Chetan Bhagat’s latest – 2 States

Frankly, I never really thought I’d write a review for any of this guy’s novels (even though I’ve liked each one of them) but reading 2 States made me change my mind. I guess the simplicity of his writing, the issues of mundane life that he usually touches upon, and the clean humor that is a hallmark of his style make most of his books a breeze to go through – there just doesn’t seem to be much to review… After all, none of his novels are spectacular thrillers, purely satirical or political works, or literally complex masterpieces!!

Well, till I read his latest, my personal favorite was his first book, 5 Point Someone. I was still a post-grad student when I read it, and I guess the way he depicted college life (though mine wasn’t as exciting by far!) did manage to strike a chord somewhere deep down. His next book, One Night @ Call Center, was a reasonably good read too, though I didn’t really identify with it. Besides, I’ve never really approved of the “call-center culture" anyway; and going by the experiences of a few friends who’ve been through it all, I don't think much of it. His 3 Mistakes of My Life reached a totally different level though, and in my opinion, he came of age writing it. The way he managed to entwine cricket, religion based politics and a love story without losing his flare for humor and satire is ample proof of it.

2 States, his latest work and a self-proclaimed autobiography, is a hilarious yet thought provoking take on the difficulties that arise in “arranging a love-marriage” between a couple belonging to different communities, and specifically, coming from different states (Punjab and Tamil Nadu). Logic states that this shouldn't really be a big issue in post modern India, especially with the kind of intermingling between people from all over the country (err... MNS, Shiv Sena, et al notwithstanding!!) and the increasingly professional lives that most “intelligentsia” lead. But just a little scratch beneath the surface reveals it all – we Indians are still far from reaching that truly cosmopolitan state of mind that is open to tolerance, change and compromise…

True to his earlier books, this one is loaded with wit & humor too, with plenty of comic situations, funny anecdotes and comic one-liners, as also the expected satirical jabs on the way the present Indian society thinks and works. One just can’t help but feel the agony and frustration of his protagonists as they go through the ups-&-downs of a seemingly thankless task that gaining acceptance from each other’s families proves to be. Spiced up with the problems created by endless cultural differences between north and south India and the usual professional hazards that typify today’s high paying yet demanding MNC culture – what you get is an engrossing yarn that twists and turns around the struggle of a deeply motivated couple trying to make sense of their ostensibly disastrous love life…

The humor begins from the acknowledgment page itself – with the author dedicating the book to his in-laws, don't wanna guess what his own parents would’ve thought at the omission!! And yes, the plot may seem a tad too corny at times, and occasionally some of the situations depicted do appear too extreme, but then the author proclaims that it’s his own true story right in the foreword, so there’s no other option left but to believe him. Anyway, one reads past those parts fast, enjoying them all the while too, coz he manages to always keep the reader guessing about what would happen next… another outstanding trait of any of his books, methinks!

To end the review, here’s one of his many witty one liners from the book, one that I have become particularly fond of:

“The world's most sensible person and the biggest idiot, both stay within us. And the worst part is, you can't even tell who is who!!”

heh heh heh … enjoy!!

The Manipal Rain...

It wouldn't be very wrong to synonymize Manipal with rain. 
The way I look at it, there are only two seasons in Manipal: monsoons & non-monsoons. The other seasons just seem to merge with these somehow, whenever given the chance, but if there’s one thing that you can be sure of, it is the rain.
It will come!!

As I sit here beside the lone window in my room listening to some beautiful music, I am witness to a steady shower accentuating the already darkening evening outside. I guess it was plain lucky that I got an east-facing room in this hostel, coz be it any day of the year, I can always see a plethora of greenery and some really quaint houses across the road from this window. And not to forget the really beautiful sunrises that I get to enjoy regularly...

This isn’t really a time for rain here – but we do get a lot of rain all through the year, even apart from the Monsoons. Of course, the Gods go overboard in these parts showering their love during the Monsoons and of course, many people here get flustered when it keeps raining and raining for days on end… but personally, I really love it!

