Rolling Camera

The soap brand Dove keeps talking about inner beauty. A beauty that’s natural. Not influenced or enhanced by artificial ways to make one beautiful.

Yesterday I saw some real beauties. Two girls I met, appeared beautiful to me not because they were good looking but because they were beautiful in their thoughts and passionate about their own beliefs.

These two girls were in their early twenties and they ran a NGO on their own with volunteers who were not older than they were. And they were so passionate about it. And it reflected in their voice, in their eyes and that made them beautiful.

May be they are just starting out. May be that they are just touching very small population in a small way but as they say with every drop an ocean gets formed, I hope too that these wonderful young ladies make it big some day.

I am really impressed ladies. Keep up the good work. And if I ever have the chance to choose models for Dove, you can be certain that you two will feature on my shortlist

I think it is a question that has tormented mankind for centuries. People have spent their lifetimes thinking about the question. A dead person mostly has all the body parts of a living man minus the life. Only difference is that the heart does not beat, the lungs don’t breathe, the brain stops working. But what makes all these organs work? Work in a way that we breathe, we laugh, we cry, we enjoy, we socialize, we cry?

I wish I had the answer….today when I saw an accident on the road and saw a dead couple, I thought of the same question, question that refuses to leave the subconscious mind of any man, always waiting to get surfaced. And torment us. Like a hidden fear. Just like a shadow.

The couple was as alive as me may be a few minutes before. They must have enjoyed and planned their life like I do. But a few moments later they are gone. Forever; never to enjoy the worldly pleasures and pains….

It is so complicated the state of being called life. I wish some day some smart hacker hacks into the creator’s system and cracks the code for life. So that just as we plant a virus in a system. Just as we planted a virus in an alien ship in the film independence day, we will be able to plant lives in human beings. In dead bodies, in statues and in which ever form we wish to. But I guess its wishful thinking and may never happen. As we have with our art of science spoilt the universe to the extent that the polar caps are on the verge of melting and making us extinct. If we manage to give lives on our own I don’t know what that will lead to. But the possibility sounds impressive. What say?

Growing up is the death of innocence in most cases. The childlike innocence that we had as children is methodically slaughtered by our education and our process of becoming a grown up. I am sure the innocence that you felt as someone gifted you a toy as a small child, you don’t feel any more. And it has happened as we are brain washed to not look too curious, too eager or too happy in order to look “cool”.

The same happens with societies I guess. The underdeveloped countries to some extend manage to retain that innocence as they are deprived. And as they start developing, the innocence is usually replaced with the arrogance of taking things for granted. And that is the beginning of the death of innocence. And most countries that are developed have killed their innocence in a similar fashion.

So I was surprised yesterday when I went shopping in a mall and saw a very innocent family buying their first music system. I was really touched. And felt that yes there is hope. We have not become innocence less yet.

It was a family of five. They came from lower economic class. They must have saved the money for many months to make that purchase. And that showed in the satisfaction on their faces when they picked up the parcel and walked away from the counter. The entire family was charged and excited. Also the innocent questions they asked touched me. I am so happy that even today we have so many innocent people around. Who are having that sparkle in their eyes which we call foolishness as we think we are intellectuals. But, to me that is life…the eagerness to be happy with the small things.

Seeing people like these I feel that there is still hope for mankind. We are not dead just yet.

I had seen an ad sometime back which said that the power of one is the power to do something, anything. And it had the picture of Mahatma Gandhi and his followers at the famous Dandi march. I think it was for the whisky brand Johny Walker.

I have seen the power of it, but alas in the most negative sense I have dreamt of. As one man’s lies has had the potency to rattle so many people, companies and lives.

A few days back, one of the top four Indian software companies, Satyam, reported a huge scam. It was the confession of one man Mr. Raju, which rocked the company and the nation. And unfortunately, the company is called Satyam (truth in Sanskrit)

One man’s greed (I don’t know if it was mistake, though it sounds impractical for a man of his stature) has disgraced the whole country, has spoiled the reputation of an entire industry and country. And not to mention the 53000 employees and millions of share holders who are shattered.

He has ruined the reputation of a sector that was carefully built over the last two decades.

They say troubles never come alone. I guess after recession and stock market crash, this scam was the only thing that this country needed to lower the already down morale of the nation. Come on God, we have had enough, please help us salvage the economy, both global and Indian. Please please help.

As a citizen of this world, a world that is so complete in terms of resources, technological advancements and the comforts, when I see the suffering and unhappiness that we all are going through, I feel like the young Gautam seeking so many answers.

Just as the young prince Gautam was shattered by the sorrow around, I am shattered to see so many people starving, suffering and dying, when we all can be happy in this world. It’s so surprising and it’s so amazing that we have learned so many things over the thousand years of our existence but we have not learnt to be happy. We have not being able to make this world perfect.

I feel that the beginning of the perfect world would start with answer to one question, a question that each one of us needs to answer, to ourselves; and that is “What is it that we want from our lives?”

Most of us are spending our lifetimes to answer this and in the end we feel that we have not done what we wanted to all our lives.
May be we should start the process of introspection right now. Seek the answers within. Delve inside us and the answer might just be glaring at us.
And may be when we can all live the perfect life, the life that we want to live and the way we want to live, can together make this a perfect world.

