Nitai Gaur Hari bol

Kayi dino se man me ek abhilasha hunkaare bhar rahi thi aur prabhu ki kripa se is warsh yah manokaamna bhi poorna ho gayi. Darasal, jab se main college me Pavan ke sampark me aaya aur usne mere naam ko lekar kaseede kasne shuru kiye, tabhi se meri iksha thi ki main apne naam ke bhawaarth ke antahkaran tak jaoon. Aur jaisa ki maine kaha, is warsh harikirtan me ye awasar bhi mil hi gaya. Chaubees ghante ka akhand kirtan sampann ho chuka tha aur bhandaare ke baad ki madhur aur tript bela (ya yun kahein ki tript udar) thi jab saara pariwaar gapp-sarhaake ke liye baitha aur bas phir kya hona tha...kaam aayi meri abhilasha aur usse bhi zyada kaam aaya biljli vibhaag, jisne ye thaan liya tha ki bijli dena uske dharm ke khilaaf hai aur is prakaar humein gapp ka bharpoor awasar dena uska param kartavya.

Jaise hi maine apne naam ke arth ki baat cherhi, kai awaazein ek saath aani shuru ho gayi...amma, chacha, chote papa, bua...jise dekho, apni hi dhuni ramaata sa prateet hota tha. Lekin jaldi hi main wo sab kuch sun chuka tha jo mujhe pehle se hi pata tha. Jab maine kuch aur andar jaakar thehre hue paani me hulchul paida karne ka prayaas kiya, tab jaakar asliyat saaamne aayi aur maine wo kahaani suni jisne na kewal meri jigyaasa ko shaant kiya balki mere mastishk me supt ek doosri jigyaasa ko janm diya...lekin main shayad path-bhramit ho raha hoon...sab kuch parantu kramwash.

Nimai bachpan se hi shararati the. Chutpan se hi unhone aisa koi bhi awasar nahi jaane diya jab unhone kisi sanyaasi, kisi sadhu ka apamaan athwa parihaas na kiya ho. Lekin jaise jaise unhein sachchai ka gyan hua aur prabhu ki leela unke jeevan me prakaash ban kar aayi, waise waise unhone aise kaam shuru kiye jinki wajah se aaj unhe Mahaprabhu ki sangya di jaati hai. Unhone kisi ko bhi shishya nahi banaaya lekin unke kai paarshad the jinhe gosaain ki sangya di gayi. In sabhi anuyaayiyon ne gauriya sampradaay ka srijan kiya aur krishna prem ke bhaaw ka prachaar prasaar kiya. In sab paarshadon me pramukh the chah gosaain: Roop, Sanatan, Bhat, Raghunath, Jeev aur Gopal...in logo ne Chaitanya Chaitawali ki rachna ki aur Bhagwan Sri Krishna ke prem ras me sabhi ko vibhor kiya. Mahaprabhu ne in chah gosaaion ko aagya di ki wo Bhagwan Sri Krishna ki leela ko punarjeevit karein. Yah inhi gosaaiyon ki mehnat ka nateeja hai ki jo Vrindavan kabhi jangal tha, aaj itna bada dhaarmik sthal hai jahaan jaate hi aisa lagta hai maano prabhu ki baal leela aur raas leela aankhon ke samaksh sajeev ho padi ho.

Nitai ek sanyaasi the jo ki dar dar prabhu gyan ke talaash me bhatakte the. Jabse inka sampark Mahaprabhu se hua, wo unke maadhyam se prabhu ke sameep pahuch gaye. Mahaprabhu ke sabse bade bhakton me unka naam liya jaata hai...yahaan tak ki kimvandati ye bhi hai ki Nitai aur Nimai bhai the (halaanki wo kewal Guru Bhai the). Isi prakaar kai baar ye bhi kaha jaata raha hai ki jis prakaar Mahaprabhu swayam Prabhu Sri Krishna ke awataar the, usi prakaar Nitai Dau Balraam ke roop the. Mahaprabhu swayam Nitai ko bahut maante the aur jaisa ki maana jaata hai, Prabhu ke sameep pahuchne ka sabse uttam maarg unke bhaktgan hi hain...tabhi to kaha jaata hai...Nitai bole, Gaur bol, Gura bole Hari bol.

