shashi's world

Friday, September 09, 2005

Do I need to see a psychiatrist?

Past few days, my mind has been yearning for something that others find very weird, which I personally find not even remotely weird, at least till I get out of this phase. It was all getting built up bit by bit for quite sometime now, and reached a crescendo after watching Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal. Not that I am a masochist, not that I have never dreamt of driving a Ferrari out of my bungalow in Zurich, not that I abhor capitalism (though I don’t admire it either), but it’s just that I am getting this feeling for the first time and believe me, I am finding it all very romantic. That scene in Iqbal, where the mother is cooking some rukha sukha in some dilapidated earthen pots in the kitchen, or to say a thatched confinement separated from the rest of the house by a boundary of mud-stuck bricks, has become my dream. I find my well furnished flat, with marble floorings in the kitchen so very trite or if not an exaggeration, egregious. I have this itching desire to have sukhi roti in that confinement with the mud-plastered floor, wearing very ordinary clothes, if not tattered ones. I find all these so exciting that I have made it a point in my mind to experience all these some day. People might just say - had I actually been born in such a surrounding, I would have realized the difficulty of such a life. But apart from this fantasy of mine, I have begun to detest my fortunes of having all the luxuries at my side. It suffocates me at times. I don’t remember taking a plunge into the pond of the countryside for a bath. God, am I so unfortunate to spend all my life taking bath with that stupid hand shower in my bathroom? Will I continue to drive on the sick roads, or will I get the opportunity to run bare foot on the dew soaked grass of the field. Will I continue to punish myself with the useless burgers, or will I be fortunate enough to sip some freshly milked milk. Am I destined to meet only professional people or is someone as pure as Khadija (played by Shweta Prasad in Iqbal) going to intercept me. The list is endless. Am I being whacky? I guess I am not.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Tidbits

Scene 1: I was coolly having lunch with the office colleagues while watching the television. They were showing this something adaalat program in which Rajat Sharma was interviewing, rather screwing, Shotgun (aka apne Shatrughan Sinha). If you have watched other interviews of Shatruji, you would have noticed that he makes sure he mentions that the role of Vijay in Deewar played by Mr Bachchan was actually offered to him first by Manmohan Desai, but he could not accept it for want of dates. He states this fact very assumingly. So far so fine – I was hearing something that I had heard many times ago. But suddenly from nowhere Rajat Sharma gave the mike to one young guy in the audience to ask a question to apne Shatruji. This is what he asked – so Shatruji don’t you think that your paucity of dates that time was the best thing that could happen to Manmohan Desai!!! I was taken aback, and so was Shatruji. But our actor turned politician has learnt to handle such pressure cooker situations (remember the allegations made against him in the parliament that he is a lazy person, wakes up at 12 noon and often misses the Lok Sabha sessions :) He quickly regained his humor – and replied – Aapne bilkul theek bola. Ab mujhe lag raha hai ki audience mein kuchh kaafi samajhdaar log bhi hain. Shatruji, you said that in front of the camera – but dil mein ye baat chubh si gai hogi :)

Scene 2: The Red shift: Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (Jyoti Basu’s successor) was being grilled by the media for his audacious statement (by leftists’ standard) made regarding his welcoming of FDI into West Bengal. Now even a class 2 student knows, that being a Leftist means – to shout against World Bank, WTO, IMF, G8, FDI, even though that’s beneficial for the nation. But Mr Bhattacharya had given the green signals to many MNCs to invest in West Bengal. To add to the severity of the situation Mr Basu was also beside him (since his illness, it is not very often that we get to see/hear him). This was another pressure cooker situation. Basu had gone almost dumb. I was itching my kidney to hear the reply. It was such a tense moment for those two, and it was such an enjoyable one for me. Finally Mr Buddhadeb had this to say – We are changing, Left ideology has to change to the modern trends. If what he said was true, then that’s a very welcome step for India – Gurcharan Das would have loved this moment as did I.
Scene 3: Personal front: I was amidst a technical presentation in office. About half the presentation was over. Then a lady in the audience raised her hands. I thought she had a question to ask me, so I paused. To my bewilderment, she said that she had a comment to make. I said go on. She told that she liked the matching of the background of my slides (I had chosen a gray color) and my mildly faded black jeans. Now God, what was that. I felt like pulling my hair. Actually she had hindered my continuity. My manager controlled the situation, but not before everyone burst into laughter. Actually that was annoying for me but I didn’t exactly dislike that comment from the lady ;)