For Bhopal and My Friends

With a bag in my hands and a guitar on my back, with aspiration in my mind and passion in my heart, with support of my loving parents and company of a dear friend, I came to Bhopal for pursuing my post graduation.

A city which I didn't like when I stepped here for the first time. A city where I had to spend my 2 important years. A city where I had to learn how to thrive without family. A city where I had to make new friends...BHOPAL.

You don't like the songs of A.R. Rahman when you hear them for the first time, but gradually you start liking them and soon they become your all time favourites. My experience with Bhopal was something similar. I had to live with filled nostrils and a bad throat for more than a month as it rained and rained all day-all night. I used to get so happy, even when only 1 sunray popped out somewhere from the clouds. I had to live with bad stomach as I was eating outside food. I had to make a habit of living in a PG with very less home-like facilities.

Someone has rightly said that its the company of your friends which matters the most. Thanks to my friend who had come here and joined college 10 days before I did, that I didn't have to find or look for friends. They organically came towards me. Sometimes I think that it couldn't have been possible for an introvert guy like me to make friends quickly if I had joined college before my friend. In fact, all my classmates (barring some) were so good and genuinely caring people that it didn't feel like I was among new faces. Thanks to Whatsapp group, soon a bonding developed between us and it was fun to attend the classes.

There are so many places in and around Bhopal that Ravindra Bhawan, Bharat Bhawan, Manbhavan Tekri, Mahadev Pani, Bhojpur Temple, Kaliasot Dam, Kerwa Dam, Shahpura Lake, Moti Masjid, Birla Mandir, Van Vihar and of course the Bhojtal-bada talaab were all visited by us in the first 2 months only. Also, the DB Mall, Haat Bazaar and New Market became our places to hangout. The storage capacity in my phone and digi-cam had already started getting full with so many clicks all around. Soon, I began to realise that I had developed a very wrong perception about Bhopal in my mind. But this was just the beginning.

Previously I felt that I will not be able to leave home and gel with the new life. Soon, it became difficult to leave Bhopal. The atmosphere of this city was water and I was a soluble.  There was something in the air (No! Not carbide gas) that I got mixed-up quickly and then this started to happen-

A group of 4 and a trip to Sanchi by train.

A group of 5 and a trip to Delawadi-Salkanpur by 2-wheeler.

A bunch of good friends and a trip to Ujjain-Omkareshwar by car.

Same friends, same car and a trip to Pachmarhi.

Same friends, some other car and a trip to Indore.

Madhya Pradesh (HINDUSTAN KA DIL) was even more amazing than as depicted in the advertisement, just because of the company, just because of those friends. Not only roaming or visiting places, but we also used to study together during the exams. Exams during the winters were fun. We used to gather in a park and study so that warm sunlight provides us some vitamin D. The annual inter-departmental competition (Pratibha) in the college was also a great learning experience. Breaking all boundaries of Seniors-Juniors, we used to work, prepare and participate as a team to bring accolades to our department. Such was the understanding between all of us that both achievements and disappointments were equally enjoyed. Apart from college days, the weekends were spent at a friend's flat where pizzas weren't ordered. Rather, all the vegetables and necessary items were bought. The girls of the class were transformed into chefs and boys into helpers. What a bliss it was to eat together, watch TV together and have fun without any pre-occupied tensions! Sleeping on the rooftop of that friend's house under an open sky, or I should say chatting for the whole night on various topics about what are we going to do in future or how do we find each other without taking it too seriously or getting hurt, was a feeling of extremely pure friendship! In the words of a very good friend of mine - "raat ka safar aur tootTe hue taaro ko dekhne ka anubhav jo hum sabhi ko mila vo ek khwab jaisa hi tha". Yes, we actually saw falling stars, 3 of them during the same night. That doesn't mean our trips ended. Bhopal's Manav Sangrahlaya, Tribal Museum, Saer-Sapata as well as Raisen Fort, Maihar Mata Mandir and Satna were still left to visit and we covered them all. 

Having joined my first job in Gurgaon, far from both Bhopal (my alma-mater) and Jaipur (my hometown), whenever I miss Bhopal, I start going through all the images/pictures which we captured. A strange feeling strikes my mind every time that when a person crosses the mark of 21 years of age, he starts looking for friends who are here to stay, who will be with him to support him, who will be his friends forever. In the course of looking for these true friends, he tends to forget what great time he spent with his old friends. He makes many mistakes. He is too quick to judge people. There are a few quarrels over petty issues. There are a few misunderstandings as well as compromises. Time passes by, he grows up, some friends fall apart and some become close to heart. Finally, he reaches to a point in his life when he looks back and sees that all what he did was a mere stupidity. The time he wasted on all the useless things could have been utilized in living to the fullest and enjoying with all those people whom he left behind or judged as - not good friends!

That time will never come again but just because of my friends, this song (Bhopal and the memorable time) is now amongst my all time favourites! I had to twist my words to - The city which has become my second home. The city which will be missed forever. The city where I spent the best 2 years of my life. The city where I found family in my friends...BHOPAL

B- Beautiful (Because of its greenery, its culture and the friends I made here) 

H- Hilly (Almost like a hill station with areas named as - Arera Hills, Shyamala Hills)

O- Optimistic (Teaches you to build a positive side of life)

P- Progressive (Rapidly developing)

A- Astonishing (Because it can surprise you)

L- Lake city (A huge lake in the heart of the city and other water bodies/dams)

P.S.: For all those friends who made my 2 years in Bhopal memorable and also for those who somewhere feel related to my words...The voice messages I received this birthday from all of you ignited in me the feelings to write this. Thank you and miss you all.

When my sister got away from me....