I think Mumbai’s resilience is its biggest enemy. And life comes to normal forgetting the rough times in minutes. We, the people of Mumbai, are living like machines, machines that only know to add value to the balance sheets of the companies that we work for, and living for the next tragedy to strike us. We live to die another day.

Yesterday more than 125 people died and around 800 people got injured. For what? Today we are back to work as in Mumbai its business as usual, going to offices with our iPods and phones plugged in our ears as if nothing happened.

No Mumbai, it’s not business as usual. It’s time to introspect. It’s time to do things that will not make us helpless sufferers in the future. Let us look at steps that will secure our futures and the futures of our loved ones.

Come on Mumbai. Wake up, before the next tragedy hits us. Wake up. Please.

In times of recession and economic slowdown…attempting some original PJs*

1) The Indian population kept saying ”O baba” and “O Ma” all these years whenever they had trouble. So the greedy Americans wanted to try it out but in combination so they cried “O BAMA”

2) When Indians face problems they call Mr. Khiladi. When Americans have problems they call Ms. Hillary

3) Agar chuha bill mein chupta hai toh bill kahan chupta hai? Monika ke dil mein

4) Why did George W Bush have problems in foreign relations from the very beginning…cos he always started by saying “AMBUSH”

5) What is the South film producers saying after recent films have flopped? RajniCan’t. RajniCan’t

6) What will Jaylalitha call her party if it focuses only on dalits? Jayadalitha

7) To clean your house – Get Colin. To clean your bank account - Get Palin.

8) Why did Jerry Yang reject bill gates’ offer? Cos when he said I am jerry from yahoo bill asked Ya? Who?

9) If the film “dil se” is to be remade, it will be called “man se” starring big B

10) If Anil Ambani bought over the Nano project, it will be called the Big Nano

11) If Microsoft took over Wonderbra, what will be the new entity called? Microwonders/ Softwonders

*I claim to be the worst in Poor jokes. but if these are already common with someone else's PJ please laugh and move on.

They say that films mirror the society. And, one of the biggest influencers of the modern times for India has been the late Dhirubhai Ambani, a man who made into the billionaire club from scratch. And, inspired an entire nation in the process.

He loved to think big. And it seems that he has inspired the new generation film makers of the country as well. Gone are the times of Satyajit Ray when you showed the plight of rural India, the India that was struggling to find its place in the globe post independence. Today films talk of characters who spend lavishly to entertain their girlfriends and who take copters to show their love around Australia. Indians don’t consider themselves poor anymore, atleast in the latest films made in India.

I think it is very essential for people to see India as a modern nation. India as a country is today seen as an IT major and ITES major. We therefore cannot afford to have the image created by the films of Ray. Those days are gone. And the new times demand a different focus. And the filmmakers of today have understood and responded well to the needs to their audience and times.

But I have a feeling that Mr. Ambani, the great Dhirubhai Ambani, is the catalyst to it all.

The world is moving at a great pace
With America having now a coloured face
With global giants shutting shops
My brethren around the world are many out of jobs

In the times of such deep recession and crises
And with OPEC countries cutting oil production leading to hike in prices
Zimbabwe struggling to fight inflation
As for a few thousand dollars today, one could buy out the entire nation

Why is the world facing situations like these?
With people tense, angry and obese
Looking for solutions that aren’t there
Or may be we just stopped looking as we don’t care

We, the citizens of the world, need to introspect
And obey the rules of nature and show respect
By trying to play intelligent games with natures’ resources
We unleashed the wrath of nature’s forces

I think there is still time and hope
To save the world from going down the slope
By thinking that we are all in it together
By living in peace without bothering one another

Lets all enjoy this beautiful world
Made of platinum, gold and emerald
Let’s do something that will take us miles ahead
As a civilization, to be pondered over long after we are dead.

They say that one works all one’s life to get famous, only to wear dark glasses to avoid getting noticed. So true.

I think the story of Fashion is set on the right background, the background of middle class India, where people want to live like the rich and powerful thinking that money is the solution to all their problems. Hence, they flock for all the reality shows and every opportunity that might make them famous.

But, most of them are not aware that how much pain and how much work goes behind looking good 24X7. And most of these people crumble under the pressure that success carries with it. And a Madhur Bhandarkar makes a Fashion on their life stories.

That’s the story of fashion, backed by some fabulous performances by the leading actors. And somewhere at some point in the movie you will feel that you have also passed through the same indecisiveness in your life. Or have seen someone close to you go through it. That’s what touches the most and makes the story so real.

It’s also a story of triumph against all odds. Of getting up and running every time you fall.

But I love the end the most. It ends with the thought that we are never told the price we need to pay for our dreams. So true. As today most Indians are living their dreams to suddenly realize the baggage that comes with their dreams is not what they had foreseen and are forced to live with that weight on their shoulders, even as they smile to the outside world flaunting their success.

And then the nagging pain within starts that takes you to places where you have never been before and makes you go through hell. A hell that only few can recover from.
That’s fashion for you guys. Please watch it. It’s success from a different point of view.