Ye sach hai ki mera naam Nitai hote hue bhi aaj tak main in sab baaton se awagat nahi tha lekin sach ye bhi hai ki ye sabhi baatein kaafi anokhi lagi mujhe aur unhone mere man mastishk me kahi soye hue Nitai ko shayad jhakjhor sa diya. Agar main ek vaakya me us din ki kahaani ka mere upar jo asar hua uski vyaakhya karne ki cheshta karoon to shayad wohi kahoonga jaisa ki chote papa ne ant me kaha...yadyapi Prabhu har roop me ek hi hain, lekin Bhaktavatsal Prabhu Sri Krishna ke bhakt Gauriya Sampradaay ki bhakti me jo ras hai, wo shayad hi kisi aur sampradaay me milta ho.

A class act

With only six actors to fill the frames and the frames themselves, moving at a pace that can not be called anything but slow, Raincoat never had the big chance to be a superhit. The promotions of the movie have been coming on the tele for a long time, too and much of the curiosity effect has been killed before the movie actually became ready for release. Rituparno Ghosh, however, has done a wonderful job of translating one of O Henry's works on screen through this short movie that beautifully traverses the border between mainstream and art cinema.

Manoj lives in Bhagalpur where he loses his job with the local factory, putting him in dire need of money. He decides to go to Calcutta and ask his friends for some monteray help and with that, start a business. Once in Calcutta, he goes to see his college friend who makes television serials. He is welcomed there by the friend and his wife and given all contact addresses of people who might be able to help him.

Manoj has another agenda to meet in Calcutta, and that is to meet his childhood sweetheart Neeru, who had given him the slip and married a well-off business man from Calcutta. When Manoj visits Neeru amidst the rainy weather wearing the raincoat lent to him by his friend's wife, the story moves on to a dialogue between Manoj and Neeru and occasional flash back sequences to establish their romantic history and subsequent bereavement.

The events take an interesting turn when Neeru borrows Manoj's raincoat to go out to buy soem supplies from the grocery and there enters into the scene, another character, the full-bladder Landlord.

Ajay Devgan as Manoj and Aishwarya Rai as Neeru have done an amazingly perfect job of portraying two estranged lovers who have not really let go of their passions for each other. Aishwarya Rai looks sweet as well as manipulative. Having tried the same kind of role in Khakee, she perfects it in Raincoat. In the flash back as well as in the current sequences, she clearly comes across as the dominant partner of the romance and not just because the story is so, but also through the way the two actors act out their respective roles.

The silent yet disturbed protrayal of a ditched, troubled man by Ajay Devgan, though not very spectacular, is as effective as it could have been. He restrains himself, stutters, stammers, cries, and at the same time brags with abandon, as any normal person in real life would have done.

Annu Kapoor impresses in his small but effective role. It has been a long time since he made an appearance on the big screen and this time, he does not disappoint. He is very straight forward and rude, as the nature of his character demands. More than that, he manages his entry and exit very well.

Direction by Rituparno Ghosh is bordering on excellent. Specifically, the scenes between Aishwarya and Ajay and between Annu and Ajay are very well executed. The rip-offs between the lovers, the tone of Aishwarya and the way she carries herself are evidences to the mastery of Ghosh.

The cinematography, however, might be one area where the movie loses out a little, although it must be admitted that the look of the movie is in keeping with the feel of the movie. The dark corners, the stormy nights where the faces of neither Ajay or Aishwarya are clearly visible, though they add to the story, take away a lot from its appeal. This is where, despite some very popular mainstream actors, the movie moves on to the art cinema mode with hardly any background music and dark backgrounds.

Even on other occasions, when there is background music aplenty, it is in the voices of Shubha Mudgal which is anyday not as popular as a Lata or a Kavita or an Alka. Classically beautiful, yes but practically popular, certainly not.