There are brothers who tie the laces of their sisters' shoes. But have you ever removed your sister's socks after she returned from school? There are brothers who fight and quarrel with their sisters and throw away each other's things. But have you ever set up your sister's wardrobe by putting her tops and jeans in proper position? There are brothers who can't remember their own friends' names (forget about birthdays). But do you remember the names and birthdays of your sister's each good friend?  The answer to all my questions is the same. Yes, I am that other kind of a brother who did all this. May be because I am 6 years younger than my sister (which is a big gap). But hey! Don't you dare think I was forced or ordered to do all this as I am a sweet little brother. Nope! In fact I am so sweet that I responsibly did all these things as my duty towards my elder sister. Awww shooooo shweeeeet... :) :p

Now before you all get diabetes let me talk about my sister who by the way doesn't need much of an introduction. 'PaRULES the world' as she used to say on her FM shows, is a lovely, caring, sweet, drama-queen, selfie-queen, over-emotional, over-the-top, over-everything 'woman' (she is a mother of a 2-and-a half year-old now so can't call her a 'girl' anymore) who since my childhood has been my friend, my tutor, my withstander, my support-system, my secret-holder and everything that a sister ought to be for a brother. From helping me in my studies in first standard to getting me my first internship, from making me learn the lyrics of a song to buying me a guitar, she has always been there for me. There may be a lot of age difference between us, but she never made me feel so. In fact, sometimes my over-protectiveness made her feel that I am the elder one. :D

Whenever I got a scolding from either Mumma or Papa, she would try and freshen up my mood and I did the same for her. Her singing, her dance, her oration, her writings, her all-rounder skills since her school days were something from which I have learnt and acquired so much. I was a proud brother of a Radio Jockey about whom I could flaunt among my friends. Those were the best days. Every weekend she used to bring pastries, burgers and chocolates for me. I received all her frippery and used gadgets (specially NOKIA N-series phones which were quite a swag those days. YO!). She also used to give me my pocket money. While sleeping, we used to talk till late at night and chat about different things going on in each other's lives. Now, we both just wish that those days could come again.

Five years ago, the time when I completed my school, she got married. Even during her courtship I used to get jealous of my brother-in-law as my partner-in-crime, my leisure-mate was taken away from me. Once at night, I cried in front of her telling her that she had no time for me (which was a little childish on my part). She made me understand, "beta mai tere paas hi hu hamesha, kahin nahi jaa rahi" and we both wept it off. I got too emotional when she entered the marriage lawn on her wedding day, dressed up well in her lehnga. Beautiful she looked.  Also, can't forget the day of her 'vidaai' in Bulandshehr and the subsequent night when I slept alone for the first time and cried so much. (Don't know whether I have told her about this before or not.) Since then, something got changed in me. I became more emotional. I felt lonely. I used to roam around alone during the first month in my college. It was hard to make friends. But as they say, time is the best teacher which gradually taught me to live without my sister's physical presence near me.

The same brother-in-law whom I was envious of turned out to be a great human being and a person who deserved respect. A caring and hard working man who gelled quickly with our family and is always in a sense of bother of how to keep his family happy. Days came when start of my summer vacations and Didi's birthday lied on the same date. I enjoyed going to her and Jiju's place in Delhi. Be it Vikaspuri, Patpadgunj, Bulandshehr or Greater Noida, all places were fun. After my sophomore year, when Didi was expecting, I lived with her and Jiju in Delhi for a month and did my internship in the same office where she worked and was serving the notice period. That was the time when I spent some special moments with both of them. We ate together, worked together, watched movies, went to shopping malls, recorded songs for uploading on the net. I used to help them with their daily tasks. Became more responsible. Learnt a lot. Handled things on my own. Travelled alone and got to know what life in a metro is all about. Also a year back, during my another internship, I did not live with them but used to go to their place on weekends, though Jiju insisted that I must not take a PG and he would drop me every morning to the nearest metro station, but I had to as my office was far away from Greater Noida. (Another incidence which tells about how caring my Jiju is!)  

During Diwali season in 2012, Didi delivered a healthy baby boy. Mumma was already with her and Papa and I rushed to see the little one. First time in my life I got the chance to hold just a 4-day-old baby. My nephew, Kartik who is a cute-little kid with a sharp mind, is so  adorable and too much fun to play with. He has acquired all the qualities of his parents, both positive and negative. HAHA :D  The priorities do change after a girl gets married and even more when she becomes a mother. But my Didi always has time for me. Just a little "oye kya kar rha hai" on Whatsapp makes me feel okay there's going to be a long chat now! She is also the first person to like/comment on my profile picture. Even if I may've got over 100 likes on my DP, she would say, "Don't know why I didn't like this pic."

Its 2015 now. It's been 5 years that you got away from me. You will be completing 3 decades of your life 10 days from now and I am about to complete my student life. But, my prettyprincess26/ wackyparul/ rjparul, your Nannu/ Mannooo/ Punti is still dependent upon you for everything (won't leave you until you get me a good job :p). We may have grown up, our long conversations at night may have turned into 'Whatsapp chats' but I promise the LOVE between us will be the only constant thing till I die. This sacred bond between you and me cannot be broken. I love you and you'll always be my first girl friend.

Happy Anniversary!!

P.S.: I have written this to make you smile and feel proud of, not to make you cry. O.K. so ssssmmmmiiiilllleee :) :)

10 reasons which prove that when its India-Pakistan, it's not just Cricket...

1. The most anticipated day this February was not Valentine's Day: 

This February, all the males were more interested in planning about at which friend's house they will gather for the INDO-PAK game. And the females looked more concerned about how to cut the cable connection's wire.


2. Pakistan's inability to win against India in World Cups:

The score-line says it all. INDIA 6 - Pakistan 0. Forget about the match, Pakistan haven't even won the toss against India in any World Cup.

3. Dropping catches is synonymous with Akmal brothers: 

 Whether Kamran or Umar, both the wicket-keeping batsmen dropped huge opportunities what could be game changing ones. While Kamran dropped Sachin in 2011 WC, his younger sibling dropped Virat this time when he had not scored even a half century. 

4. Virat Kohli - the new Sachin: 

The 'run-machine' might be wanting to thrash her beau Anushka's Pakistani boyfriend after watching the film 'PK' that he poured all his anger on the Pakistani bowlers and scored the first ever century by an Indian batsmen against Pakistan in a world cup game, a feat even Sachin couldn't achieve.


