It wasn’t just about the Fab Four

Hoardings put up by opportunistic political parties across Mumbai carry messages of solidarity along with pictures of Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and Sandeep Unnikrishnan. They have now become part of legend, brave heroes of 26/11; in a grotesquely macabre and ironical way; the face of the attack; apart from pictures of captured terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab of course.
In the meanwhile, policemen who tried to defend the Taj with their World War 2 rifles, a 54-year-old policeman with a family who took bullets from Kasab so he could be captured alive at Girgaum Chowpatty, the Bihari policeman who risked life (and limb) to foil Kasab and his associate’s plan of taking over CST terminus have largely been forgotten. Everybody who fought the terror attack and lost their life, died for a cause. It would to foolish to call it martyrdom. This was a attack and our fallen heroes were all serving to defend the country and its terrified people from the idea of democracy and right to life. That the democracy had given them ill-equipped resources to defend itself is the greatest travesty and their ultimate deaths, a victim of circumstance.
I however feel that we have become obsessed of finding heroes to reassure ourselves that good people exist out there. This is partly because no political leadership was forthcoming during and after the attacks but we are being vainglorious if we believe that it is only the efforts of these Fab Four that saved Mumbai.
On my rounds to various hospitals across the city in the immediate aftermath of the attack, I found so many stories of bravery and heroism that I somehow felt these stories were getting dwarfed because the heroes themselves never thought about their selfless acts of saving lives.
Let me give you a few examples. A headwaiter took most of the guests from Tiffin restaurant at Oberoi to safely putting himself in the line of fire. Small time people like chaiwalas and clothiers were busy providing water and biscuits to the MARCOS and NSG commandos near Taj and Nariman House with grenades and bullets ricocheting a few feet from them.
I only wish we acknowledge the contributions of the entire city and salute this spirit of humanity that survived the 60-hour ordeal the city bore so tortuously. Saving a life is the most supreme act of compassion human beings can display. Does it bother you then that we give all the success only to four men on duty rather than all the others who took it upon themselves to perform this act of compassion purely as duty to humanity?

Batman and his dark (k)nights

I have been reading how the new Batman movie - a sequel to Batman Begins by director Chirstopher Nolan - has been breaking box office records by the day. My interest in this whole venture was piqued after I chanced upon a group of Dark Knight fans and their keen interest in the movie, its characters and of course Heath Ledger, who plays the role of Joker almost to perfection.

I saw the movie yesterday with a smattering of college going adults and a few oldies for the 152 minute adventure. The movie, per se, is well made and all actors - from Micheal Caine to Gary Oldman to Morgan Freeman - play their parts well. The important actors do their job well too.

What I liked most about the flick (apart from the absence of Robin!) was the transformation of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to Two-face. It was a great move showing his wicked side after trying to be the saviour of the fictional Gotham City - in this case a NYC clone full of highrises and Gotham Police Dept cars and a jetty for the climax. The two sides of good and evil signifies how easy it is to manipulate even the best of minds into taking up the wrong road. It somehow enhances the human tug-of-war Bruce Wayne faces each time he tries to stop crime.

Another cool character was Joker. Although he didnt hold my attention towards the climax (which I found a bit convulated) he was thoroughly menacing and a delight to watch. I wonder what really Jack Nicholson must have told him before Ledger took up the role of Joker. Either way, I'll be highly disappointed if he doesnt at least get an Oscar nomination for this role.

This is the first movie in recent years to have got a 4-star rating from most reviews and so the anticipation of a great flick was so highly built up that I can forgive Nolan if I didnt find the movie to live up to that much hype. The flick is good yes, but not great. Batman has returned as a formidable superhero once again, but the film dragged in some parts and the climax, as I've said, could have been better. Great SFX work, but please get Bale to act a little more next time around.

