Brothers :D :D ## Part 1

Have you watched the movie, “Hare Rama, Hare Krishna” ?

I watch it in bits and pieces, every Rakshabandhan [they air it every year, as a rule!]; although the rest of it is pretty boring, I kinda like the brother-sister sequence.

Esp: the song “phoolon ka taaron ka, sabka kehna hai..”, which the young Devanand sings for his thumbsucking cute li’l sister (deprived of adequate love and attention from their forever quibbling, overly rich and cosmetically socialite parents *stereotypical I know!*)

… you can watch it here : http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=NXQA8k7TlJg

And it is such a sweeeeet sequence- Oh you must watch it! Even the lyrics are so contextual, and so very sweet and touching. The portrayal of all the characters .. is quite natural, and strikes a chord.

Somehow, everytime I watch this song, I get swayed by the context, and end up shedding more than a few tears :O !

Li’l Jaspreet (who grows up to be Zeenat Amaan) and Prashant (Devanand) get separated at a tender age, following the divorce of their parents. Prashant is sort of better off, since he gets to live in the custody of his Mother- a decent woman. The father comes across as more frivolous, and ends up bringing a terribly indifferent stepmum for Jaspreet, who then falls into the trap of drugs and drug addicts, to beat her blues. Those were the days of the Hippie Movement, remember [grossly misnomered as “Hare Rama, Hare Krishna” movement]

*hence the Title of the movie btw:*

Then, when Prashant grows up, he vows to track down his sister, and bring her back into their family [meaning he and his mother]- only to discover, that she has renounced the sane world, and walked into oblivion with her gang of hippies, who find pseudo-solace from their lives’ woes, in drugs, smoke and in general degeneration of the mind and body.

Actually, the song “dum maaro dum, mit jaaye gum.. bolo subah sham, hare Krishna hare raam” is quite deeply meaningful. It captures the defeatist, escapist mentality of such youngsters belonging to the Hippie clan [this was a fad in that age] . Such disoriented youth, often, under the garb of “mindless devotion, selfless bhakti” – calling for renunciation of “Wordly issues” – go on a path of reckless self-destruction. All this, citing a “purposeful, higher” existence!

The lines that Devanand sings in this sequence, addressing this gang (to the latter’s chagrin, though) .. are quite thoughtful ..

“Dekho O deewanon, tum yeh kaam na karo,

Ram ka naam, badnaam na karo,

badnaam na karo…

Jeevan naam hai kaam ka,

Aaraam na karo,

Ram ka naam, badnaam na karo …”

:)

It is only towards the climax, that Jaspreet [who is now rechristened as “Jasmine” – I think!] discovers that this guy is her own long-lost brother!

And unable to take the pain of the reality, to bridge the gulf between the two worlds- hers and her brothers.. she commits suicide …

How she discovers his identity .. is quite a scene! When Prashant confronts her- by singing the same old song.. with really touching lyrics .. Uh, Pls lemme write those down too ! I loooooouu this bit :D

“hum tum dono toh hain,

Ek daali ke phool,

Main na bhoola,

Mujhko- tu kaise gayi bhool!” ….

Err… although, I wish Zeenat Amaan had acted better in this sequence … she almost undoes the magic created by Devanand, with her very superficially dramatic.. *accent* “pruh—shaant, merey bhaaai!” .. repeated ten miserable times. And very clinically :-/

Anyhow! My purpose was to celebrate the phenomenon called “Brothers” :D

Thank you, God, for creating such a wonderful breed!

And I want to document some little things about all these creatures in my life .. :)

I’ll pick my favorites though .. m not going for the extended family tree!

To begin with the youngest .. Om and Namo :D :D

Cutest, brightest little devils you will evvvver come across! [they do have real names though :) .. which I won’t share unnecessarily]

Powerhouses of energy, witticisms, cute antics, snappy, and yet innocent replies … that leave you with smiles and grins of amusement for ages! ..