5. Afridi might be missing Gautam Gambhir: 

In taking a quick single, Afridi's throw hit Virat's back so hard that it looked like Afridi knowingly hit Virat. But surprisingly Virat just passed a smile and did not utter a word. Afridi might have really missed his favourite sledge-partner Gautam Gambhir when this happened. So did we.

6. Loud crowd powered India's missed opportunity: The crowd was so loud at the Adelaide Oval that Dhoni couldn't hear the call his team-mates shouted and missed an easy run out opportunity when he flashed the bails of the stumps at the wrong end. Poor Dhoni, his hair are turning grey also his hearing senses. 

7. BigB - the lucky charm: It doesn't matter whether Amitabh Bachchan did commentary for just 5 initial overs. Whenever Bachchan sahab holds the mic, India wins. Last time he did commentary, India won and saved '3 guna lagaan' in 'Champaner'.

8. No Paksitani batsman likes to bat with Misbah: Whether it is T20 WC 2007, whether it is WC 2011 or whether it is WC 2015, no Pakistani batsman likes to bat along with Misbah-ul-Haq and he is the lone soldier who fights till the end. C'mon guys, be afraid of speaking English at the presentation but at least bat with your current captain. 

9. "The Great Pakistani Suicide point": The bowler, Mohd. Irfan is so tall that the whole Pakistani team might have thought of jumping from his shoulder for doing suicide after losing from India again.  

10. "Na ishq mein na pyar mein, maza hai sirf Pakistan ki haar mein":

The trolls, the memes, the funny Whatsapp messages that rocked the social media after India's comprehensive win over Pakistan made this statement loud and clear!!

My Review:- "NH 10"

In this male dominated world, comes another female dominated movie just a week after Women's Day. 

A young urban married couple going to spend their weekend in some resort in Haryana on their way at NH 10, come across a bullying folk of men led by Darshan Kumar (who played the role of Priyanka's husband in Mary Kom) beating a girl and a boy who seemed to have flown away from their house. When no one dares to stop them, breaking the shackles, the educated couple try to take a stand. But the matter gets worse. The girl (sister of the man beating her) and the boy (her lover) are killed. Now the eyewitnesses of this cruel event are trapped and have to run away from what ends in their life's worst nightmare. Anushka's husband in the film, Neil Bhoopalam gets hurt badly and there remains no way better than Anushka taking the responsibility to try and come out of this mess.

In this edge-of-the-seat thriller, Anushka is amazing in her expressions and Neil does correctly what he is asked to. The movie is an episode of 'Honour Killing' which throws spotlight over the rampant social evils prevalent in this part of India including domestic violence and cruelty against women. It takes courage for a young actress to come up with such a movie in her debut production venture. But the Cricket World Cup and bad weather have taken their toll on the box office collections of this movie. I request all the girls out there to go and watch it, it will fill you up with energy and courage.  

Talking about Cricket reminds me that another line up is getting really strong- KAHAANI, HIGHWAY, MARY KOM, MARDAANI and now NH 10. WOMEN POWER!!      

My Review:- "P.K."

"Who is PK?" Is he 'Pawan Kapoor', is he 'Parvez Khan' or is he 'Peter Kurian' ?? This BIG question has been dwelling in the minds of all Aamir Khan fans and Hindi movie geeks since this first poster of PK(naked Aamir with a transistor) launched. 
So, here's the answer-- He is none of these names I mentioned above. He is just a cute 'outsider' researching on human values, culture and tradition with his Bhojpuri dialect, peeping ears, big-green eyes and colourful-weird clothes. In his journey, he comes across people of different religions and some eye-opening instances. His goal is to contact with the real 'GOD' and disconnect all the 'wrong numbers' which come in between.
It is said that it's Aamir Khan's experimentation which delivers masterpieces one after the other. It is said that in Rajkumar Hirani's films, the director is the 'real hero' and both these notions are hence proved with PK.
The songs are purely situational but 'Love is a Bhaste of time' will come along u outside the theatre. You may find similarities with Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal's "Oh My God" in it but there are a lot more entertaining n funny sequences/dialogues. Anushka Sharma, Sushant Singh Rajput, Saurabh Shukla, Boman Irani, do justify their characters and Sanjay Dutt apart from his role is just a bliss with his moves in 'Tharki Chhokro'. In PK's language- इस फिलम को टुकुर-टुकुर देख लेना वरना तोहार 'लोलवा' हो जाइ..!!

Ad Review: "Vodafone M-Pesa"

Ad Name: Vodafone M-Pesa (click on the name to watch the ad)
Brand: Vodafone
Agency: Ogilvy India

About: A young guy, with helmet in one hand and an out-of-order scooter besides him on a raw way of a small town, calls his elder brother who works in 'Dilli' and asks how is the weather there. The elder brother quickly guesses that his brother has done something wrong and he is in need of money because the younger one called him only either when he wanted money or when he did something troublesome. On being asked what has he done, the younger brother makes silly excuses that he took Daddy ji's scooter for a ride but a tree came in between. He emotionally asks for some money from the elder brother promising that he would return it soon. The 'Dilliwala' brother gets soft-hearted and hands over the money to him on a condition that the younger one would never ask for the weather again. Now as the money is received, the younger one gets over the elder brother and says that if he had bought him a motorcycle, this wouldn't have happened. The elder brother in anger tells him to hang up the phone.

Relevance: The ad implies that the consumer of M-Pesa works away from home in big cities and sends money to remote places across the country. But, sending money in the conventional way can be a very slow process or even unreliable. Here comes the product's benefit that handing over money is as good as handing it over oneself. Usually we call our relatives/friends when they are at a distance from us. But in the ad, both the brothers are shown standing at one place which conveys that transfer of money through M-Pesa is as quick, safe and convenient as transferring it personally from one person to another.

Recollection Factor: The ad strikes a chord with viewers from all age groups. The elderly can be convinced by showing the application as a new form of money order. Parents can be educated that they can instantly transfer money to their children staying in hostels. Professionals can be educated that this is the easiest way of transferring money to their parents who are staying in another city. A minor percentage of the population has started using this service. The market potential is much bigger.