I am not a big fan of comics. I was one of those who wanted to grow up too soon too quickly and abandoning comics for the mystery world of Hardy Boys in school before finally beginning a journey into the worlds of Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Ayn Rand, and others. Comics thus have sustained in me only through movies and the occasional write-ups. The group I met were fanatical about Batman which was a great thing for me since I can never match any of my readings with a fanbase except for Potter and maybe LOTR. I wonder if our connect to books is only because of our own experiences or because we like to escape into a fictional world to leave our worries behind.

Comics certainly suggest that we like to give wings to our imaginations and dreams and so will always be popular. And going by the hordes of people I've seen flocking to the theatres for the Dark Knight, I'm sure there'll be no one who will disagree with me.

If you've seen the movie, drop me a line on how you felt about it.

One year at TOI

On 4th June 2008 I will complete a career milestone. It will be one year since I would've first walked into the historic Times of India building at Bori Bunder. It is an organisation every student when learning journalism scoffs at and then itches to join. I was one among them.

The job (feature writer) at TOI is my third job having previously worked with an online data company called Baseline Studiosystems for Hollywood and then for DNA where I was shifted around departments more regularly than Paris Hilton makes news. The jobs lasted sixs months each and I was reveling in the fact that I could not be tied down by any organisation. That could only mean more experience with more organisations. But on the very first day of joining I promised myself I would at least last two years at TOI. Because ultimately I fell in the rat race of cleaning up my CV for my future employers who could not look upon my work experience and think of me as a dandy happy-go-lucky twenty-something bloke, which of course I am.
And herein lies my grouse. My work ethic counts for naught before the number of months (and now years) I give to a job. Why should a job be measured by time rather than passion and commitment. I have hardly had any substantial increments in my job-hopping spree. My salary has increased by 5K over these 3 jobs, and my sister, who worked for a call centre earned double of what I got last month. Clearly then, I am not in this field for the money. What I want is enough contancts and goodwill to last me even when I am not actively a part of this great media circus in India.
I will admit one year at TOI has been great. My friendship with a few celebrities has gone beyond the professional distinction of journalist and star, I have met a lot of journalists and am part of a very cool team of people, spoken to musical biggies like Klaus, Rudolph from the Scorpions, 50 Cent, Beyonce, America, Iron Maiden apart from other indi-bands and singers, I have hopped on Jet Airways to Bhopal twice to do some unusual stories and met a lot of people from the poor, tribal and neglected part of the city as well. I have also seen enough of journalism to know that it's a field where the demands and pressure of the job tend to make one cynical and superficial to society after a point in time at the sheer madness of it all. But if there's anything I fear losing more than my writing, it's my sense of humanism so yes, journalism is not a life-long career option, fun though it may be at this stage.
It has been a year rich in experience and the following year can only be better. Will it be at TOI or no is the question to answer though. Because I still have that individualistic streak of creating something unique and different and everyday the urge to write something - a script or a novel - gets bigger. I dont know how long I can ignore it. But it's not possible to do this while working and that is the biggest dilemma. Do I stake everything and run away to do a writing course abroad as I have been dreaming ever since graduating or do I sit and let time take its own course? I dont know and I'll be damned if God can help me.
Amen.

