I see you on my buddy list.
I know you have a family - and close friends
Tucked somewhere.
But if we ever meet
What will we ever talk about
Beyond the banalities?
Would I ever break
A lunch date
The morning I hear of your death?
Would you?
Are you a business-card
I hoard then?
A scratch-a-back coupon?
Or a broken thread from
The cluttered tapestry of my past
I cannot let go?
The day before my birthday
I change the date
To not receive your wish.
To not be burdened
With these ceremonies.
To not receive these gratuitous
Kindness of strangers.
Rohit Shetty, known for his rim-tickling comedies, announced that he would be remaking JBDY at the launch of Anu Malik's new album - Kishore: In my voice. The cast is:
Rohit disclosed that this is his tribute to the classic and might feature cameos from Aftab Shivdasani, Abhishek Bachhan, Vivek Oberoi, Amrita Arora and other Bollywood legends.
What does pre-planned mean? If it's planned on the go, it's not a plan: it's an improvization.
On a similar vein, मुझे पहले से पता था can be truncated to मुझे पता था. Of course, the stress is more often used when the speaker wants to really convince you that (s)he had seen the whole thing coming much, much before.
And what is pre-recorded? Either it is recorded or live - those are the only two options. There is no third unless we can gaze into the future.
When we see star-wives in ads, usually they feature alone, with kids, or with their hubbies. It's a golden marketing rule that nothing remotely romantic can be suggested with any other male - and heaven forbid a black-alpha male .
But this does not apply to the celebrity hubbies. They can go on scoring goals with girls half their age in umpteen ads and have the equivalent of those black-studs, blondes, press their lips to their grinning cheeks. (See ad below)
Nothing wrong with that really, it's all make-believe, but it's make-believe that sells only one-way and it tells us about our hypocritical society.
This is one of the reasons why we have so many young teens raping without qualms. Women are either bimbettes or pativrataas, men evergreen studs. I do believe we'll have a lot lesser rapes the day we can sell shoes without these chauvinistic displays of virility or, sell an equal number with Madhuri Dixit or Kajol surrounded by a bunch of teens and winking at the camera as they suggestively pinch the bubble-butts of one of them.
50 years of Roti Kapada aur Makaan
-
*(wrote this piece for the Times of India – in the process developing a
renewed appreciation for some aspects of Manoj Kumar’s cinema, notably his
use of...
Bengalis Speaking Hindi
-
Bengalis have a wicked sense of humor — especially when it involves poking
fun at themselves. I speak as if I wasn’t a Bengali myself. Truth is that I
was ...
The Hero’s Journey
-
One of the world’s most persistent narrative tropes is that of the hero’s
journey. The hero, as a boy, bides his time, unaware of his calling, be it
Frodo ...
The Hero’s Journey
-
One of the world’s most persistent narrative tropes is that of the hero’s
journey. The hero, as a boy, bides his time, unaware of his calling, be it
Frodo ...
-
My essay "Understanding The Mind of the Young Indian Voter" appears this
week as the cover story in The Week. It is accompanied by a long interview
with...
the birthday post - 36
-
36!
The years are going by so fast, I’m trying to keep up.
I hope the years go slower and slower from now on.
I want to craft and live a life that is...
-
Pain, sear my soul! Skewer it! Lay it bare! On hissing crimson-coals! Shake
it! Wake it! Make it! Resist! Return! Not Run (in flight)! But Turn (and
fight)...
Raghuram Rajan is Modi's best friend
-
Sometimes you need luck on your side. India is exceedingly fortunate that
Narendra Modi brings with him heaps of good luck. In the 6 months that have
been ...
When I visit the cycle shop...
-
It has been over 6 months since the cycle was gathering dust. Overcoming
all inertia and procrastination of a lazy Saturday evening, thanks to a
wonderful ...
Shoot Anything
-
*The Black and White Edition *has a portentous title, portentous heft, and
a foreword in which Shyam Benegal puts on his best impersonation of a
portentou...
Goodbye!
-
I've realized that I have nothing more to say under this particular name. I
think I should stop hiding behind a pseudonym and be courageous enough to
write...
Adieu चवन्नी
-
Today India has officially relegated its चवन्नी's as useless bits of small
change
On 18th May 2011 RBI announced the retirement of the good old 25 Paisa
c...
-
*Images from the Winter past and other anachronistic stories ..*
*The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about* –
George Bernard...
Uncanny Similarities
-
*SUDAN.. or ORISSA..*
I am presently in Sudan (Africa) and have been here for a couple of months
now, and the aspect that strikes me most is the uncanny r...