What's On Mind?

.....now that's for you to figure out!
Here, I am enjoying my prized catch-a headphone; for which I had to compete with my mom. In the end my persistence paid off as my mom called off her conference call midway..........

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NewYork- New Movie Critique In Town?

Today’s post is bit different......Well, I am going to write a movie review of newly released Hindi movie "NewYork". Please note that the review is based on the post movie conversation between my parents, Sandeep uncle and Pallavi aunt while on our way back home.

But before I start, let me tell that this was my first movie outing; so I had no inkling of what was in store for me.

We reached Omaxe Mall after eating our dinner at Sandeep uncle's place. By the time we entered inside the movie hall, movie had already begun.

Upon entering inside, what I found was a pitch dark hall with a giant screen in front. The hall was packed with people who had their eyes glued to the screen. As soon as we found our respective seats, I also started looking at the screen with a look of amazement and would not take my eyes off it. With that, all the creases on my mom’s forehead vanished. Actually, mom was worried about my reaction to the deafening sound and the darkness inside the movie hall. I guess using small cotton balls as ear plugs helped.

The colour riot on screen was quite attractive and so was the music. It was kind of difficult to make me move my eyes off the screen. However, I did move from one lap to another......from Sandeep Uncle’s to Pallavi aunt’s to Mom’s to Papa’s and then back to mom’s. Soon thereafter my mom administered me my sleeping pill- her feed; and I would sleep comfortably for next 90 minutes to wake up only towards the end........

And now movie review part of the post lifted straight from the conversations in the car. They say that ending of the movie could have been better as killing Maya (Katarina Kaif) didn’t go down well with them. NewYork will go down as John Abraham’s best acting in his career till date. He looked quite well in his role of Sam. Katarina Kaif too has acted well. Finally, she has started dubbing for her own and it was good to hear her speak accented Hindi. Neil Mukesh has proven himself again after his sizzling debut performance in Johnny Gaddar and then you have an evergreen Irfan Khan in the role of a FBI officer.

The movie has been set in the backdrop of 9/11 twin tower tragedy and shows how that one strike changed the lives of everyone after the attack; especially those who had Muslim names.........The plot has been lifted from 1200 illegal detentions of Muslim by FBI after the tragedy. As a matter of fact most of those 1200 men were found to be not involved with any sort of terrorism. In the movie, happy go lucky trio of Maya, Sam and Omar too could not escape from the post tragedy troubles. Illegal detention of Sam and his subsequent torture by FBI for nine months turns him to terrorism. The torture scenes have been shot quite well and leave you with lot of sympathy for Sam and the route he took thereafter-at least that’s how my father felt. Abu Gharib prison in print comes alive on screen courtesy those shots...... In fact, Sam was shown to be first detained by a woman officer only. What stands out in the movie is the performance of Shilgey, an illiterate Muslim immigrant illegally detained by FBI- the way he describes his torture to Maya or the look of anger on his face when he sees NYPD guy search Maya is simply brilliant. Do watch out for those scenes in the movie. And then the gripping ending plot- you will simply love it.

Overall, NewYork is a fast paced movie and you won’t even get to know when it gets over. It is a complete team effort and everyone felt that movie will do well at the back-office. Go and watch it to understand the making of a terrorist out of a common man. It is always the state, stupid! Or you can say most of the times.....With that review is over.

Hey, I loved my first movie outing and is now looking forward to next....Kambhakt Ishq! So, watch out for this space for my next review.

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My Mom Says There Is

........a terrorist in the house; Who? Yes, its me or who else.....I have been branded a terrorist! What for? Read this:

After having learnt crawling, I now have my eyes set on achieving next milestone i.e. walking. In fact, I have already begun working in that direction by learning to stand on my feet, albeit with some outside help. I have also mastered the art of crawling and can crawl at an amazing speed. Does anyone of you know of any crawling race competition; if yes, do enrol me for that. I promise not to let you down. After all, I practise it daily; my father guess estimate is 3 kilometres crawling per day. This essentially means that my mom is always on her toes to keep a close vigil on my movements. I understand that this must be tough on her; especially because she has to take care of her office work as well...... Anyways, that’s the beauty of motherhood- makes one learn and perfect the art of multi-tasking.....So mom you should rather be thankful to me.

I am really enjoying this phase of my childhood as I can move at will and do not have to be confined to one bed. My playground has now expanded beyond my bed and covers every nook and corner of my house. It’s another matter that I have special affinity for few places like – one right underneath the kitchen top or, in front of the dressing mirror or, near modem table or shoe rack to name a few....... My mom is always struggling to figure out as to what is there in a shoe to be attracted to- she tends to lose her cool moment she sees a shoe in my hand........One request from you, please never ask for any old newspaper cutting from my father as shelf life of newspapers in our house has already gone down to close to zero........Courtesy me baba!

