X-Men: Days of Future Past: Even Sheldon would have preferred disastrous Star Trek V!!!

Amidst the impending extermination of mutants by sentinels, the only mutant who seems to have enough resolve to survive time travel, is sent 40 years back to save the mutants, by preventing the very event which triggered the creation of sentinels …

Sounds interesting??? Worth 8.8 rating on IMDB??? Best X-Men movie ever???

After 20 kms of bike ride trip through innumerable signals, red lights and traffic filled with disappointed RCB fans, my answer is a resounding NO.

This was my first X-Men movie, but whatever little I have read about the other installments or gathered from their trailers, it seems all the movies are centered on the theme of constant conflict between mutants and humans. This installation isn’t different either. However, what isn’t clear to me is the reason for the conflict. In this movie, the reason for conflict seems to be because of human’s insecurity vis-à-vis a superior mutant race. This insecurity can’t be denied, but what we can’t also deny is, if such a race were to exist, there would always be even stronger urge for humans to make peace with mutants and use their powers for benefit of mankind.

Anyways, the central premise of X-Men franchise is not what bothers me in this movie. What bothers me is the thinness of the plot, usage of DNA and other technologies in 1970s which would hardly have been imagined in times of Nixon, similarities of sentinel attack in the movie to the attack of in Matrix revolutions.

If the human mutant conflict is in evitable as seen in innumerable X-Men installments, then how is it possible that only one single event 40 years back, resulted in creation of sentinels. Surely, 40 years would have seen enough of mad scientists, biologists, genetic engineers and events to result in creation of something like sentinels. And if the martyrdom (if I were to use that term) of Dr. Bolivar Trask was the event that triggered creation of sentinels, X-Men don’t modify that event drastically enough to convince humans that mutants don’t pose any threat to them, all human insecurities are baseless and therefore there’s no need to create a set beings designed to exterminate them.

Now that I have expressed my problem with the plot, let’s turn to execution. If time travel wasn’t enough to grab audience attention, how about throwing in the assignation conspiracy of JFK??  Surely, Indians aren’t the only ones given to hero worship. One American movie portrays Abraham Lincoln as Vampire slayer, while this one suggests JFK to be a mutant himself. The dialogues around JFK assassination do grab some eyeballs, but as you try to come to terms with this revelation, you find yourself being convinced of an ill conceived plot of freeing someone imprisoned 100 or so ft. beneath the most heavily guarded establishment of them all, the Pentagon.

From there you know what’s in store for you. Matrix, like bullet stunts with the subtle difference of guns and bullets being made of polymer to avoid being made useless by our metal manipulator, Magneto.

There isn’t much of suspense in the movie either, because you know what will happen eventually, even though the mutants do try to confuse you thoroughly by their not so obvious plans and actions.

 All in all, if this is the best movie of X-Men franchise, then I am beginning to wonder whether the franchise is worth it at all???

Czech tales!

I am back after a 6 year hiatus. Where was I, all these years? I don’t know. Time just flew by. All I know, is that I always wanted to write something worthwhile, and at times came across some events worth writing about. But lets face it. I have to acknowledge, what my dear friend Ashok, told about me once: “You are good person, when you are awake!”, so I guess I was asleep all the while.

But now that I am awake, why harp on the 6 years of inactivity?

So, let me cut to the chase and come straight to the subject of this blog entry. This blog is essentially my take on things I observed during my Brno trip. Since, I am famous for my one liners, which my die hard fans keep reminding me about (lot of pun intended), let me describe these experiences in terms of some catchy (I hope) taglines. And if you don’t have anything urgent to attend to, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go through what’s behind the tag lines as well.

So, first let me start with something which I realized soon after landing in Brno. I agree my observations about food and drink might not be the best way to start. But, I had to start from some point ...