If you want to watch Aishwarya uninterrupted for one and a half hours and that too, at one of her best, if Ajay Devgan has started impressing you more and more with every movie he takes on, if you are in that over-boisterous kind of a mood and require some straightening, Raincoat will do wonders for you. If you are already in the dumps and are looking forward to some cat calls and whistles, you are in for a disappointment.

Go light your bulb!

Jab bhi hum daleelon me kamzor parhne lagte hain
Hum hamesha do hi cheezon ka sahara lete hain
sanskaar aur Parampara

After the amazing success of Lagaan, there were quite a lot of expectations from Swades, Gowarikar's next. In a sense, Swades  does come close to Lagaan in parts, it fails, on the whole, to entertain. Swades has a story to tell and it does tell the story in a unique style, that of realism and perfection. Aamir Khan and his Lagaan notwithstanding, Swades is indicative of the effect that Khan had on his director.

Mohan Bhargava works as a Project Manager for NASA where he is working on the Global Precipitation Measurement model. In the middle of his project, he starts thinking of Kaveri Amma, the lady who took care of him during his childhood. He feels the guilt of having left her alone in India and as such, leaves for India to find and take care of Kaveri Amma. Once in India, he realises that Kaveri Amma has left the Old Age Home where she was living and has gone on to Charanpur, a small village in Uttar Pradesh.

He also meets Gita, who guides him to some other place but luckily, Mohan manages to find his way to Charanpur. He finds that there are a lot of problems in the village and Kaveri Amma is too attached with Gita and the village to leave them with their problems. The rest of the story revolves around how Mohan starts solving the village's problems to enable Kaveri Amma to accompany him to America. Soon however, he gets truly involved in the village and its people.

From the directorial front, the movie is well made but for the speed of execution of some situations. As mentioned earlier, the high point is that the movie showcases things up front, as they are and without any pretence. The viewer is provided the choice to see and feel India from an outsider's point of view, unbiased and unadulterated. All the same, the drama of the story is lost once the story starts becoming too real for the taste of the masses. The classes might still appreciate the directorial efforts of Gowarikar, especially the minor touches like the scenes where Shahrukh is shown riding pillion with two others on a Bajaj M80.

The cinematography, keeping in mood with the rest of the movie, is serene and quiet, but of good quality. The picturisation of the songs has come up quite well, especially the Dekho na song which looks a lot different from the way many would have imagined it to be like, on listening to the audio. The songs, even otherwise, are good and display a decent combination of fast and slow pace, instruments and vocals, imagery and direct talk.

Shahrukh Khan does an honest job and after a long time, may not have been able to sleepwalk (in his own words) through his role, as he might be doing in his other Yash Chopra-esque movies. Gayatri Joshi as the principle-driven socially conscious school teacher is fresh, beautiful, graceful, and in one word...smart. She makes the screen come alive with her eyes. As they dart around seductively at times, mockingly at others, the entire gamut of expressions plays its part on Gayatri's face.

The character artist who essays the role of Kaveri Amma is effective, too, but for her sickeningly always smiling expression and her awfully southern diction. Rest of the cast, including the Daadhi-waale-baba from Lagaan who plays the postman here, the actor who plays the role of Melaram, the budding American Dhabba owner, and Makrand Deshpande in a cameo, are all very good and provide the much needed relief from the endless moral science lessons that the others seem too intent on providing the audience.

Swades might as well be a true story for many NRIs and as such, should end up being a big hit overseas and probably that is what the target audience of Gowarikar is. Having tasted the blood once, he intends to go all the way to the Oscar this time but he might not be as lucky this time around. He will definitely have to wait for another inspiration. As for the local audience, Lagaan scores far higher than Swades on the entertainment aspect. Swades bores the audience at many places and at times, people are forced to await the intermission/end due to the sheer stretching of the dialogues. Had there been a little less of moral lesson delivery through dialogues and more of drama interwoven with the story, the movie would certainly have been more effective.