Once, the elder one swallowed the handy-dandy screwdriver and calmly told the younger brother about it, and also his mum (who thought it was a silly joke)

Minutes later, she hears the younger one calling his dad in the office, to her HORROR..

“Umm.. Daddy, Bhaa-ya says he’s dyyyin’, and that I can take his Yo-yo cards.. Can I please do that?”

I rem. When the elder one was hardly an year old, (and I was kinda young too :( struggling to come to terms with the fact that my Masi *his mum* had to be shared with a new little creature now), we all met in Delhi for a brief period, n I threw a fit:

I wanted us to visit our favourite restaurant nearby ‘just like the old days’

Masi couldn’t take the li’l one along. And legally, she couldn’t leave him alone with our grandmum either. [he was tinny!!]

But, I pouted, senti-ed and she relented! [Shipra di kept throwing me deadly looks of contempt throughout, for my tantrums though :-/ ]

We came back home after 2 HOURS, to find the li’l thing near the door .. face stained with tears, voice hoarse with crying [“Mamaaa…” he leaped at her, the moment she entered] .. and hands full of pots and pans! … yeah! He had this fascination with pots and pans, for some strange reason :D

I was guilty, yeah :( but had still got what I wanted [yeah.. m no prize catch for an elder sis *sad look*]

A few years later, both the brothers – ages 4 and 6 I think … spent good two months with me! And boy, how I will always cherish those days!

I never knew I could handle kids .. and do it willingly! :) But they were a joy to be around. It started as a one-odd experiment: me helping the elder one to shower .. after an initial awkward look of plea at his mum to do the honours instead :P, he went ahead with the experiment. And we were done very soon. That was a real ice-breaking session :)

And all this while, the younger one – who is a tough nut to crack, and does not let every odd person in his domain, watched us .. to gauge whether I was the approvable material, to act the the mum-substitute at times :D …

The next day, Masi took a tentative shot “Om, would you want Shruti di, to help u out in the shower, or do u want me to do that?”

*I looked up, in anticipation, towards this 2 foot kid- who was a star in his own right, with all of us *

“Al go with deedee, it’s okay.”

*me and masi looked at each other eyes wide open* I was ecstatic.

And Proud! I must be a real good elder figure, to have obtained His approval!

And after that, the kids would get into the shower TOGETHER … my screams of “one by one ” notwithstanding!

It was a nightmare!.. They were quite a handful! While I handled one with the soap business, the other one would be merrily trying to climb into the huge water drum, ten times his size. My screams “what on earth are you doing?!!”, would be met with a calm, amused grin “I am jus’ tryin’ to get in!”

[oh, and to get them into the shower at nights was a project unto itself! They were HOOKED onto their playstations- since they had no other real friends or distractions out here.. and to get them unhooked for even a 15 minute shower, was a herculean task!

I tried everything: threats, pleas, emotional blackmails, will-tell-mummy, no-choco-milk tonight.. everything!! But they took AGES to relent. I think my moment of glory was the night I was really tired, n kept threatening to switch off their games if they did not pause those. Li’l one casually, to elder one ”hang on, bha-yya, she won’t switch it aawwwff! – 2 more min. deeedee”

Oh yeah?! You watch this kid!

I turned off the playstations- just when they were jumping about having beaten some stupid Ludo somebody, “without weapons” ..

*ha! Zapped/ silence*

Both sets of jaws dropped open.

*younger one: half-shocked, half-awestruck.. wide eyed*

“She actually SWITCHED it off…”

The elder one mumbles ..”I know!!” .

... and both meekly walk into the bathroom, to get the job done with!]

*and I was all grins and pats on my own back* :D

I must have never screamed at any kid that much. Never told off anybody that many times. Never cooked for anyone!!! But I did all of that for them!

