moment she would realize that she was wrong, and that her lover was her love for life. We can also name it as era of Confusion.
Next came the era of "Money hai toh honey hai", where the girl would love the rich guy and say blind no to the poor guy who was in love with her.

We have been through so many eras and love has ever stayed love. But now the latest trend is that of "Sorry Bhai". That is look out for your best friends girlfriend and then just apologize to him. Now that the female ratio is declining at a very high rate, isn't it that we are left with very limited options?

Just imagine your death bed.  Your family, friends, office colleagues & relatives are attending your funeral. I mean, it may sound a bit strange but just imagine it for a moment. And also imagine the things for which you'll be hated even after you are dead.

» Habit 1: The egoistic jerk (Wife's perspective)

See his face, won't even smile on the death bed, such an egoist. O' God he is gone and the whole family is just a bunch of Morons, I can't adjust with them. I'll update my IndiMatrimony dot com profile, maybe I can get some hot hunk this time. After all, excluding Sundays & holidays I'm mere 26.

» Habit 2: Married against my wish (Father's perspective)

If he would have married Mr. Sharma's daughter he would have lived 100 more years. From the first day I knew that this lady is not good for him. Son of a fool. God, take good care of him and get him married to the girl of your choice because he is a complete idiot at that.

» Habit 3: Bloody drunkard (Friend's perspective)

No one could beat him in drinking, he was a big size Tanker. I know him since school days, whenever nervous, he would take two heavy pegs and face the situation. He even did this for the college Viva.  O' God, may his soul rest in peace and I promise I won't drink now onwards, unless un-till some friend insists. You know I'm poor at saying No.

» Habit 4: Good for nothing (Colleague's perspective)

All day he kept surfing the net. Now I'll have to clear his share of files. He he :), He didn't even knew that I got him transferred to this department. Anyways, he was good for nothing. Now that one more fool is less in my department I stand a chance of promotion.

» Habit 5: Rahul was a better option (Girlfriend's perspective)

I can't believe he is dead. Now who'll pay for the dresses I've ordered at the tailor's?. He denied everything I asked him, wife was always the first priority and look at her, bloody B***h, She can't even fake tears. O' god forgive me for the sin but I think Rahul will pay for the dresses, after all he is head over heals in love with me.

» Habit 6: The Selfish Moron (Family pet's perspective)

Everyone except him cared for me. The other day I tried to take a bite from his plate & the moron hit me hard with his leg. Bloody jerk! Even dogs have heart. He always wanted me out of this house. But at times he really took my side and yelled that "He was living a dogs life in this house" - the softer him. May his soul rest in peace.

» Habit 7: _____ (Mother's perspective)

A mother who hates her dead child? Such mother does not exist.

I generally don't write movie reviews because I watch a movie, enjoy it, and just move on. Rarest of the rare movies make it to my second time list and Ye Mera India (Y.M.I) is one of them.

» The Story line

Written, Produced and Directed by N.Chandra, Y.M.I is a satirical analysis of common issues which we watch every day on news channels. It's a story about 12 people from various strata of Mumbai.

Once an American scientist who did not believe in God visited India, and upon returning he straight away went to the Church upon which his friends asked about what did happen in India that he started believing in God? And he answered:

I observed India very closely, It's a strange country. There are so many religions here, no common language and hatred at every level. The Hindus hate Muslims, Muslims hate Hindus, Upper caste hates the lower caste and even car owners hate the people who travel in rickshaws. There is so much hatred in this country and still it's progressing, now tell me who accept God can run this country?.

Y.M.I is director N.Chandra's attempt to analyze this uniqueness in India. It touches the sensitive issues of Religion bias, Caste differences, Politics, Gender bias and the immigrant issues which are common in every other state now a days.

»  Rating and Conclusion

On the scale of 5, I would rate this movie as 4 for its good theme, cast and the story. When you finish the movie, I'm sure some change would have taken place inside you. With the ending note I would recommend this movie to every Indian.