If you are the die-hard patriot, if you do not miss any of Big Khan's movies, if you want to watch a fresh, young face who gives another dimension to the school teacher role (played so differently by Sushmita a few months back), if you want to see and appreciate the reality in Indian villages, if you want to know what it is like for the expatriots who leave their country of birth but are not able to leave their memories, Swades is the movie for you. If you want entertainment and paisa vasool, look elsewhere.

Tradition...Custom...Convenience

My trip to Patna is over and I have been in Buxar since yesterday. There are already quite a lot of relatives at home and more are expected in a day or two. The occasion is the annual 24-hour Harikirtan organised every year on the 26th and 27th of December to remember my Great Grand father who passed away on the same date many years ago. It has become a tradition for the family. Still, however much may it be a part of the routine, every year's Harikirtan brings with itself a new flavor, a new form in which the family dynamics plays its role.

Right from my Bare Papa to the youngest member of our family, Bharat Bhaiya's (my first cousin) daughter, it has become a custom of sorts for everyone to be present on this occasion. We may think of absenting ourselves from any festival but not from this one unless there is a very strong reason. Unfortunately for me, I had such a reason last year due to which I had to give the Kirtan a miss. This year, however, the Kirtan is going to be special. It is also going to purify the new house that Chote Papa has built in Buxar. I have just been to the new house and I must say that by Buxar standards, the house has come out quite well. I hope that the Kirtan, that is actually going to shift its venue for the first time in my memory, proves auspicious for the new house.

It is only because of the Kirtan that all of my cousins have been able to keep so much in touch. We are not just on Hi-hello terms but are actually into each others' lives fully, living the others' joys and sorrows alike. There has never been any distinction between brothers/sisters and cousins in our family and God willing, it shall never ever happen.

It is not that our family is perfect and does not have the usual skirmishes that any family faces. But, with the trend moving from the joint to the nuclear families, I must say that our family puts up a brave face despite everything. It is time now that I play my part in this tradition that my Grand father has set up for us. With Bharat Bhaiya's daughter making her first entry in the Kirtan this year, I am no longer a part of the family's youngest generation. Going on 25 this June, it is about time that I, along with my cousins, take hold of the family tradition and take it forward...at least, that was what quite a lot of the talk this year was all about...Gosh!!! Am I really ready for it?

No longer a virgin

I have been violated. I have been opened, explored and penetrated. The experience, as I had heard earlier, was truly bitter sweet. There were times when it pleased me but all the same, there were moments when the pain was intense. The pleasure was intermingled with instances of awkward disturbance when all my innards protested against the invasion of my body. It was, after all, my first time with the dentist :-)

For the past three months, I have been having this tingling sensation at the back of my teeth set whenever I had anything cold. Ice-creams, cold drinks, et al were rapidly becoming unaffardable and the sword of tooth cavity was hanging precariously over my head. Since I had to come home anyway, I decided to give the neighborhood dentist shop one shot...luckily, the shot was worth it. There was no cavity in my teeth but only a little abnormality in the way my Wisdon Tooth had shaped up. It had turned up a little slanted and had actually lost touch with the gums, creating a gap that the dentists call the fourth pocket. This pocket had, in turn, been filled with foreign material which needed to be cleaned up for any relief from my condition.

As is true with any professional worth his salt, the dentist, despite assuring me that I had a set of wonderful teeth, advised professional cleaning to make sure that the teeth remain even close to wonderful. And that is what I had to undergo when it felt as if something external had overcome me and my body. The saliva-dripping, saliva-sucking pipe, the water spraying jet, the adhesive-fixing gun, the tongue-restraining God-knows-what...all of them moved freely inside my mouth and made merry as if it was their territory and I was just a minor inconvenience.

The long and short of it is that going to a dentist is okay as long as the dentist does not start any 'professional' stuff. As soon as he starts talking of that, let the warning bells start ringing and let the preparations begin for an orgy where the patient, that is you or me, is not even a mute spectator, but actually the much-punished victim.