How many times they must have tiptoed into my room, to ask…

“errrm.. shrooteee deedee, can I get some mur-khoo and Koh-shur Chai??” **

** murku = is a madrasi food item/ snack kinds.

“Kashur Chai” = a kind of black, milkless, falvoured Kashmiri Chai, better known as “kaava” – u might have heard/ seen in movies :D

“Can I get some Choco-mee?” [:D that was chocolate milk]

Reason why all such requests started being directed to me instead of their mum: I was really liberal with the amount of chocolate used, and Maggi served :P :P

Every morning, before I left for college, one of them would (instructed by masi) groggily but diligently wish me “Bhagwaanas Hawala” [in kashmiri, that means, “may you be safe in God’s hands” :) ]

I remember this really funny episode with the little one – who would throw unbelievable dramatic fits when being asked to sit down to study [“I am feeling giddy” “mamma.. my fingers won’t move”, “I am weak” , “I think I need choco-mee” :( :( ] … and all of this, tears streaming down his face, while I would melt in pity, and tell his mum- let go, how can u be so heartless.

She knew better. She would tell him COLDLY. I’ll wait for when you stop feeling giddy, just stay put :P ..

And eventually, he’d give in.

One day, after this entire session of tears, and forced lesson in counting till TWELVE, Masi left for the kitchen, asking him to work on spelling THIRTEEN to TWENTY.

And oohhh … that was a Kodak moment… he kept going … (eyeing his playstation helplessly) .. “Thirteen,.. Thirteen.. how do you spell thirteen” ..

*elder brother steps in, to help him cheat, when he catches my look of disapproval*

*li’l one.. gets off the couch and tip toes into the kitchen to his mum*

*meekly..*

“mamma, I can’t spell THUr-teeen”

‘why can’t you?’ *stern look*

“I dunnoooo …” *helpless tone*

‘You just spelt Tweleve. I’m sorry, figure it out urself.’

*sighing loudly, n dejectedly, tiptoeing back to our room, protesting loudly*

“Mamma, comeon!! Twelve was eee-zeee … Thur-teeen is tuuuuuuuufffff!”

I tell you, I haven’t seen anything more cute than that scene!!

…

His reaction to the news about my Chicken Pox was classic too :P

When Masi anxiously told him about it, he goes

“ha.. haaa.. haa !”

Masi: *no-messing-with-me look* ‘what’s funny about that? ’

*promptly getting the signal, n taking a 180 degree turn*

“Oh, you said chicken Pox! .. I heard something else! Mom.. that can’t be good, she’ll miss school!” :P :P

Oh .. there are lots and lots of real stories about this pair [which when performed live, have the real impact :D] .. but on this occasion of Rakhshabandhan, I am reminded of these two li’l episodes:

Once we had a verrrry naughty li’l kid over. UDDAND BALAK, really!

He was all over the place, and he was full of purposeless punches! [his idea of affection and fun- though it HURT!]

For some reason, he kept making me miserable throughout; I did not say much, and let it pass, with mild “NO’s”..

Then the elder one does something sweet, digs out his playstation and gives it to him to keep him busy. [mind u- they don’t let anyone come a mile near their playstations]

And he requests masi to step aside for a private conversation, and tells her, “that kid is hurting Shruti deedee. Mamma, you ask him to stop, else I’ll have to tell him off!” [:D :D, an 8 year old kid, this!! ]

And yeah …

Our first farewell moment. That year, When I went to see them off, it was a whole lot of memories !! This time, more with the kids than with masi.

I remember shedding silent tears, in dignity, without letting anyone notice, when the li’l boy waves across the glass screen, and signals me silently to wipe off the tears.

The same whining, complaining little boy who would give me hell with his holiday homework!

There he stood, about to walk away for another year.. n showing sparks of maturity..totallly unexpected from a kid his age and kind!

:)

Gawd ..i devoted a whole lot of space to these kids!! And I still think I have just scribbled a few random thoughts!! :)

Will do the others in the next post I guess!

The Mixed Bag : Of Goa, Ethics and MTNL !!