My Rating: 4 stars :) 

Ad Review: "Bharat Matrimony"

Ad Name: Bharat Matrimony Happy Marriage

Brand: Bharat Matrimony

Agency: Lowe Lintas & Partners

About: Eating together with their son on the dinner table, the parents ask him about why the daughter-in-law hadn't turned up from office. The son says that she might be having some important work as it doesn't happen daily. The father, though hesitantly, again asks his son what was the need of her job when the salary of his son was enough. Next shot establishes the daughter-in-law entering the house but on listening what her father-in-law was questioning to her husband, she quietly decides to listen to the conversation without stepping in. The son replies gently to his father, "Even after your retirement, you go to the college for giving lectures, why? Because you like doing it. In the same way, my wife does a job not for earning money, but because she likes doing it." The strong statement of her husband, in support of her, gives a sense of pride and smile on the face of the wife. She finally enters the room and the husband is shown serving food to her. Another shot shows a black and white screen, taking to flash back which establishes that the girl had filled the Bharat Matrimony form on the website with a detail that she would like to work even after marriage.

Relevance: The ad shows why bharatmatrimony.com is the Most Trusted Matrimony Brand (According to the Brand Trust Report, 2014). Bharat Matrimony with Lowe Lintas has done a brilliant job in hitting the issue of women who aspire to work even after marriage. The ad focuses on the thing that needs to be highlighted that happy marriages are not a matter of chance but a matter of choice. In India, we many a times come across such cases when the girl who worked before her marriage, was forced to sit back at home and was imposed the tag of 'house wife'. The ad is an eye-opener for all such families who didn't let their daughter-in-laws work. 

Recollection factor: The tagline 'Find someone who cares for what you love' is perfectly depicted in this ad. The strong supportive statement the husband gives brings smile to the face of every female viewer and makes the male viewers learn what actually their wives want from them. Care, support and lots of love.

This advertisement has already won a lot of awards and acclaim. No doubt it will be remembered for a great period of time.

My Rating: Full 5 stars.

(P.S.- click on the Ad Name to watch the ad)   

Ad Review: 'Google search'

• Ad name: Google Search REUNION
• Brand: Google
• Agency: Ogilvy India
• About: Baldev is an elderly Hindu man in Delhi, India and Yusuf is an elderly Muslim man in Lahore, Pakistan. One day Baldev shows his grand-daughter Suman an old, dated photograph of two children. He tells her that it is himself and his best friend Yusuf when they lived in Lahore prior to the partition of India in 1947. In front of his house there was a park with a gate made in the stone age and each evening he and Yusuf would fly kites there and steal "Jhajhariya" from Yusuf's family sweet shop. After partition, the two friends got separated. Many decades later, Baldev still thinks of Yusuf and misses him. Using details of her grandfather's story, Suman is able to locate Yusuf's sweet shop in Lahore via Google. She connects with his grandson who helps her to plan a surprise visit from Yusuf on Baldev's birthday. 
• Relevance: The ad shows how this magic named Google has become the part and parcel of our lives. For getting information about weather, flight details, addresses, recipes and almost everything, we use Google on laptops, desktops and now on smartphones and portable devices. But this ad depicts, how Google can be used in a greater sense. Connecting two friends, two communities and two countries at large. Not many advertisements leave you with goosebumps! 
• Recollection factor: The length of this ad is long but while viewing it, one does not feel that it is dragging. It touches the emotional chord and almost gives tears at the end when Baldev and Yusuf meet. It shows that still there is a strong and deep connection between the so called 'arch-rivals' INDO-PAK and it depicts the same very sensitively. The ad was released in December and very soon reached over a million views on youtube. Most importantly it was loved by both the Indians and the Pakistanis. It became popular on facebook too and many people shared it. The 'Aman ki Asha' campaign could not achieve such praise whereas Ogilvy India has created a marvel once again and proved their worth. This ad will be remembered by today's 'gadget-freak' generation for a long time. 
• My Rating: full 5 stars for this ad.

My New Year Resolution!

Its a new year, 2014!! Well already a month has passed. The previous year was really good because of many reasons but the most important one was that I stepped into my post-grad life which would be making my career, my profession. The one which I have dreamed of. The one which I have also written everywhere on the social websites. My aspiration of being an advertising professional.

So, one day I asked myself in self-realization, that what extra am I doing to become one of those, besides pursuing an Ad. & P.R. course and doing internships in the agency offices? Knowing that GOOGLE has answers to all our questions, I typed "ADVERTISING INDUSTRY" in the search box. I know that all the important results that GOOGLE gives are on the first page itself. But that day I clicked on the next page as my satisfaction level did not achieve a break-even point from the first page results like 'wikipedia' or some crap slideshows or PDFs which we generally use to copy-paste in our project assignments. Something unusual happened and I got my answer from the second page. 'Ad critique' was written in one of the results and a link to a blog was given. On opening it, I found that the last blog that person has written was 5 years back in 2009 and he was not an Indian that I could find from the peregrine ads which he had reviewed in his blog. 

Thanks to that blog, I got my answer. Someone would reckon it as cheating but no! I just got the idea of making an 'Indian remake' of that blog. Haha! Jokes apart,  I got an idea that I should lessen reviewing movies and increase reviewing advertisements. This would, in turn, help me in building my portfolio. So one can call this as my new year resolution but yes I will be reviewing different ads now on my blog.

I got my answer from GOOGLE. Thus my first ad review will be of GOOGLE as well. Coming soon... :) 

"Dhoom-3": Review

Movies of Aamir Khan are always awaited by cinema lovers as he does something new every time which the other Khans do not. The inebriation of DHOOM-3 was all around since the news of Aamir becoming a part of it. So has the movie created 'DHOOM' on the big screen? Let's find out:-


PROS-
1. The cinematography is picturesque and Hollywood-like. Its an all new movie watching experience.
2. The 'bike-chase' sequences and the 'thief-escape' sequences, for which the Dhoom series is known, have gone to another level which is just fabulous and adrenaline pumping. One gets stunned when Aamir on his bike escapes in a new way every time.
3. Aamir and Abhishek are the soul of the movie, while Katrina's role can be termed as a guest appearance, though she looks beautiful. No matter whatever bad someone says about Uday Chopra, he is the only one who brings the comedy quotient in the movie with his funny one-liners. Jackie Shroff and the kid who plays little Aamir justify their roles.
4. There is a sort of anti-climax before the interval which makes the other half more interesting.