Maybe it reminds me of home... I’ve seen it rain incessantly for weeks here too – something that can happen only in a hilly place. And that’s another reason why I like Manipal so much: the gently undulating hillside with a view of a vast valley on the eastern side definitely resembles my very own Doon valley! Of course, the breathtaking view of the expansive Arabian Sea on the western side is something that can't even be imagined back home... and it definitely adds to the appeal of this place a lot.

Well, coming back to the rain, monsoons really are an amazing experience here. First of all, the quantity. Monsoon lasts from roughly mid-May to mid-October, give or take a couple of weeks. And in the peak months of July-August, it rains cats and dogs and it rains for weeks together without a stop – often it’ll rain so heavily that the very expression raining “cats and dogs” might be safely replaced by “bears and lions”!!

Next, the quality. I’ve seen steady rain, waxing-&-waning rain, intermittent rain, and sudden unexpected heavy showers between stunningly sunny weather. I’ve seen the rain playing with the wind, coming in all sorts of directions – even horizontally – and I’ve been caught in rain coming seemingly from all directions simultaneously, making a joke of my heavy-duty umbrella. Fact is, if the monsoon rain wants to get you, it definitely will! No matter how hard you try to avoid it or protect yourself from it. What’s the point of fighting it then, I wonder??

Saying that rains are unpredictable in the “non-monsoon” times would just be an understatement. It can rain virtually any time, no matter what the season. A couple of sunny days – a hot week at the most – and sure enough heavy clouds will come running to make amends. Often these so called “off season” rains will be accompanied by light squalls, which make the weather even more beautiful and endearing. In fact, it is the non-monsoon season that gets uncomfortable because of the sweaty humid heat typical of coastal areas, and the occasional spells of rain provide substantial relief from that overbearing heat.

It never gets cold here either, no winter season here. Rather, the typical “cold” months of November through February are the ones when there’s relatively little rain and so it can get quite hot. But whenever it does rain, regardless of the time of the year, it does get a bit chilly. Ok, not so much for me I guess (I am still too north Indian to actually feel cold here), but you do tend to come down on the fan a couple of points, even switch it off at night. And usually it will be accompanied by a cozy mist, sometimes even a fog, making the atmosphere even more romantic!!

As a nature lover, one can't help but realize that the pristine beauty of this place is all because of the substantial amount of rain it receives. When I first came here, I was really amazed by the greenery that was evident as far as the eyes could see. Manipal is surrounded by vegetation of all kinds – coastal, agricultural and forest. One sees coconut trees nearly everywhere, beautiful paddy fields along the endless stretches of its rivers and backwaters, and then there are dense forests stretching endlessly along the Western Ghats and further east. As such this place is a traveler and photographer's delight, no matter what the season. Plus, the pollution free atmosphere and post-rain brilliant light and visibility are treats in themselves! Really a place one MUST visit sometime in life!!

As I finish this piece, it's become quite dark outside and the rain has picked up again. A deluge now… there go my plans of going for a walk outside & a quiet dinner!! But then, you never know... it’s Manipal!!

2012 : WE WERE WARNED

It was at exactly 12:50 that the call from my old friend Lambs broke my afternoon siesta.

Sundays in Manipal are a big problem for people like me who’ve nothing to do – and more precisely, no-one to do nothing with! So after the heavy early morning work-out at the gym and an even heavier breakfast to compensate for it (never could resist chhole-bhature!), I’d turned to the best form of time-pass ever discovered : sleep.

And it was at that time that Lambs called and asked me if I wanted to see “2012”.

Wassdat??

…my initial reaction as I rapidly re-oriented myself to time, place & person, still a bit groggy from the sleep. Then I remembered a vague reference to some new Hollywood flick by that name. Lambs informed me that he’d been ditched by a pregnant wife and a studious sis (he’d initially planned to see “Ajab Prem ki...” blah blah) and that he was still in the mood to see SOME movie, so would I come??