The day after tomorrow

It has been a short term and as all of us here at IIMK from the batch of 2006 were expecting, it came to an end just too soon. As for me, the end came at an opportune moment. Like every year, this time too, all my relatives were gathering in Buxar to take part in the annual Harikirtan on the 27th of December to remember my Great Grand Father who passed away on the same date many years ago. 27th of December falling right in the plum center of my leave, there could not have been a better duration for the term break.

The journey home was long (with a capital L). I had decided to accompany Aditya to Bombay and thereon till Allahabad, thinking that he will turn out to be a comrade in solitude. But alas! it was not to be as Aditya decided to dedicate some more of his time to his 'dedication'.

The journey to Bombay was fun. With about a dozen classmates for company, it could hardly have been anything else. The numerous games of cards where I tried to run Mayank out of luck in Flash...where I tried to team up with Aditya to turn up the black 2's and catch all the 10's against Mayank and Manish.

Another interesting incident that I missed because of sweet sleep was when everyone was playing Dumb Charades and Pranay was trying to act out the word Yaad and ultimately ended up with making the people guess it by trying to make it rhyme with some word really out of place and one that, of course, did not rhyme at all :-) (unfortunately, I do not remember the exact word)

I also got to know quite a lot about things that happened in Aditya's life and got a chance to brag about my own history for a bit...an interesting conversation and trip...but not so for the remainder of the journey. The start was good with a visit to Hiranandani with Aditya, Tarun, and Mitali and some really good Aloo Parathas to top it off. However, good things were not there to last as I realised, and that too once I was well settled in my seat on the Kurla Patna Express, that I had left my bed cover (and Aditya, his) in the train to Bombay.

Two shivering nights later, I was home with Nani, Mamas, and cousins...and a good stay it promises to be. Despite the trip, I and my entire self were fully warmed up once at home and with my dear ones.

Ek choti si story

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far far away, there lived two hundred and fifty odd MBA students. In another kingdom, several miles away from the first, lived another set of two hundred and fifty MBA students. When eight students of the second kingdom decided to go to the first kingdom as ambassadors of their faith, they had no idea of the fate that awaited them.

And a strange fate it was, especially for one of the visitors. This visitor from the Kozhikode kingdom was not alone. He had been carrying along with him, his friend, popularly known as 'Lappie'. Now, Lappie had an uncanny habit of going on solitary walks and not returning unless really sought after. Unknown to the concerned visitor Lappie had come with, Lappie decided to make a case for going out just as the visitor to the kingdom of Hyderabad was deciding to pack up the bags and go back to the home kingdom of Kozhikode.

As Lappie started on this eventful walk, clouds started to part, darkness engulfed everything there was to engulf, eerie sounds filled the ears, and pungent odours made the noses stiffen. It was a walk from which Lappie was not to return, at least not very soon. The visitor was to return all alone to the kingdom of Kozhikode, disappointed and distraught by the loss of his friend. The only good news was that Lappie, instead of being lost on the walk, was discovered by the sentries of the Hyderabad kingdom and handed over to one of the kingdom's residents.

Lappie, being of a weak disposition, could not travel alone, despite being so interested in roaming around. So it was that Lappie and the visitor from the kingdom of Kozhikode had to spend many-a-sleepless nights in the agony of separation. The agony was too big to be cast aside by mere fluke of fate...there were higher powers and another kingdom, the kingdom of Bangalore, to play their roles.

One of the residents of the kingdom of Kozhikode, while on a chance visit to the neighboring kingdom of Bangalore, was brought in knowledge of the fact that Lappie was to be escorted from the kingdom of Hyderabad to the kingdom of Bangalore by a lady in shining silk. The said lady in shininig silk, being the apple of the eye of one of the residents of Hyderabad kingdom, was entrusted the difficult job of escorting Lappie, as a reward for which, she was to spend three days and three nights in the kingdom of Singapore. However, the lady's silk was too smooth and she made a move to Singapore even before she handed Lappie over to the visitor from the kingdom of Kozhikode to the kingdom of Bangalore.