CONS-1. The emotional quotient which has been put in the movie drags the film a little and makes it a bit long.
2. The humongous hype rose expectations of an awe-inspiring movie experience. But the movie couldn't match that level.

Still Dhoom-3 does what it promised, "The year will end in a Dhoom!" For sure! Box office collections will tell the story! Hats-off to the director, Vijay Krishna Acharya, who gave a head-ache of 'Tashan' earlier. He has surely learnt quite a lot since then. Go, watch and give your eyes a treat!! 4stars ****!! 

P.S.- I appreciate the parents, with their little kid, sitting next to me in the hall for giving nice values to the child who amazed me by keeping quiet till the end. Also, ignore all those ridiculous Whatsapp messages saying that there is Kamal Hassan in the movie. 

A Father-Son Relationship

When I was a kid, I had a fear of my father. Because on my every mischief or misconduct, mummy used to say, "Papa se keh doongi...phir dekhna!" I am sure, not only my mother but many mothers also had this 'weapon' of complaining about the mischief of kids to the fathers. Actually fathers were not the ones to get afraid of, but mothers created this thinking in the innocent minds of their kids. I was one of them who built an 'F for Father-F for Fear' image in my mind as I found my father to be a bit short-tempered at that time. So I used to be very obedient in front of him, which I am originally too, but I showed a bit extra sincerity to him. Which in turn resulted in my not talking to him much. Often he would come late at night because of his work and business, by the time I had already slept. And sometimes in the morning, without disturbing his sleep I would get ready and go to school. Thus we didn't get time to sit together and talk. It was only after his heart surgery that he started getting up early and went for his walk, reduced quite an amount of weight and got fitter.

My school was only half a kilometers away from home. From an early age I started going to school by myself. My studies and the parent-teacher meetings were always seen by my grandfather. Thus the things looked after by my father during my school days were-- to pay the fees, buy me the uniform and the books and to sign the report cards.

I knew this was not a positive image I was building of my father until one day when something unusual happened. I had to complete a Hindi essay on "India's growing Population" and had got a remark of 'incomplete work' by my teacher in the notebook. I used to complete all my home-works before having dinner. But that day I was sitting with my copy till 11pm. Papa came into my room, asked why I was still awake and saw that 'incomplete work' remark in my copy. I said, "Papa I have to complete this essay and I am not getting any ideas to write." My father is an exceptional writer, a good speaker and a great intellectual. So much so that one can give him any topic in Hindi to write and he will fill pages. Hence, an essay on India's population was child's play for him. He sat near me and dictated each word of the essay. I still remember its first line- "Kehte hain Bharat mei har varsh ek Australia janm leta hai". I couldn't in my dreams think of such a line. He dictated me and went to sleep. Reading the whole essay from first to last I was like hats-off, what an essay! I received a 'very-good' remark the other day under the essay and I showed it to papa. He just smiled.

Another instance happened when our school was taking students for a tour to Mumbai-Goa. Mummy and Didi had already rejected my plea as they thought a seventh standard boy was too small to go to a school trip as Didi had gone to such a trip for the first time when she was in 11th class. The file then shifted to my father's desk. Now his signature was what I needed to give a company to my other friends who were going. He agreed. He agreed the moment I asked him! He said, "chhota hai to kya hua? Akela nahi jayega to seekhega kaise!" Like today's modern children, at that time we did not carry mobile phones or tablets with us. During the tour when I called home from a P.C.O., papa picked the call and said, "Kaisa hai betu? Kahan-kahan ghoom rahe ho?!" Papa had not called me "betu" before that. I was teary-eyed in happiness. My fear gradually shifted to respect and love for him.    

With the daily 'Dainik Bhaskar', 'Baal-Bhaskar' supplement for children used to come. One day there was an advertisement in it of a competition being held by 'Cartoon Network'- 'Powerpuff Generation'. Behind the ad there was a form to fill by the children under 15 years of age to participate in that competition which gave the winners a chance to host a popular cartoon show on Cartoon Network kids channel. I used to solve the crosswords and puzzles which came in Baal-Bhaskar and always kept a pen in my hand while reading it. Thus I filled that form also just for fun. Watching the ads of the competition on TV, I realized its genuineness and thought to submit that form on the given address. I asked papa to submit it at the given place as it was on the same route by which he used to go to the city. He read my form before dropping it in the box and appreciated me that I had filled it very creatively. It was quite a happy co-incidence that on my birthday I got a call from Cartoon Network, Mumbai. They said that my form had been selected and I needed to give an audition. Suddenly my 14th birthday turned more special. Somewhere in his mind Papa knew that I would get selected.   I gave auditions, cleared them. I was called Mumbai for the shooting and received 2 flight tickets, free stay and food at a good 4-star hotel, all being sponsored by the channel. Papa was so happy, he left all his works and came with me for the shoot. He took my photographs in the hotel, went with me everywhere the channel guys were taking us. Even waited at the studio for my shoot to complete as parents were not allowed to see the kids when the shooting took place. I could see happiness on his face which I had not seen before when the channel's cameraman was busy taking my photographs. I asked the cameraman to take a picture of me and papa too with our camera. Returning home, papa made sure that every newspaper publishes my news as I was the only kid from North-India to get selected in that competition.

Papa took us to places during the holidays without bothering much about money. We measured almost all of the country's amazing destinations. Darjeeling, Gangtok, Nainital, Pachmarhi, Goa and many other places. I wish I could go with mummy-papa to Malaysia-Singapore and Kashmir as well. He has always worked to give us a better status of living. Be it computer, HD TV or installing new electronics in our house to buying us expensive things, he never hesitated in doing it. Now I can proudly say to my friends that both of my parents are on 'Whatsapp' and possess 'facebook' accounts.