You And I

The wind blows to the west

But I ignore it at first

It holds me in its grip

Telling me what it means

To be followed, to be held tight

to be shallow, to put up a fight

It tells me to be you

The wind is thinking of you

Wondering how that happened

We thought the elements were suspect

Until we lost respect

And now it catches me again

This wind I have been running from

Breathing out, keeping out, living out

Now I know its useless

And I am powerless

To keep out this storm

So I witness this passively

And I wonder why this is

But now I know

This wind is you

With your spirit that makes two

So I go ahead with this

Careless, helpless, shameless

To be followed, to be held tight

to be shallow, to put up a fight

And then I become you

The dilemma of being Sachin Tendulkar

When Sachin Tendulkar pumped his fist in the air after scoring his 42nd ODI century in the first final against Australia on Sunday, many cricketing legends would've been put off. Nothing more than Sachin's sacking in the new young Indian squad with a median of 25 would do. In fact, some players like Sanjay Manjrekar would only be too happy to see Sachin retire. His two articles on two days were as opposite as Mars and Venus. Where he was criticising Tendulkar for the manner in which he was playing in the series Down Under on the eve of the first final of the CB series, he was waxing eloquent after Sachin hit an unbeaten 117 at the SCG in the very next article.
For a long time now, critics have pointed out how Tendulkar fails in the finals fo every tournament. Kapil Dev, a couple of days ago, said that just because Tendulkar has performed in one finals of one tournament after about fifteen failures, it does not mean he should be put on a pedestal.
Why do most former players hate seeing Sachin succeed? The most simple and obvious answer is professional jealously. After playing alongside Sahin and now being 'retired experts', it is difficult for these players to digest the stamina, hunger, drive and obscene money the Little Genius is still making.
When Gavaskar wrote that the SCG will now be called Sachin Cricket Ground after Tendulkar smashe dhis first ODI ton in Australia after two decades in cricket, it was hard not to see a trace of sarcasm in the piece. What these experts dont realise that Dravid and Ganguly may have been exemplary players but their presence in the dressing room did not amount to the same level of excitement as when Tendulkar is sharing with his younger team-mates. It is as no great surprise when Rohit Sharma said batting with Sahcin at the SCG was his best innings so far. This is because Sachin is a contrast to the individualistically perfect Dravid and the controversy prone Ganguly, both of whom manage to draw attention to themselves than their game. Cricket writers have often pointed how Sachin soaks all the pressure a cricket crazy nation of over a billion people puts on him every time he goes out to bat. He still has the goods to play for at least another couple of years. Cricketers learn so much from watching him play. Any opposing team has to watch the tapes of Sachin batting all the time because of the improvisation he brings in his shot-making, whether it is the paddle sweep, the six over third-man or his latest shot, hitting over the wicket-keeper and sli pcordon's heads, Sachin is always learning and showing others what to do. Ganguly had to fight his own demons with the short ball and Dravid seems to have gone into his own shell ever since he gave up captaincy in April last year.
It is clear everyone in India is looking ahead. Individual baggage of a celebrated cricketer does not count for much in the Vengsarkar-Dhoni era. MS Dhoni has proved his instinct workes better than the brains of selectors combined. He needs to put on his thinking cap once again. A sportsman does not need to be a captain to motivate a bunch of young and eager boys. And if Sachin can mould this young team full of brimming talent into a group of fighting winners, he will leave the game with the biggest legacy of them all. Will the retired experts and expert selectors let him do that?

Roadies is back

I love Roadies. That's the first confession I want to make before I write anything. The MTV show had me hooked ever since I caught one of the audition episodes of last season whilst flicking channels. The entire concept of the show amazed and entertained me—something I expect out of a TV show I'm watching.

This week's first audition episode from Chandigarh was great fun too. Raghu, the creative director of the show showed why he was the most feared amongst the contestants and why for the viewer, each of his tantrum made sense. Like the way he analysed the Kuwait return girl's dilemma versus the requirement of the show, it was fascinating. There's also Nikhil Chinappa this time to give Raghu company. Much better choice than Mika MTV had last year.

The selected people included a Bani-ish character who denied she was anything like her, a long haired guy who thinks he's a dude and can bed any girl he wishes and a loser sort of guy who showed flashes of brilliance in the audition. 3 different characters already and I cant wait for the next auditions in Kolkata. The show is telecast each SAturday at 7 PM.

I met Raghu at National College last year towards the end of Season 4 last year. He told me (and the college students gathered) how each episode is shot. There are ten cameras which record all the details of the contestants and each of them is assigned a number. From VD 1 to VD 10. VD stands for Video Diary. These are then viewed and edited- a humongous task according to Raghu. That is why we see a lot of jump cuts in the episode.

That is also why Raghu says the show cannot be rigged and isnt rigged. He had also claimed that Roadies was the first reality show to have aired on Indian television. Apart from that, it was also an original show. I believe most of all this because I dont see any counter claims to it. And because I am biased to the show.

More power to Roadies!