It now came upon the lady's parents, the Lord and Lady of BTM riyasat in Bangalore kingdom to perform the handing over ceremony for Lappie. Once that was done, the visitor from Kozhikode kingdom escorted Lappie all the way back to Kozhikode where the ultimate milan took place. Tears knew no buckets, lightning no trees as the two friends met again. It was after not too long a time that they were brought back together but it seemed ages to the estranged friends. However, the separation had ended and ended well....the kingdom of Kozhikode was bedecked like a Queen tonight with all and sundry bringing their hands together to welcome Lappie with the words: "they will live happily ever after".

Apna to ek hi usool hai yaar...tez dhaar

Aadmi Musafir hota hai hero
Aata hai...chala jaata hai
tere jaane ka time aa gaya



As has been happening with the 'different' Hindi movies since the time of Kaun and others of the genre, Musafir could have been another dud at the box office. Directed by Sanjay Gupta of Kaante fame and produced by Sanjay Dutt, this movie seems to have done something else that is different. Having opened with 100% collections in Mumbai, the movie has all the scope to set the box office ablaze.

The look and feel of the entire movie (thanks to the director, cinematographer, and the art director) is completely international. Athough more than the due effort seems to have been put in the first half to make the movie look slick (so much so that the product seems to be overdone and badly overdone at that), all of it pays off in the second half, which, apart from the ocassional song disturbances, is as fast paced as you will ever see.

Musafir is the story of Lucky, a small time conman, who plans to pull off his last job before settling down to a peaceful life with his girlfriend Lara (played sexily by Koena Mitra). Unfortunately, the job he pulls off puts him in the red books of the drug lord of Mumbai, Billa (the most ceetee-taalee inducing role that Sanjay Dutt has ever played...excpet maybe Khalnayak). Even more unfortunately, Lara cheats him off the money that Billa is now desperately looking for. To pacify Billa, Lucky has to go to Goa to pull off a drug deal and get the money back to Billa.

Once in Goa, Lucky comes across the sultry Sam getting tattoed at one of the beaches. Sam has a strange past and as deep as Lucky gets into Sam's past, the more strange it seems to be. As it turns out, Lucky reaches a position where he has to accept one of the propositions of Sam or of her husband (played with aplomb by Mahesh Manjrekar). Both of them have a different story to tell about Sam's past and a different proposition, a different plan for Lucky. What really happens, however, is another of the several twists of the tale. Hounded by Billa at one end and the cop Tiger (Aditya Pancholi coming back in an author-backed role) on another, Lucky races on to the climax of the movie, which, though, well executed, is a little lame, given the rest of the movie. The saving grace is that unlike the other Hindi movie villains that Billa keeps taking potshots at, Billa's character is not shown to crumble at the end, after all the building up of it during the rest of the movie.

The etching of all characters in the movie has been first rate. In fact, one of the opening sequences where Sanjay Dutt is introduced in the movie is simply awesome and straight out of some slick Hollywood flick. As Lucky stands in the rain with guns pointed at him, a truly Hercule-esque figure strolls down the pavement. Dressed from top to the bottom in a raincoat with a hood covering his eyes, Sanjay Dutt would have put Darth Wader to shame. His cigar, the Swiss knife that he keeps fiddling with, and not to mention the six cylinder bike that he drives in the end, all add to the effect.

The Liv Tyler (refer to the movie "One Night at McCool's" and the car wash scene) done by Koena Mitra is as sleazy a scene as you would get, even after the Murder-esque movies that get churned out every now and then. Even the tattoing scene that introduces Koena Mitra is brilliantly picturised and would certainly have the arousing impact that the filmmakers would have been banking on. Mahesh Manjrekar as the horny, incestuous, and frustrated husband, and Aditya Pancholi as the corrupt, care-two-hoots cop are the other characters that create their own space.

As for the songs and music, the movie scores in that area as well. With 'Saaki Saaki' and 'Ishq kabhi kariyo na' already topping the charts, the music does not leave too much to be desired. The icing on the cake, however, is the title song rendered by Sanjay Dutt himself. If you don't mind the lyrics and at the same time, have an ear for the kind, 'Tez Dhaar' would take you by a storm.

