sliding doors...

learnings from a movie, the movie being sliding doors...

how much difference can a moment make to your life, same goes for a decision but that is something you do, but what about things you don't have any control on, being at the right place at the right time, saying the right thing, getting into the right accident, seeing or hearing the right things, things which happen by change and over which you have no control. life changing things happen, the roads taken is totally different, but the question is do the different roads always converge at some point? as per the movie, and as per my firm belief they do, always, u might be taking a longer route or maybe a shorter one, but you always reach where you want to be, supposed to be, no want to be. don't know, confused.

may be want to be, if the want makes you hungry enough, because then your direct your life, even if you are on the wrong path, you still keep on going in the direction and ultimately you get to the same road that you initially were on, or maybe, if as lucky as i have never been, u reach the destination. 

its basic georgrapy, if you ask me, if i am every lost, which in india is quite often, i just start going in the direction which would lead me to the road that i know, and i do reach there, sometime short of my destination, sometimes further up which means a U turn, and wasted time, but at least i am there. at least i know where i am and can find my way to where i want to be. of course you should know where you want to be and you should also have a keen sense of direction. i thankfully do, the latter part of it really.

hmm...so that was one. 

the other is why in the world don't girls realize they are with the wrong guy, even when it is glaringly evident, even when they know it in the core of their heart. why do they still keep on pretending that everything is rosy, that everything will work out, that the asshole of a guy will change. doesn't happen women...guys don't change, they simply pretend, but they are not intelligent enough to change, they are bulls and will stay so. what will get this into your heads.

stop looking for security and take the decision.

and a third, british comedies are so much better then american, don't know why, but i like british, european in general far more then american, american is more slapstick, hardly intelligent, if intelligent its mostly a gross form of intelligence. the only intelligent american comedy i have seen is frazer, everything else has been crap. not that it doesn't make me laugh, but not something i remember, jokes are not witty, but more of the kind which give birth to phrases and names.  british is heart warming, same with songs really. i when in mood, would always prefer hindi songs to english (read american) songs, they seem to have a soul which the latter lacks. same with adverts. well american adverts are pathetic, the biggest marketing market in the world, and i am surprised at the lack of creativity. not ideas, they know how to market stuff, most of the advert or marketing concepts were born in the americas, but when it comes to actually implementing it from a creative perspective, they totally lack it...

well a whole lot of america bashing, but really i appreciate them for what they do good. 

what else, ah yes, the movie, sliding doors, gywneth paltrow, james hannah, and jeanne triplehorn (all from memory). nice movie, heart warming, creative, very frank, and a different way of telling the same story. watch it. 

tata's

astropandits...sounding boards

astrologers, face readers and such...i have never been actually believe in them. even after hearing from people how their entire past life was laid out before them, as it happened. don't really believe in it because, i don't see any scientific explanation to it, 

went to this astrologer once, with a significant other, to find out about our lives together. and with all the sensible questions being asked by her, all i was interested in knowing is how to find out, what is the process, trying to find some science behind it. 

at that time was too immature to know the psyche reasoning behind it, understand it better today.

there are a couple of things, one is that u mostly hear what u want to hear, if they say something u don't like, u kind of ignore it, try to find reasons to argue with what they say, go to another astropandit who would give a somewhat different opinion and u'd pick on that opinion.

one of my friends who believes in this stuff, once said that unless it is absolutely bad, astrologers never give it to you in absolute terms, they would always put it very diplomatically. which to me is like cheating, u go there to get the truth, not their interpreted mellowed down version of it. 

but imagine astropandits dilemma, they know, and there is a big if before know, but if they do know what all bad is gonna happen to you, how do they break it to you, they also have this big moral responsibility, how much to give to you, and i guess with experience they also learn to know how much a person can take and give them accordingly...

and that leads to the second, there is a face reader, and she is a face reader, because she can make out ur nature from your face, and thats all she does. she takes a look at a pic and lays out, quite accurately what a person is like, which people think is a divine gift to her, but i don't think so. she just is very discerning, even we, not as blessed as she is, can make out natures from faces can't we, but then for us its mostly limited to people we are interested in and have studied...but we can. so nothing special in that, what is special is that she has the empathy to know everyone. 

together with knowing ur nature, if she knows ur past and presents, its not too difficult to predict the future, humans are predictable...