Now Lambs & I go back a long long time – more than 12 years, in fact – and of late he’s been extremely busy for his friends & family, so I wasn’t gonna let go of a chance to catch up with him so easily! Ok, be at your place in 5 minutes, I said, and we’ll go together. And there I was within 5 minutes, his wife asking me to have some “kadhi-chawal” before going (she’s great at cooking!) while Lambs urging me to skip it coz, according to his sis, the show was supposed to start at 1:15. I followed him out reluctantly, though not before promising Sonia that I’ll be back to finish my share in the evening.

Off we went in his car, it was a nice and sunny day for a drive, chatting about this & that. Lambs told me that 2012 was the latest of the genre of “natural disaster” movies, and this actually brought down my enthusiasm a couple of points, coz I really think we’ve had enough of those now. Besides, no one seems to be learning anything from them anyway; we are all bent upon destroying ourselves in one way or the other!! Still, I’d nothing better to do, and spending some time with an old friend seemed immensely better than just do nothing!

We reached Ashirvad, a theater on the Mangalore-Goa highway within 10 minutes, at 1:10 to be precise. And what we saw was the longest line that I’ve ever seen outside a movie hall in this side of the country, though nothing by our North Indian standards! This many people coming for an English movie on a Sunday afternoon?? Must be a really good one, I thought, not a bad decision after all!!

We searched for some familiar face in the line, someone who might save us the trouble, but I guess that wasn’t to be. In fact, it was surprising that there were hardly any people from Manipal here, mostly they were locals and (no offense meant) quite a few of them didn’t really look like the type who’d watch English movies! Well, so what? We wanted to see it, and that was all that mattered. Though it was a long line, the ticket window hadn’t yet opened and we figured that we’d easily get two tickets.

So we got in the line … and so the patient wait began.

The poster outside showed an expansive view of a huge city ripped apart by a giant fissure in the ground and its skyscrapers and roads falling in, with the grave warning “We Were Warned” at the top and the name "2012" at the bottom. Hmmm... impressive!! But gradually the nice and sunny day seemed to transform into a hot and sweaty one, there wasn’t much to say for a breeze, and standing in the sun became a bit irritating. At 1:30 the window had still not opened, and when we asked around, we got to know that it was a really long movie (2hrs-40min) so probably it might stretch by another 15 minutes. Why do they have to wait till the show’s over to start selling the tickets??

1:45. Just HOW long is that movie man?? And the window’s still closed!

There were two Bihari guys ahead of us – they literally are found everywhere – and it was refreshing to hear them speak Hindi of that side. Couldn’t distract us from the heat though... But thankfully, a Manipal couple joined us so we had something more to chat about. Lambs joked that maybe they keep the tickets in the bank and let them multiply till each show starts! Poor joke, but right then any distraction was welcome, so we all laughed. He urged us all to wait in the shade while he stood in line, but we stayed put with him, in spite of the sun.

Then I went around the place looking for something cool to drink at least, and it turned out that there were no shops around that place selling refreshments – the only one that did was inside the hall! Wow, they think of every-bloody-thing, don't they?!! I returned to my profusely perspiring buddy, asking whether we should go. No, he said; after patiently waiting for almost half an hour, now we have to see the movie. Bloody desperate to make the most of a rare free Sunday, I mused.

2:00. Suddenly the bell rang – music to us exasperated souls – and we heaved a sigh of relief. The show must have finished, we thought, but they should display the modified timings outside the theater at least!! No civic sense these days!! Hmmm... but something seemed wrong... even 5 minutes after the bell, no one seemed to be coming out!! I went to have a look across the theater gates – and what I saw literally astounded me: I could see people still sitting inside the hall and a lot of them outside too, taking refreshments!! Can’t be THAT long a movie, to have TWO breaks, can it??

With parched throats and falling hopes, we beckoned a movie-goer. Of course, it’s the interval, he said. And how much was still left?? Maybe an hour and fifteen minutes?? But the movie is good, he smiled!! We had all become disoriented by now, I guess, and checking and rechecking our watches, we finally found a guy who works there.