Koena Mitra and Sameera Reddy outdo each other in the sleaze show while amongst the male protagonists, Anil Kapoor seems to be too old and tired to play a fugitive from crime and law alike. Sanjay Dutt looks a million bucks, what with the new fashion-statement sidelocks-cum-beard. Amongst the supporting cast, while Shakti Kapoor is wasted, Aditya Pancholi and Mahesh Manjrekar do a wonderful job.

The direction is top class, especially in the second half, where the director takes a leaf out of an innovative book, as he presents the same sequence twice, once each from different perspectives (the last I saw something similar was in an old English classic called The Clue). Though the first half seems a little overdone, the movie is able to project an overall slick feel that is surely going to appeal to the classes. As for the masses, they are surely not going to be disappointed, what with the Kaante style street dialogues selling dime-a-dozen in the movie and of course, the Koena-Sameera magic blowing all covers off.

If you are a Sanjay Dutt fan, if you want to see some slick and sleazy fare at the same time, if you are sold on the 'Nikal Le Bhaiye' song of Road, if you really believe in all those who compare Sameera Reddy to Smita Patil, if you are the ceetee-taali type of junta, if you want to be entertained for two and a half hours, and above all, if you don't want someone to kill the suspense before you do, go watch Musafir ASAP.

Appy B'day Peedee!!!

As always, I am late. As always, I am sure that you will forgive me. This one is to you, my dear sister. Happy Birthday, Priya! Reflecting back at the photographs of the two of us, sitting side by side on the numerous furnishings (we did not spare even one table, one sofa at home), I can still make out your chubby round face looking all swollen and puffy because I would have done some big-brotherly thing moments ago.

Despite being only one and a half years elder to you, you have always been the kiddo for me. Starting from caring for you when both of us were too little to realize the meaning of caring (all claims in this respect are as per what Maa keeps telling us) to having the say when we went to buy clothes and toys, I have always had the upper hand. Then again, you would get your own at me by taking away all that should have been mine :-))

The numerous tee-shirts that we have shared (when I was small enough to fit into them), the numerous fights we have had over aeroplanes and cars and Nana-Nani's affection are memories that shall be there for eternity. The plots that we made together, the throwing of stones at the neighbour's windows, the jamming of tumblers (the one that never got unstuck still adorns our kitchen :-)), the Holis, the Diwalis, the birthdays, the December Kirtans, and lately the understanding between us when we speak the same thing at the same time, as if each knows what goes on in the other's mind... unmatchable.

Despite all the distances and the supposed pursuit of careers between us, I am sure that today on your birthday, you would be remembering me the most, as I am missing you. Though the blog entry comes late because of no laptop (I haven't told you the story yet, just wait till we meet, it is fun :-)), I will certainly make it up to you once we do catch up.

Of winning hearts and heartlessness

Life does seem to have taken a strange turn this term. I have long forgotten the concept of trying to start some serious studies and change myself as per an 'IIM'. In fact, to be true and honest, I never had the misconception that I will find the need and moreover, even if I did find the need, the motivation to change myself, IIM or no IIM. And that is what happened. As I have been cribbing over the last few posts, I gave another door-waala-salaam to the studies and went on another trip to another inter B-school festival, this time at TAPMI, Manipal.

And a good thing I did, too. Coming along with me on this trip, Ravi 'BigMan' Girdhar, Rohit 'SCon' Gupta, Prashant 'Pakow' Kowshik, and Kanav 'CStar' Kaul made the trip even more interesting. Shounak 'Bappida' Ray was already at TAPMI to participate in the prestigious Young Business Leader contest.

Having already missed the first day of the fest (and in turn, most of the interesting events, as we discovered in due course), we had only four games to participate in and of course, there were those informals. TAPMI people had arranged a hotel (a lodge, actually, but decent, anyway) for us and as soon as we reached the hotel, there were guys from TAPMI to welcome us (as early as 6 in the morning). The kind of unassuming and ego-free attitude that the organisers of this fest had, was in fact, the talk of the place for the next two days.