There were many other things that I could attain because of my father. He had been a huge follower of music, still is, and is himself a great singer. Even when he sings inside the bathroom, his voice echoes and goes straight into one's heart. No doubt he is the best bathroom singer ever. He has won many singing competitions and both I and my sister got singing voices in our genes because of him. We could also get the experience of singing as chorus in a 'Bhajan' cassette in which he was the lead singer. He kept a guruji for us to teach classical music, kept another guruji so that I could learn tabla, and took me to his Guru to teach me how to play guitar. Because of all this, both of his children won many singing competitions and got praise in school/college. I became popular in my school just because I could sing. Now whenever we two go by car somewhere, and any new song plays on F.M., papa is the first to sing along with it.

I could clear the All India Radio theatre auditions also just because he motivated us right from the beginning to take part in several functions at the society and school level. The 'Akashvaani' people gave me cheques of Rs.150/- which was my first pay. Papa opened my bank account during that time.

He never forced his opinions on his children and will never do so! He did not tell either of us what to opt for at the higher secondary. He did not tell what subject to take at the graduation level. He was clear in his mind that let children take their own decisions of what they want to do in their lives. As a result of his motivation, Didi could do well as a Radio Jockey before her marriage. Also, I could top every semester at my college during my B.J.M.C.

Yes! One thing he always told me whenever he saw me wasting time on computer games or watching T.V. that I should use my creative skills to a greater extent and that advertising industry is doing quite good these days and is always in search of creative people. I ignored him that time and did not realize the importance of the direction he wanted to give me. After completing my mass communication and journalism, so many options got opened in front of me which not only confused me but started depressing me also that what I am going to do! Suddenly his saying flashed in my mind. I filled the forms of all the top colleges which had advertising courses. Papa motivated me at every step from filling the forms to dropping me at the station so that I could go to Delhi or Bhopal where the exam centres were. I remember we ran together on the platform to catch the train when the coach was far away from where we were waiting. A 53-year-old heart patient ran at the same speed at which a 21-year-old  was running.

After my admission in Bhopal, we searched for rooms in heavy rain. Papa's way of talking to the different landlords was so socially correct that an unknown lady was ready to help us and gave her number to us. I couldn't have searched for my accommodation without papa that day as I cannot talk to people like the way he does. I don't know why I didn't attain this quality through the family genes. We had not eaten anything since morning and rested only after I had found a room. During the night also he was worried about how I will get settled in that room, what things I needed to buy as I had left home for the first time for studies. When he finally dropped me at my PG, seeing me off he said everything is going to be fine. I was about to cry and I knew he was also holding his emotions and he went away. That was the day I came to know how much I loved him!

From calling me every day, asking how everything is going to telling me what's going on back home, from fulfilling my every wish, whether big or small, to narrating me the episode of "24", papa has been and is with me every time and we gradually developed such a bond over time that now we can easily discuss things that we couldn't do before, which makes me feel that yes I am the son of the house.

You have supported me at every step and done whatever you could do for me! I promise, in future, no matter how successful/unsuccessful I become, I will proudly say that I am the son of Mr. Sanjay Maheshwari!

Love you Papa!

Happy Birthday!

Advertisements and Young India

Advertisements in India are expressions of what youth wants, what youth sees and what youth wants to live as a whole. The reason I say 'expressions' is because of some popular taglines like, 'Jo tera hai vo mera hai', 'Darr ke aage jeet hai', 'Aaj kuch toofaani karte hain', 'Do what you love-love what you do', and so on and so on are all expressions which convey the thinking, the attitude of young India. Again, the reason I say 'Young India' is not only because all such ads are made keeping in mind the youth, but the majority of Indian population is also youth.

When advertisements are made, the main thinking behind them are the consumers or the target audience. The taglines I mentioned were conveying some sort of thinking of the target audience for which the product/service had been made, i.e., the youth.

When we talk about violations of ethics in making these youth-targeted ads, then an image reflects somewhere in the back of our minds. The image of 2-3 persons jumping around buildings, image of a person doing crazy stunts on a bike, image of an almost naked girl coming out of the pool, image of a boy who is running to save himself from a group of girls just because he sprayed a deodorant on his body or the image of a film-star suggesting the members of our Cricket team to play wild on the field putting behaviour aside.
What an irony! I was talking about 'an image', but so many came into my mind.
Thus, such advertisements are a mere exaggeration of what youth wants. One needs to change with time because change is the only constant thing in this world. The ad-makers can't bring back the era when ads were just about "Lijjat paapad", "Saundarya saabun Nirma" or "VIP vests and briefs", because that era has gone. Hence, putting the stamp of 'violation of ethics' on today's next-gen ads is wrong in my view.
If you want to verify, go and ask a group of students whether they like today's ads or not, or whether those ads make an impact on their minds or not! I am pretty sure that the majority answers will be affirmative, because even I enjoy watching such ads.          

Movie Review: 'Madras Cafe'

New era movie makers can bring almost any plot on the screen. When 'Vicky Donor' released, nobody could think of such an unimaginable story. Shoojit Sircar(director) does a fabulous job once again, and In all the 3 departments that make a movie brilliant, 1.Research--2.Screenplay--3.Editing.

A youth born after the assassination of Late Mr.Rajiv Gandhi (ex-P.M. of India) had only heard the story of his killing either from his/her parents or read somewhere in books/internet. Thus one could find great number of youth inside the hall and in the ticket line. 

This film narrates the whole incident in a very interesting and brainy manner. The affliction and agony that the Sri Lankan people suffered at that time and the loss of the lives of the soldiers of I.P.K.F.(Indian Peace-keeping Force) has been brought to the screen wonderfully. After 'Ek tha Tiger', R&AW(Research & Analysis Wing, India) has come into limelight and several movies, like 'Agent Vinod', 'D-Day' and now Madras Cafe, have connoted the lives of R&AW agents. John Abraham(Major Vikram) plays the role of the same and you could relate his character from the one he played in 'Force', yet he was efficient and toned enough for it. After a poor exhibition of her acting skills and a dubbed voice in 'Rockstar', Nargis Fakhri gets a fair chance. She plays the role of a foreign war correspondent and gets to speak English dialogues in her own voice in this movie which she does, not so badly. The new face Rashi Khanna performs well as the wife of John. Non-actor persons like Siddharth Basu(Producer of game shows like K.B.C. and Dus ka Dum), Piyush Pandey(Chairman of O&M advertising agency) and Dibang(Senior Journalist) have also been given a chance to play the roles of the R&AW officials which they carry off well. 