He is just an ordinary guy with ordinary dreams, that's it, No big deal.
When young, he would curiously dream of becoming the BIG GUY. The one who is lavish in living & could marry the girl of his dreams. But nothing sort of that has actually happened till now.
Life is such a ----- thing. Your desires are never fulfilled; maybe because you never actually stop desiring?.
25 years have quietly passed by and the hairs on his head have started aging. Gosh! It is a complete lie that mirrors at times fake, Mirrors never fake!.

With time friends are getting fewer and you realize this when your internet banking account is the first one to remind you of your Birthday; after all technology is getting more friendlier than human beings. After completing 25 revolutions around the sun, he just wish if life could be better than what it is?.

A 19 year old mentally challenged girl is raped repeatedly by the security guards of the institution she stays at. (You may read the complete story over here)
This issue was in limelight because the girl fought for justice, but there are numerous cases where the victim simply stays mute due to obvious reasons we all know.
Newspaper dailies are filled with news about the atrocities faced by females amongst which rape is the worst of a thing a woman could ever face.

Due to lack of physical strength the female fraternity has ever been victimized and this thing is also obvious in the holy epics such as Mahabharata or Chanakya Niti.
Draupadi, the single wife of the five Pandvas had to face the Cheer Haran (Stripping of clothes). Lord Indra - who is depicted as a strong character in the Indian mythology too fell for the wife of Gautama Maharishi.

Man is known to be a social animal but I often wonder that though an animal is not gifted with as much conscience as man, they (the animals) are better known for their caring attitude towards females. Is it that along with intelligence a man is also provided with greater libido for whose gratification he can do anything?

» The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Revolving around the New York's mafia gang wars, The Godfather is Mario Puzo's ageless work. The thing I liked about this novel is its capability to grip your mind and stay there forever. "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse" is one of the most quoted statement of this amazing novel. If you are new to reading you can start with this novel but beware, you might get addicted.

» The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger

The Catcher in the rye is the protagonist Holden Cualfield's narrative of what he goes through when expelled from school. When you pick this novel you feel like reading it at one go because right from the very first page you feel connected with the author's blunt narrative. Though this book has remained bit controversial, I feel it's a literary masterpiece.

Excerpts from the book:

• I was half in love with her by the time we sat down.  That's the thing about girls.  Every time they do something pretty, even if they're not much to look at, or even if they're sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are.  Girls.  Jesus Christ.  They can drive you crazy.  They really can.

• I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it.

• I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.  It's awful.  If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera.  It's terrible.

» Introduction to Cricket
I was tiny tot when my dad gifted me a cricket bat. O' how I loved this game of hitting the ball out of boundary every time it is thrown at you. In the initial days I would ask the bowler to throw only bouncers, no! not because I was learning the game but rather I feared my bat getting dirty. At times I would overhear Uncles discussing about "how foolishly Sachin Tendulkar played this or that shot". If I were adult at that time I would have definitely recommended all such Uncles to be the part of Indian team.

» Interest in Cricket
In the teenage days cricket seemed to be the second best thing to discuss (first obviously being Girls). Friends would celebrate India's win as if they got distinction in their board exams and cricket seemed the religion where the cricketers were demigods. From notebook covers to the T-shirt paintings the cricket fever never ceased to end.

» The loss of libido
Boredom is in the very nature of the living beings. Wives get bored with the husbands and the husbands with girlfriends. Initially cricket seemed a thing which could never get boring but the overdose of Viagra leads to the loss of libido. Few days back a friend was surprised for I didn't knew the name of an Indian player. It has been ages since I watched any cricket match or even read the sports section of a newspaper. It's not only the overdose responsible for the loss of interest but now I feel that irrespective of whether our team wins or loses, the players are getting rich with every match they play. And we just waste our valuable time watching the series whose outcome we are almost certain about.

Getting inspiration from Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure", I decided to experiment with the Manual mode of my Nikon D40. After loads of confusion and reading I got to learn few of its features. The above image is one of my first taken in the Manual mode.

Mr. A: I lost my wife in the market today. I informed the police & searched everywhere but still couldn't know her whereabouts.

Mr.B: Did you try Google Search?