After breakfast, the first game was Marketing for us (that is Ravi, Kanav and me) and Crisis Management for Rohit and Prashant. Though we did play the marketing game quite well in the later stages, we made a miscalculation in the beginning and that cost us dear, as we finished fifth out of 13 teams. Rohit and Prashant, on the other hand, went on to win the Crisis Game but more on that a little later.

A quick lunch and promise of making the next day's lunch at Domino's later, we were ready to get going for the qualifying round of the strategy game. Since there was only one team allowed from a college, I got a chance to team up with the winners (the results, however, had not been declared yet :-)). The prelims were a cakewalk as we cracked the lateral thinking quiz, topping the list of participants with a score of 26 out of 30 and with the last qualifying team scoring 12. This was one rare time when I was actually thankful for what Father (Dr.) K. Cyriac taught us in Organisational Behavior classes :-)

The beach was scheduled to be presented to us now and a beautiful beach it was. A relatively clean place with a decent crowd, it had its own appeal. The fous, however, was a little away from the waters as the fest started with its second day edition of Brouhaha, the informals. It was at this time that we met Dr. Araana, the visiting faulty who teaches us Corporate Law next term. Surrounded by TAPMI students, he actually tried to put us down by asking us why we had not won anything so far. It was humiliating and we could not even say that we had just come in today morning and the results are yet to be announced for the events we participated in.

Later, we came to know that he had told his TAPMI students that IIMK will not win anything and if they do, he will throw a party for his students on losing the bet. The retribution was taken when in the next half an hour, we not only won all the informals that took place but the results for the Crisis Game were announced and our guys won the first prize there, too. It was fun to see Dr. Araana's facce at that moment.

The next and much-talked about event was the Quiz on the Beach...and what an event it turned out to be. Ranging from the compulsory attendance for TAPMI-ans to buses and buses of beautiful girls, to the discipline of TAPMI-ans in staying within the barricade and actually waiting for their turn at dinner, to the excellent arrangements including a buzer that really worked, the quiz was flawless organization at its best. To top it all was the very standard of the quiz. Even Mastermind or University Challenge do not come anywhere near the quiz that we witnessed that day. Conducted by an enthusisastic quiz master popularly called Pickbrain (he also does the ET Quiz), the quiz was as tough as they come and the quizzers, even more. Out of the final six teams, four of them were corporate teams, with one of them being QuizLab, whose very job is quizzing.

After the long day, we slept like a log but not before we went to this hyped place called DownTown which is supposed to be one of the hip places in Manipal...what a rundown downtown it was, a small time bar with nothing to offer except dark corners and cheap drinks.

The next day was uneventful in terms of the other competitions as neither of our teams could win anything. However, that does not take away from the excellent games that the TAPMI-ans had lined up. They had worked really hard for the events and the concept for most of the games was unique, innovative and well-executed. The valedictory was scheduled for three and we made good on our promise of a Domino's and Cafe Coffee Day meal before that (the coupons we had won yesterday were another reason to go to CCD).

In the valedictory, Shounak showed what he was capable of, as we saw a cheer go up from his competitors when his name was announced. His was the only name that evoked suh popular appeal...he was even nicknamed Captain, all in a space of two and a half days...now that's what I call charisma and winning hearts.

There were lessons-a-plenty to be learnt for Backwaters from this fest and as the others kept reminding me, I should start doing something about it pretty soon (about backwaters, I mean). To top off the excellent fest, the TAPMI people had managed to get hold of Yukta Mookhey to judge their Mister and Miss Personality contest. We had to miss that as we had our train to catch at 5:30 in the evening to be on time for the two quizzes this morning.

Prof Saji Gopinath's quiz is over and I did pathetically. Nevertheless, instead of studying for the FM quiz that goes live at 5, I am writing this blog with the hope that the limited syllabus and the open book format will bail me out.