The film could not release in Tamil Nadu owing to the protests by Tamil diaspora as they felt that there is a poor depiction of the L.T.T.E.(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels in the movie and Prabhakaran (Bhaskaran in the movie) has been shown as a villain. Still the movie could manage the first week collections close to Rs.30 Crores and well deserved 30 crores. One has to applaud John Abraham and his production house for coming up with such unique creations and the diversity in the direction of Shoojit Sircar.

In the end, the movie creates a feel of sympathy for Rajiv Gandhi which the anti-Congress people would mind in the on-going corrupt political scenario of the U.P.A.(United Progressive Alliance) lead country. On the other hand, the people aged 50+ who found an ideal leader in Rajiv Gandhi would love the movie. Yet the movie brings us closer to what changed the political history of India and which should be known to every Indian! Its time to get off the 'Chennai Express' and have a cup of 'Madras Cafe'!! 4 stars ****

The Impact of Cinema in my life!

Cinema in India has completed its glorious 100 years on the 3rd of May, 2013. Indian Film Industry has always been the greatest in terms of number of movies produced and released in a year. So many talented directors, actors, actresses and people related to films have come and gone but the industry stands tall on its feet in its centenary year.
Since my birth, the 'Khans' of the industry have been making their mark. During my childhood days if someone asked me who was my favourite actor,  I would instantly say ShahRukh Khan. His movies like DDLJ, Kuch kuch Hota hai, K3G, Mohabbatein, Baadshah were all great blockbusters at that time and depicted SRK as the personality which every boy would want to be.
As years passed and some brains deposited in my head, I changed my gear to meaningful cinema. And that meaning was certainly provided in the movies of Aamir Khan. Be it Lagaan (which teaches you being in unity and spirit), be it Rang De Basanti (which awakens the youth and is my all time favourite movie), be it Taare Zameen Par (which tells that every child is unique in his/her own way and in which I cried for the first time in theatre) and be it many other movies like Sarfarosh, Fanaa and not to forget 3 Idiots (the highest grossing movie of India ever), all are masterpieces.
The impact of cinema is such that one can't adhere to a single favourite. There will always be at least 2 to 3 favourites at a time. Not only actors, but as I grew up into an 18 above, beautiful heroines also started blowing up my mind (and also taking away my heart sometimes). Let me mention some names like Kareena Kapoor or Deepika Padukone who are not only known for their acting skills but also for their scintillating looks.
Talking about Bollywood music, Oh! I just love every new musical song of A.R.Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Vishal-Shekhar, Amit Trivedi, Pritam (and even Himesh Reshammiya sometimes). Many of my friends like to hear English songs but my phone's playlist is always full of Hindi music.
The style and glamour that the movies offer to a young mind, makes another important impact. And I confess that I would like to keep Ranbir Kapoor's hairstyle that he kept in in the movie Rockstar, but still I haven't been able to copy him.
The off-beat, parallel cinema also keeps moving side-by-side amongst the blockbuster entertainers and movies like Udaan, Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Gangs of Wasseypur, etc. are good examples of it.
A lot of new young directors and talented actors are making the film industry stronger and likelier to watch. May this celebration of cinema keeps going on and on!

The road-blocks of Development

Development is when the people of a country are broad-minded, aware, educated and can be self-motivated. Development is when there exists no differentiation on the basis of caste, creed, gender or rich-poor. Development is when basic amenities are easily met. And to bring about this development, countries try hard so that they can remove the 'ING' from 'DEVELOP' and put 'ED' instead of it.
Many barriers block the roads which lead to development and in India, illiteracy is the major barrier. Without education one can't expect a country to pave the ways of becoming a developed country.
India falls into the category of those 'ING' nations which consist of around 65% population in rural areas. People of the villages mainly are farmers or skilled and unskilled labourers. In search of work and money, these labourers are migrating to urban areas and finding jobs according to their skill. Also, a common tendency of the farmers is being seen now-a-days that instead of cultivating vegetables and other agricultural goods, they are selling their lands to builders and MNCs, moving to urban areas and making the big cities more populated. This migration of uneducated poor people is in turn putting another check in the way of development by increasing poverty. Slums have grown from meters to square meters and there is no control over the situation.
In old times, people used to send their children to government schools and colleges. But these days a government institution just has a layer of dust over it. The educational system has fallen big time!
On one hand there are students who dream to secure their future and on the other, there are pupils who don't know the spelling of future. Schemes and plans of the government prevail but do not help largely as there is corruption and unfair policies which bring many terms and conditions with them.
India is developed in entertainment and media industry. It is developed in terms of number of youth. It is developed in handicraft and manufacturing industries. Big cities like Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmadabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai consist good infrastructure as well. A city should not only be proud to have malls or metros, but also need to improve upon areas like cleanliness of the city, maintaining greenery and health and hygiene. No tourist from abroad would like to see rubbish lying on the roads.  
To eradicate such loopholes altogether, the people need to be educated, need to be shown a way of employment, need to be aware about their skills and rights and hence, make the country developed in real sense!!