*posted next afternoon*

Okay.. so, the other day, this discussion on ‘Ethics’ came up yet again, on someone’s blog. And I tried to put in words (though as a very crude attempt) some earnest thoughts. And then I recalled this reply-comment I had written for a previous post on this blog. It was a verse on a related issue. Well, it was an allegorical verse (A real-life story retold through the means of parallel characters- not necessarily human/animate beings. Boy! I love doing these things- helps me vent emotions without adopting the ugly-banging-head-on-the-wall course of action :D, which more often than not, yields no fruitful results!)

Here is what I had written:

I have just come to despise certain words lately, "morals" and "ethics" being some of them ..
it's weird how pure logic is often touted as something so high-n-mighty.. and has become almost a FAD .. u know .. the "in thing" ..
2+2=4, n not 5, 6 or 7! .. stating this very obvious in public has become a virtue of sorts ..
and thus, statement of logical facts has become a rare phenomenon in itself .. we conveniently sanctify this exercise.. and then wash our hands off it by running away with the excuse of being mere mortals ..with not a hint of divinity!..
The White Flower here, is an allegorical depiction of those who can manipulate this weakness in the masses at large, to their advantage .. u know, grabbing the Halo by calling 2+2=4 when they so wish, and making the same 5, 6 or 3 when it suits their convenience, coz they think they can always turn around and tell the non-haloed beings, ‘at least I got it right last time’ ...
What is simple logic, becomes simple politics..
The answer '4' is no more the relevant .. it is the process of addition in which lies the catch..!

And this comment on this other blog I was talking about:

I think the word “Ethics” lends itself to convenient manipulation coz of its relative nature. Seriously, we shud replace it with the concept of Cold Logic, for all purposes- practical, and for public discourse. The problem arises when we attach the avoidable baggage of morality to the simple logic of
"As u sow, so you reap".

Sigh. This is what happens when you lose the context of things! ..

I don’t expect any reader to understand much of this, coz it has not been very well articulated. Maybe, some other time. ...

MTNL is playing truant!! I H-A-T-E it … positively hate it … with every iota of HATE I can muster. Somehow, it shows “connected” status, but internet remains inaccessible. And this silly goose of Internet Service Provider wont relent :( I have to do an entire report for my new “work place” .. and having been occupied (for a change, PRODUCTIVELY) with other things, I could not sit for this before today, and Lo! The MTNL is busy acting up :-x

(Honestly, the sheer volume (and quality) of curses that me and my sis have hurled at them in frustration, gets me worried about its fate! )

So, here I sit, hoping against hope that mayyyybe it will connect in a while (er.. though it hasn’t behaved in the past 10 hours :( : ( )

Oh by the way! I got to know something very interesting the other day. One of my seniors has secured a job posting in Goa! .. I mean wow!! .. Of all places you can associate with work- that should certainly rank somewhere at the bottom. And yet, it never occurred to me.. of course, you do have normal people there, working in offices, toiling day in, and day out… doing all the mundane work that unfortunate beings like us living in non-holiday spots do. I mean of course, you DO need things other than music, party, beaches, cruises, or even dope et al. for that matter, to run a city. D’oh!!

At first, it seemed too good to be true :D :D … Goa!! .. The minute I discovered this, an image popped up in my mind (and yeah, ludicrous image I agree) – I immediately visualized him in THAT holiday Hat, and all the other Beach-gear.. sipping off a drink (I also wondered aloud as to whether we could now expect to see him next in those loud Beachy, Flowery T-shirts :P but apparently, he is okay without those!)

And yet, Goa is Goa. It’s a place full of life and energy, a zest for life, and a life full of gay abandon! Or at least, that is what I remember of that city, which has a very different flavor of its own. It can’t be just the Portugal touch. Nope, it’s more. The ethos of the city I guess – a certain quality is exuded by just about everything and everyone, that is so very umm.. Goan, there is no other word for it! And it’s not just the beaches. It’s more :)

Now, there is a very fond memory of that place, that still brings a smile to my face(As do all RKK-memories :) ). We were on this cruise in Goa (I think it was called ‘Maria’ ..) *on this 8 day Bombay-to-Goa Trip organized by the School. This was when I was in class Eight, yeahh.. *