Show started sharp at 1:00, he says, and the next show is at 3:30!!

WTF?? Why couldn't they have bloody well displayed this fact, especially since it’s a departure from their usual routine?? Hell, half of the people waiting outside were probably fooled like us!! The guy at the gate gave us an UNapologetic shrug in the form of an explanation and left. Of course he had much better things to do than to listen to troubled souls like us. And of course we knew better than to wait in the burning sun for another 1.5 hrs just to see some weird fatalistic movie...

Incidentally, the name. “2012”. If you skip the zero, 2:12 was exactly the time when we got to know of our mistake! And “We were warned”. We really were warned that the show starts earlier than the usual 1:30 ... just off-center by a precious 15 minutes though. And finally, the plot. Natural disasters. After what we went through, we can’t call it anything less than a mini disaster of our own!!

Thankfully, Lambs didn’t ask me to come back to his place on our return – I went straight to my room instead – while he became the butt of jokes for the pregnant wife and the studious sis!! heh heh heh ;-)

Well, that’s it. As eventful as a Sunday can get in these parts!! 
(Hope you didn't start reading this thinking it would be a movie review!)

heh heh heh   ;-p

... one of those days!!

There are some bad days in life ... and then there are the really bad ones!!

So here I am, with nothing better to do at the end of a forgettable day than sit alone in front of my spastic laptop in the 15'x12' rat-hole of a hostel room that I'm forced to pay almost 5 grand a month for, than to ponder aimlessly on the day gone by while trying to write something worthwhile even though the mind is a total blank... and in general, to feel wretched!! Its been one of those days when there was nothing obviously wrong, but somehow everything felt that way - and I do mean EVERYTHING!! Went through the day trying to suppress the irresistible urge to wring the neck of any unfortunate soul who might have stepped on my toes, to shout at the slightest provocation, to be really mean to someone just for the hell of it... in short, to make everyone else's life miserable too!!

But I didn't do any of that - living and working in a "civilized" atmosphere has its drawbacks at times - which probably explains why I still feel as wretched as I was during the day, even more. Maybe venting all that bad energy, even if in a negative way, can help sometimes!! After all, being selfish at times can't really be that bad, can it?? Hell, half of the world keeps doing it day in and day out!! So why shouldn't I give it a try sometime?!

Well, I did warn everyone and anyone who cared to listen to keep a safe distance quite early in the day... guess people did listen to it after all, much to my eventual disappointment and this present "blank" state of mind!! Thought writing might help a bit, but its even more frustrating, now that I can't think of anything even remotely interesting... Hell, after the kinda entries that I've written so far here, what I was hoping for was a humorous piece for a change, not another round of letting off steam!! Guess that wasn't to be this time either...

Well, maybe some sleep would do me good. IF I can sleep, of course. After all, the day isn't over yet... lets see!!

Note: Kindly do not judge the author from the useless piece of shit that this piece has proved to be ... scroll down a bit to the previous entries and maybe your opinion will change!!

Note: If you do decide to judge - I don't give a shit, you #&@$!! heh heh heh (now at least that felt somewhat better!!)

The Internet Vs Intimacy

In fast paced times like these, is the “virtual” world of internet transforming into a “real” one?? It was while chatting with a certain “internet friend” recently, that I realized how open I’ve become to sharing my thoughts and feelings with others, and that internet has been a major catalyst.

This thought isn’t a new one for me either. I’ve often wondered – marveled, in fact – at the ease with which I have made new friends on the net, while doing the same in the real world still remains big a problem, as always!! With the society becoming more or less self centered these days, and busy professional lives making us even more hard pressed for time, are we becoming increasingly dependent on the internet as a medium of communication??