In past one month or so, I have also come to know the taste of sandals, shoes, wire, newspapers, mobile phones, cameras etc.....just see this:

Tell me how fair it is to be branded as a terrorist for doing all this?

Actually, I don't blame her as this dreaded word is a new universal phenomena- not localised anymore......So, even homes are not aloof to something that is universal now! Are they?

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Dehradun Trip Update

I am now going to try and pack past 10 days in few hundred words................As mentioned earlier; we reached Dehradun on the night of 10th June after driving down from Gurgaon. An ostensible reason for this trip was to attend my Sunil mama’s marriage on 17th June; however my father sneaked in his resting needs to convert this into a rejuvenating break for himself.

My first day in Dehradun started early on a refreshing note with my dada taking me around our lawn for a dekko. Soon, my Rudra bhai and Ridhima didi joined in as well. I must mention here that both of them share an amazing chemistry; and anyone going by their innocent faces will do so only at its own peril. That day also, it wasn’t the lawn but the lure of the sprinkler system that brought them to the lawn. No wonder, they soon started the sprinkler to play with the water. I was tempted to join them but could only watch them helplessly- they are in the best phase of their childhood........

Here is one more picture of our “Gang of Three”. Next day, I went to my nana’s place and would remain there until 19th June.....I was attending a marriage for the first time. My Sunil mama was a happy man and so was his family. Indian weddings are usually a lavish affair and this one was no exception either. But what caught my fancy was specially invited troika of traditional folk artists playing their drums and bagpipes. < I will upload the video soon>.
Edited to add: Here is the video. Please unmute your speakers to hear the music.

This post can’t end without making mention of one bizarre accident that took place on the night of marriage day and involved myself and my mother. I was crying and needed milk, so my mother decided to feed me and she chose her brother’s car for that. As it was hot outside, she switched on the car ignition to start the air-conditioning. As soon as she did that, the car started moving- apparently the driver had forgotten to pull the hand-brakes when he first parked it....Ignorant of the seriousness of the accident, I was in my mom’s lap; while my mom was being dragged along the moving car with her one foot inside the moving car and other one on the ground. Left with no option, she jumped out to save me; injuring her knee and thighs. Her post delivery weight added more to her injury. However, we are thankful to the God for saving two lives as it could have been worse then what it seems......

My mom and I returned to our Dehradun home on 19th June. We came back to Gurgaon on 21st June after an uncomfortable drive of 11 hours; of which 5 hours were spent in a traffic jam......following picture will give you an idea of what I went through......

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My Voice Is Back

Cool climate of Dehradun seems to have choked my blogging voice! Not that I have stopped creating any situations for him to write; rather he has developed some sort of antipathy towards his laptop. Even that anticipatory look of the laptop screen or an invitation by the soft keys of keyboard would not melt his heart; the stubborn man didn’t budge at all.

Anyways, I have no complaints as poor guy deserves a break; a much needed one after having seen him do all the running for past seven months. When in Delhi, his, is a picture of a reluctant man fighting his own instincts to continue doing what he is doing; a job in the corporate world with relative success. An eerie but deceptive calmness oozing from his face is good enough to hide an ongoing war within from others, but not me. And, I can’t help but wonder how much he could achieve if he starts to love what he is doing. Or, should I say that a much easier option for him would be to do what he loves to do-All successful people do that only. Having said that, a logical follow-on question to this advice would be as to how one find out that elusive love....... To which, I would answer-Don’t look “without”; search for one “within”. And, I can definitely help my papa do that. So here is a small piece of advice for him:

Papa- based on what I have observed in last seven months, I know that you thrive in an environment that you can call as your own..........Dehradun is one such environment; so your best option is to either create Dehradun at your place or make Dehradun your place....................either way you will win! Doing what you love doing is a sure shot way to success but then one thing that you need to keep in mind is that success is not a one-way street. Rather, it is a continuous journey wherein you need to strike and maintain a balance between key variables- Passion, Hard-work, Focus and Persistence. The moment you lose that equilibrium; waiting “failure” takes no time to strike and hit back..... .........Last but not the least, money can never be a scale to judge anyone’s success; the only undisputed barometer of success is happiness; inner and outer. And you must strive for that!

With this post, my brief hiatus from blogging has come to an end......My voice is back; and back with a message.........it’s not me, it’s the environment stupid!

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