Well, it was one of the most beautiful evenings we spent there. The Cruise. Must be around 40 of my batchmates, and 40-ish seniors. Like I said, the spirit of Goa is contagious, and in places and occasions like the cruise mentioned above, with a wonderful blend of music and frolic, you have a certain magic in the air :) *reminisces fondly*

It wasn’t loud- the gathering. People weren’t stepping on each other, screaming each other down (Oh, that’s another legitimate way of indulging in gay abandon after a hard day’s work :) of course)

It was one of those elegant kinds of gathering. Where one swayed to the music, or just stepped back and quietly watched with amused satisfaction and pleasure, the ambience, and the people- all gathered to take some fun “time out” and to share the spirit with all others in the place- known and unknown.

Oh I recall this guy who was performing – I think he sang mostly all of Lucky Ali songs, and Boy! He could have given him stiff competition- the voice was too good. (u know… when I was younger, I was never as tone-deaf, as I eventually grew up to be :P .. although was never a music freak, let alone a connoisseur… but yeah I can tell a good set of vocal chords at work, anyday!)

Well, The music was awesome, and the singer was awesome too. (I dunno if this was a co-incidence, but he had the same (or greatly similar) physical appearance as Lucky Ali *hehe.. although, he might have done better with the resemblance having stopped at the voice bit ;) *) We were seated among the audience for quite some time (well…loads of things there as well, but the memory’s hazy)

There were people dancing on the floor before us, as the guy sang and music played. And I recall all of us itching to take over the dance floor. (Gosh, we were a fun batch! .. u cud play any music at any hour of the day, at any place .. u name it, and it would come alive as a dance floor :) ).. Unfortunately, we weren’t alone on the cruise, the crowd was well… a Crowd- which is always a mixed bag of the decent and the not-so-decent strangers. And footloose as we were, we were also quite sensible, in a way *sighs with fond pride* So we did not, of course, step onto the dance floor (though I seriously remember having contemplated throwing off the junta who had occupied the floor for so long, into the surrounding water. We were even wondering as to how much booking the entire cruise just for our lot, would have cost. Errm.. yeah, there were times when I was too big for my shoes, with my imagination :P) Well, we sat there, after sometime, beginning to crib inwardly, yearning to flex our muscles, to get up and get started! Good sense, and faith in god stopped us from taking any step which might only have spoilt the otherwise fun trip. And so we sat, bidding our time…

Meanwhile, I recall this episode with Nidhi J. :D … well, it’s a legend close to everyone’s heart. For firsts, she was one person who had fully internalised Goa – with all those flowery beachy shirts, and very Goan sunglasses. Well, she was also the ‘Ms. twinkling toes’ of our group, and the denial of the opportunity to dance on such an opportune moment and platform.. if it was bothering the rest of us, I’m sure it must have been annoying her no end. She sat there, imapatiently, irritably. And Nidhi-ly.

So when this Aunty turned around, sweetly and asked her in a very conversational manner, “So, where are you all coming from?” (errmm..we were a pretty large and notice-able group u see :D) ..

To our shock, and disbelief, Nidhi turned around and snapped back at the Aunty :

I’m sorry Aunty. We are not supposed to talk to strangers. *Cold look*

Aunty *struggling to overcome the initial shock of this sudden, uninvited rudeness. And especially hurtful, I assume coz she had picked on this girl who sooo looked like an Official-member-of-the-Goan-Clan*

‘oh..kay’ *turns around in her seat, face red with shock and anger*

Well, the music ended. And there was applause.

And hear, hear!!.... the Emcee whoever..now goes .. ‘I notice that these young ladies seated out there *pointing in our direction* have not joined us in the dance. And they don’t look too happy about it.