Take the so-called social networking sites for example. These days you’ll find practically everyone on one or more of these sites. Hundreds of “friends”, contacts, school and college mates are accessible just at the push of a few keys. As of today, I have 202 friends on orkut and exactly 4300 entries in my scrapbook!! Of course, out of those 202 “friends” maybe just 20-30 would be real “friends” – no offense meant, but most of the rest are people that I haven't contacted for ages together, and vice versa. The positive side though, is that these sites let you keep in touch at least – even if superficially – where were we without the means earlier?? And yes, it’s a great way to meet new people, make new friends, and most importantly, to rekindle old friendships. I’ll always be thankful to orkut for helping me find a long lost friend, someone whom I hadn’t been in touch with for over 23 years!!

The story doesn’t just stop here! There are sites in the virtual world where you can actually manufacture an “avtaar” of yourself who lives and functions as an individual in a virtual community… At a time when the value of one’s “personal space” has become paramount (even between close friends, relations and life-partners) maybe the freedom that these sites offer – be whoever you want, live however you like – is a welcome means of taking care of those unfulfilled aspirations, unrealized (or unrealistic) desires, failed ambitions ...and often, to nurture battered egos back to health too!!

I feel that the most ingenious part of the internet though, are blogs. Not only do they help people connect and share their thoughts with like-minded souls, they also help in channelizing one’s creative energy into the print form, open to discussion and criticism, and hence, evolving into better thinkers. But bloggers like me are people who are interested in just writing for the sake of writing, people who simply enjoy writing for the heck of it. Not for getting their work reviewed or rated, just trying to express some feelings, and sometimes to vent too!! ;-)

Anyway, that’s not really the reason why I’m writing this particular blog entry.

What I've realized – and surprisingly so – is the fact that most of the good friends that I’ve made in the last 4-5 years (meaning really close friends) have actually been online ones, some of whom I’m yet to meet in person!! Doesn’t really undermine my older friends in any way, of course, they are folks that I’ve either grown up with or who became close friends while studying (especially undergrad buddies). Yeah, there have been friends and colleagues after that, as there always will be, but will they ever reach the status of the older types?? Frankly, before entering the virtual world I wasn’t so hopeful, but having entered it, I’ve developed friendships with some of the most amazing people – and now I mean really strong ones!

As far as I am concerned, being an introvert has played a big role in this development, I guess. But sometimes I am surprised how an introvert like me could make virtual friends so easily while being inept to do so in the real world… I mean, shouldn't it be even more difficult for folks like me?? And then I realize that maybe it’s the very lack of physical presence that helps in making friends – maybe it’s the concept of personal space at work! The flesh-and-blood friends do intrude in one’s life some time or the other, whether deliberately or unwillingly. But virtual ones? Now that’s a different story!! Maybe we’re all playing safe here, the most undeniable and desirable quality of the virtual world is that one is always in control. Totally in control. In the virtual world it’s not my circumstances that dictate my actions, it’s my own free will that takes the call on which relationship to continue and which to put down, how much to share and what to withhold, and all this at the time that I consider appropriate and feel comfortable with.

There is more to the virtual world than what it seems at first glance… Like having the proverbial “no-strings-attached” kind of relationships are inherent to this world. What that means, pardon the rather crude way I’m gonna put it, is the relative emotional detachment from online friends – at least from the “casual” friends made online – as opposed to flesh-and-blood ones. Depending on the situation, one may even chose to remain anonymous at times, and no one would really mind.

There are some really good aspects of the virtual world too, that may even help us in developing qualities necessary in real life relationships. It teaches us to be tolerant, when one doesn’t get any response from another virtual member; it teaches us to be patient, when the response isn’t immediate, and it teaches us how to maintain others’ interest in ourselves so the relationship doesn’t end on a note of boredom. It also makes us understand how not to be judgmental of others and to wait for the right moment before offering advice, help or opinion. And how to listen to others rather than being a boring slob, raving and ranting about one’s own problems!!

Above all, one learns how to limit one’s expectations to a manageable and reasonable level... something that would go a long way in making our “real” lives much more fulfilling and satisfying.

Not a bad bargain in the end, huh?? :-)