The shooting

I went for the shooting of this Hillary Swank movie as an extra. It was a very long wait. The chatters of under-grads in the room didn't make it any easier. To be honest, I feel old today. They must have been 4-5 years younger to me. I feel wierd. The shooting was pretty good. Luckily I sat close to where most of the action was going on. So I might have been captured in the camera. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

3:10 to Yuma

A very strange movie at times, but true to itself. Can you follow your heart or whims all the time ?
I can't. Should one ??..wrong question.

26th Nov 2008

I am enraged, worried, helpless and in deep pain. For my country..for Mumbai. I have never had any connection with Mumbai, but that doesn't matter. To see innocent lives taken away so easily, too see India losing its brave soldies and leaders in a flash is agonising. I am seas away from my country and all I can do is just watch the news channels. Even if I would have been in India, I don't know what difference it would have made. I wonder what made these terrorists like they are. Its been 36 hours now since the Mumbai was held hostage, when the humanity was destroyed. As the battle goes on between NSGs and the terrorists, all I can do is to pray to God, for His grace to be with the family of the victims, for peace.. for a better tomorrow. I sleep to awake in the hope of morning sun washing away the demons of 26th Nov.

I should be saying something !!

That's what I always thought whenever someone wished me good luck, and I just smiled back at them saying nothing. This was the scene till I was in 9th grade, I think. Sounds silly..but no one ever told me anything to say. Well you can argue, you observe people around you and learn social behavior. But in my defense, ...I just did not. I was very certain that something nice should be said back, but wasn't sure what it was. It was around the time of my final exams in my 9th grade when one of my father's family friend wished me good luck and I just smiled back, and there was a small pause as if saying...hey kid you got to say something. Then his wife said the same thing, making me more anxious. Later my sister scolded me for the misdemeanor. I asked, "What am I supposed to say". "THANK YOU !! You dumb head", she said. And I was blessed...

Hey bhagwaan..(Ohh..God)

Yes you guessed it right. This story is about how a dream made me realize how futile my life is as a PhD in US and directed me to move to the jungles of Somalia in search of The God 'hululoolu'. No that doesn't sound convincing.
Ok so what this is actually about is a shift in paradigm of peoples' ways of expressing themselves in certain circumstances. I realized it the first time when I was walking with my friend and he suddenly slipped on the ice and blurted out a bunch of exclamations. Now in earlier times if something of this sort ever happened the first words to come out were like 'hey Bhagwan' or 'hey Prabhu' or 'Jesus Christ' or 'oh God' and plenty of other such exclamations. But now the first thing you hear someone blurt out is like 'behan...' or 'ma...' or 'f..' .I don't know if I should conclude anything from this. Are they just cursing God to land them in that trouble or God has taken a completely different and modern form in their imaginations. Or they think that these kind of fu...rs are much more potent than God. Ok I think I should stop because the guy upstairs may be reading this and I am sure he won't be happy about it.

The order in chaos

Tornado warning issued for later in the day...its raining now..you come out of the office to be safe back home ..but the heavens is pelting water like missiles...what to do.. what to do..what the heck...its just water..anyway you didn't have shower today...you take your bike and go nowhere and everywhere...you are drenched ... no idea where you are heading..aah its awesome...you are a kid again..
You ride back to home when you see people playing soccer on a nearby field...you leave your bike and start playing soccer...you are playing when the phone rings...your friend calls you to join him at a bar...the day is getting better and better..
You are sitting at Ashleys enjoying Pilsner Urquell while sitting infront of you is this lovely and lively American/Russian girl talking sugar..and you listen...just listen...
Its past midnight and you return to your apartment...the night has been so great and the weather can't be better...its time to vent out..you pick your bike and go for venturing in the darkness...you are sitting on the bridge over Huron..thinking about something..when you decide to call a friend...
You are listening Ghazals on the lake side near your place with your friend when you see few Americans heading to the nearby pool..your friend and you take your clothes off and jump in the pool...
You are back to your place..its been a long eve..its almost dawn...I got to sleep...

अर्ज़ है....

क्यों झुकी हैं ये पलकें तेरी,
क्यों नहीं कुछ कहते ये लब तेरे,
क्यों करती है हम पर ज़ुल्म इतना,
क्यों नहीं होने देती हमें,
तेरी इस जां पे फना।