I would now request them to come on the dance floor while I perform special songs for them. And all the others, please stay out for now, and let them have the floor to themselves. ‘

*yayayay!! – we could have hugged Lucky Ali-Part Two :D :D*

Meanwhile, Ms. J was busy gushing/blushing etc etc about a character apparently .. somewhere in the crowd. Perhaps, others were too. Me and DJ sat at one extreme corner of the row (I was closest to the water!! :) ) and DJ just filled me in about this gushing business in a passing manner. Okay. So nothing new about that. And not a new story coming from our Ms. J either :D

So, anyhow, we danced to the wonderful, soulful music (Hail Lucky Ali- part two, wherever you are), but sadly, like all good things that come to an end, this one did too. (And it ended with an applause from the audience *grinning sheepishly* -- ohh, even Aunty must have been back to her jovial self!)

Err… now our lucky Ali did something that made him lose points by the way.

He asked us pleasantly ‘That was a good show. you guys must be from Delhi? ‘

We corrected him. “Nope. We’re from Jodhpur-‘

*frown* .. “Wha- where’s that ??”

Okayy.. Fair Enough! Jodhpur was no more than a spec on the map of India. Salman Khan’s Black-Bucks-hunting case had recently hogged limelight though, and had helped put the city on the map a bit…yet, it was pardonable ignorance.

We smiled. “It’s a place in Rajashtan”

And err..

*Frown again* “Annd.. where’s that??” !!!!

However, this was unpardonable ignorance. And we politely walked off the stage, I personally having let Lucky Ali Part two slide several notches down on my opinion-ometer ;)

But maybe I shouldn’t underestimate Goans’ general awareness coz of this one-odd instance. Imagine what would happen if people were to estimate the quality of students of my institute based on a one-odd interaction with me *gulp*

IMI would then be recognized as a place breeding MBA-Bashers-yet-MBA-doers, who donot even know the period in time-scale when Emperor Akbar reigned in the region *wink, wink,… that’s another story*

Anyhow, so now the floor was open to all, and the evening was about to reach a closure. This was to be the valedictory dance, if such a thing exists.

The dance ended, on a spirited note. But waitaminnit! To Nidhi’s amazement, the object of gushing/flushing was now dancing with Aunty (her best guess was that he was her son!) .. and merrily so!

And when the music ended, the pair came back (this time, Aunty calls out to the Character – “Rahul beta … “ – Yep. That was the name. How very aptly filmy.).. and Nidhi, having realized her stupid, criminal mistake, regained her senses (and also reclaimed the DROPPED jaw :D) .. (while the rest of us rolled up with suppressed and not very suppressed laughter)

And now, this was classic … (sinking to her lowest best :P)

The minute aunty returned to her seat in front of Nidhi,

She squeaked, sweetly and meekly ..

“errm.. Excuse me Aunty… “

Aunty turned around *taken aback- shock written all over her face*

*others- watching from a distance, and savouring the fun*

Nidhi squeaked, with all her polite dignity:

“I’m really sorry about my behavior. Actually, we are strictly forbidden to mingle with others…School Rules ..” she mumbled in a feeble attempt to undo the damage.

I dunno what happened after that.. whether Aunty softened. Or did not. Well, either ways, the entire story ended there. What else did she expect, anyway :P

Anyhow… I rem. We came back to the resort, and this story (which spread like wildfire within minutes ) had us in splits (to Nidhi’s chagrin ;)) the entire night (which, by the way, comprised of an again very Goan dinner, followed by a bon fire)..

Hey… which was the night when DJ and I had played chess with Sangita ma’am, in her room (oh god, she was so much fun, she danced all over the room with the two little kids that we were, and then She and another one role played a customer and a bar tender, to our amusement :) )

Oooh of course, this was way back. I distinctly recall that we had Seema Ma’am and Sanjay sir on this particular trip…. Oh gawd… I can just go on n on .. documenting random memories …

And Guess what!! All this while, the internet has not connected !!

*damn you MTNL, BURN IN HELL :-X *

But hey, all said and done, Would I really like to spend a few years of my life working in Goa??

Maybe. Maybe not.

Alright then, more later :D

Cheers and God bless ..

Ciao