एक 'पुनीत' आत्मा को नमन

दादी-नानी से सुनी होंगी तुमने कई कहानी,
पर आज सुनाता हूँ मैं तुम्हे मेरी दादी की ही कहानी।
एक प्रिंसिपल साहिबा थीं जैसे रानी, नहीं चलने देती किसीकी मनमानी,
था रुतबा ऐसा की इज्ज़त करते थे सब, हर काम हो जाता था एक नज़र देख लेती थीं जब।

काम के साथ-साथ परिवार के लिए भी थीं कर्तव्यनिष्ठ,
नहीं होने दिया किसीको संस्कारों से वंचित,
दादाजी का भी खूब साथ निभाया और सफलतापूर्वक अपने सेवानिवृत्त जीवन में कदम बढ़ाया।

 कुछ ही महीनों बाद हुआ एक नन्हा, जिसे सबसे ज़्यादा मिली उनकी गोद की ममता,
पगतलियों पे उसकी हाथ फेरना लगता था उन्हें प्रिय, दाना-मेथी उनके हाथों की खाना थी नन्हे को प्रिय।

बड़ा हुआ वो नन्हा तो लेता था उनसे हिंदी का ज्ञान और साथ बैठ के देखता था T.V. के Programme,
वक़्त गुज़रा तब वो नन्हा उन्हें समय न दे पाया, क्योंकि बड़ा हो गया है, ऐसा उसके दिमाग में आया।
वृद्धावस्था में घट रही रही थी उनके मस्तिष्क की काया, ये उसे समझ न आया,
देना चाहिए था उन्हें और समय, ये तब जान पाया,
जब हो नहीं सकता था उनका कोई इलाज,
जब कोई काम नहीं कर पाता था उनके दिमाग पर राज।

खड़ी हो जाती थी वो दरवाज़े पर तो रोक लेता था उन्हें,
कभी कहीं चलने लगती तो टोक देता था उन्हें,
बस इतना ही ख्याल रख पाया, कि उन्हें किसी भी मुश्किल स्थिति में आने से बचाया।

पर नहीं पता था कि  मुश्किलें उनकी और बढ़ जाएँगी,
अभी कम-से-कम चलती-फिरती तो थीं, फिर अचानक यूँ बिस्तर पर आ जाएँगी।

जब पकड़ के ले जाना पड़ता था उन्हें गुसलखाने,
तब याद आती थी उनकी डांट कि,
"मेरे cushion covers ख़राब किये तो पड़ जायेंगे तुम्हें कान पकड़वाने"

पीड़ा अत्यंत हुई जब देखा उनके शरीर में लगते तारों को, नलियों को,
बहुत नियंत्रण करके आँखों में आँसू आने से बचाया,
उनके अंतिम क्षण में भी उनके हाथों पर अपने हाथ फेर कर आया।

जब कंधा दिया उनकी अर्थी को तो अनुभूत हुआ,
कि ये बोझ उनको पकड़ के खिसकाने के बोझ से कहीं भारी था।
अब जब भी देखता हूँ उनकी तस्वीर, तो कर लेता हूँ उनसे बात,
बताता हूँ कि क्या चल रहा है, मेरे और सबके दिन-रात।

दुःख जो वो सह रही थीं, वो असहनीय था,
उनके लिए भी और सबके लिए भी।
याद आती है उनकी 'दुर्लभ' मुस्कुराहट जब दादाजी उन्हें सुनाते थे
'you are my Soniya' या 'तुम्ही मेरी देवी हो' जैसी lines,
लगता था कि ये smiles बनी रहें for miles!!

पर अच्छा किया ईश्वर जो उन्हें पीड़ा से मुक्त करवाया,
अब रह गयी है ह्रदय में उनकी 'पुनीत' काया,
कामना है यही कि बनी रहे सब पर उनकी छाया।

महिला दिवस पर उस नारी को नमन,
जो, दुआ है, बनती रहे मेरी ही दादी हर जन्म !!

Inspirational Story!

An atheist professor of Philosophy speaks to his class on the problem Science has with God. He asks one of his new students to stand and the conversation begins.

Prof: do you believe in God?

Stu: absolutely Sir!

Prof: is God good?

Stu: sure.

Prof: is God all powerful?

Stu: yes.

Prof: my brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill but God dint. How is this God good then?

Student is silent.

Prof: you can’t answer. Can you? Let’s start again young fellow. Is God good?

Stu: yes.

Prof: is Satan good?

Stu: no

Prof: where does Satan come from?

Stu: from God.

Prof: that’s right. Tell me son, if there is evil in this world?

Stu: yes.

Prof: evil is everywhere. Isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Stu: yes.

Prof: so who created evil?

Student doesn’t answer.

Prof: is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world. Don’t they?

Stu: yes Sir.

Prof: so who created them?

Student has no answer.

Prof: science says you have five senses. You use to identify and observe the word around you. Tell me son, have you ever seen God?

Stu: no Sir.

Prof: tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Stu: no Sir.

Prof: have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Stu: no sir.

Prof: yet you still believe in Him

Stu: yes.

Prof: according to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that son?

Stu: nothing, I only have my faith.

Prof: faith and yes, that is the only problem science has. 

Stu: can I ask you something sir? Is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: yes.

Stu: and is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: yes.

Stu: no sir, there isn’t.

The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.

Stu: sir you can have lots of heat, super heat, mega heat, a little heat or no heat but we don’t have anything called cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We can’t measure cold, heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, just the absence of heat.

There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.

Stu: what about darkness Prof? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: yes, what is night if there isn’t any darkness?

Stu: you are wrong again sir. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light but if you have no light constantly it is called darkness. In reality, darkness isn’t, if it were you would be able to make darkness darker. Wouldn’t you?

Prof: so what is the point you are making young man?

Stu: sir my point is that your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: can you explain how?

Stu: sir you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir science can’t even explain a thought; it uses electricity and magnetism but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me prof. do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes of course I do.

Stu: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

Prof shakes his head with a smile beginning to realize where the argument is going.

Stu: since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work, and can’t even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour..Are you not teaching your opinion sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

The class is in uproar.

Stu: is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor’s brain.

Class breaks out into laughter.

Stu: is there anyone here who has ever heard the prof’s brain, felt it, touched it or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir!! With all due respect sir, how do we then trust your lectures?

The room is silent. The prof. stares at the student, his face unfathomable.

Prof: I guess you will have to take them on faith son!

Stu: that is it sir. The link between man and God is faith…that is all that keeps things alive and going.

Want to know who that student was…this is a true story and the student was none other than

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam!!