what i do appreciate about her, and most astrologers is that they have a heart, they become ur support system, we mostly want to know the future when we want the illusion of a good future to give us hope to get past our present, and they, whether they see the future or not, give that. they counsel, and give some placebo (thanks JS) like a puja or something, they generate hope. the same can be done by someone else, because everyone who is not affected by the problem ur going through always see whats right, whats logical, but then the astropandit is more listened to, they have the advantage of divine gifts u see.

what ever be the case...they help, not by giving u ur future, but giving u an listening ear...

take it with a pinch of salt, ultimately i believe, just hear and follow what ur heart says, even if wrong, u'd never feel wrong...

take care

PS...is this too opinionated, well rather is this opinionated, just from my heart, and its not meant to be, am not someone who has opinions...judgements, not till i know everything, which i never will.

ephemerals...

good advertising only kills a bad product faster

was walking down the road,
this girl passed,
smelled her perfume,
smelled nice,
thought, wow...
and then
i sneezed,

:-)

mumbai files

was going through some of my unpublished blogs and came across this one, one of my first, July 24, 06...

it talks about people becoming immune to death and circumstances, especially in india. i have seen three riots, terrorism in punjab and as u will read, missed the mahim blast by one train.  and seen people dying in front of me, handled a dead body (if this sounds like bragging, try touching a body which has turned cold, rigor mortis has set in, it will freak u out) so have i become numb, yes i have, and u will too. should i, no, but as much as you try not to change, ur experiences touch and scar ur soul, it takes ages to get to that level of consciousness where u can control ur unconscious, and i just hope i get there. 

so here goes...

amazing that the first post in bombay files is being written towards the end of my stay here. its been a long stay, and the 'maximum city' has lived up. floods, riots, bomb blasts and all this in a couple of months. 
was telling someone, life is cheap in india, a billion people, who cares if one departs. heard this guy hanging on the edge, holding the middle polev(travel in a local to know) for life in a local shout out to the crowd inside, 'arrey andar jaao nahi to ek kam ho jayega'. no one budged, don't think anyone heard it either. 
but the reaction this time has been different. after the two days of the same old 'we will fight back', 'undying spirit of mumbai' etc etc, started the editorials about how this is more of an escapist excuse we are giving to cover up. this urge to find some positive in all the ruins, to some how still brag about something after failing miserably, to say that 'no, not all is bad' so that our pain lessens. so that we donot have to face the harsh truths.
there was this article today about memorial being laid at mahim station, i was there the day abdul kalam was here, saw the huge crowds. heard the people shouting vande mataram at the top of their voice. the article says that atleast now we are recognising that lives were lost, they were valuable and should be remembered. i agree. the author ask why was this not done before. if all the western countries have being doing it for ages, why not us. well for them a madrid blast happen once every 15 years, for us a bombay blast or a tsunami happens thrice a year. the entire country will be full of memorials!!!

BUT original thought is this, why now?? why are we waking up to the fact that sab chalta nahi hai, making life normal as fast as possible is not that important, sometimes its important to go through the pain, let it seep in, to realise what has happened, to reflect and to make some changes, why now??
my guess is india is becoming more mature. its been 50 years since our independence, about 15 since we became econmically independent, and today we are in a far better economic position then ever before. today the issues are not as basic as unavailability of food n water, today its not necessary for every one to be back on their feet the next day and go for work, else they will not earn enough to feed their family. today we are better off.
we know that the country is doing well, and not only do we know this, but we are also assured that it will keep on progressing, and so the issues which were less important yesterday, all the social issues, are taking prominence today.
so is this a natural progression for any country, if so then what differentiates countries. by this pattern, we can expect africa to go through the same in the next 10 - 20 - 40 years. the thing which differentiates is how fast we get to this stage. US took almost 150years, we are there in 50.
hmm... thats all for now!!!

possessions...

at the bangalore airport, the tree near CCD. it was raining that day, overcast, beautiful weather, and this guy was enjoying his possession...
we all have possessions, we are all possesive of something, we all want something to belong to us, and only us, where we have full control. it can be a cycle, a diary, a space or a human, but we all are possesive. so is he...
mirrors...they are things we take for granted, like everything else we have...but imagine living without any mirrors, a place where u can't see your reflectiong, will you still put that lipstick, will you still use that comb, will you still shave...
what does that mean, if we were not judged by anyone, even by ourselves, would we still be want to be what we strive to be today??