Myself with glass of my favorite cola: Kofola

Beer is bigger, Pepsi is smaller: Well, the common Czech beer mug is not as big as the title suggests. At about 500 ml, its about half the size of the giant 1 Liter German beer mug. But let me tell you, whatever Czech beer mug may lack for in terms of the size, its more than adequately made for by the taste of the beer it holds and the number of times it is ordered for. If you pride yourself with drinking 2 Liters of beer at once, you would probably be welcomed to the Czech sisterhood. Yes, you got me right! You need to be able to consume somewhere close to 5 Liters of beer at once to be welcome to Czech brotherhood. Why then did I put Pepsi in the tagline? The usual serving of Pepsi in Czech republic is 200 ml, which was strange for me, as I am used to the serving of 300 ml in India. Talking about Pepsi, how can one forget to mention Kofola, Czech's own Cola? I must say, I enjoyed it more than both its American counterparts, and wondered why it hasn't made its presence felt in rest of the world.

If you don’t drink beer, you are with the Germans: At 132 Liters, the Czech republic has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world. Germany comes a distant second at 107 Liters.  So, you don’t do Czechs any favors by not having beer. Their concern seems genuine to me. Today there’s one immigrant not drinking beer. Tomorrow, there might be others who might follow this path of abstinence. Before you know, this epidemic of teetotalism might spread like wildfire and severely dent Czech consumption. You don't want to loose to Germans, do you? And why wouldn't you drink beer in Czech Republic anyways? So many places to visit and so many varieties to try?

One of the catchy ads for the team outing

Strongest tea is coffee, and strongest coffee is tea: As I am not Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu, I write (when I write) with fair share of quotes from others, whom I know. And this one is courtesy my colleague Jan Holik. And he couldn't be more right. Save Lipton yellow label, all the other varieties of tea were too light, and sometimes even adulterated (if I can misuse the term here) with stronger flavor of herbs or honey. On the other hand, coffee you get on pressing the mild button on coffee machine would be strong enough to keep you awake, even when you are reading this blog ;). Why not opt for Decaf? Thankfully, Czech don’t drink what I like to call coffee without coffee.

Meat is murder, tasty tasty murder: Offending as it may seem to vegetarians, this was actually one of the tag lines for our team outing. Let’s face it, there are not many vegetarian options available in European food. Sometimes, even chicken, fish or even beef items are termed as vegetarian based on the fact that they contain some raw vegetables. So, if you are vegetarian, please double check after ordering, that what have you ordered is actually vegetarian by asking whether it contains any meat. Better still, use the term "No meat", whenever you want to order vegetarian meal. Your English might seem odd, but its much better to appear bad in English, rather than to end up eating meat, mistakenly.

X means continue and // means end? Somehow, I never realized that relative position of the knife and fork could actually convey some meaning. That is until, my dear friend Jan Reznik finally managed to vent out his frustration on the random pattern of placement of my knife and fork. Even on empty plate, I had kept the knife and the fork in a crossed position. What I didn't realize is that, when the knife and the fork are kept in a crossed position, it means you plan to continue eating, while if they are placed parallel to each other, you have given up on food for better or worse, so the waiter can clear your plate. Now, I wonder what waiter ws thinking before Jan lost his patience? “Does this Indian want to eat the plate too???”.





Enough about food and drinks, lets switch to something which rules Czech roads...

Tram runs uninterrupted while cars wait at a signal

On the road, first there’s God then there’s the tram: Continuing to take inspiration from other’s punchlines, here’s Brno version of Rahul Dravid take on Ganguly’s offside play. Tram is really the best public transport option in Brno, and also master of the road. Everyone and everything on the road, gives way to the tram. There are several trams passing through each station, with a periodicity of 5 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the time of the day. What’s amazing is that these trams are always on time, without a delay of even seconds. They are so punctual that if you don’t see it arriving at time which is mentioned on the station, you are most likely wearing your wrist watch upside down. Other thing, I observed that tram beats car most of the times. I had observed this twice. On both occasions I happened to go on a time outing in a car with my colleagues, and realized on both the occasions the colleagues driving were struggling with traffic and sometimes the route too, while people who came by tram reached much earlier.

A stamped tram ticket.

Money is time as well: You would surely begin to question, my knowledge of English proverbs now, but I tried to up the ante by reversing the well known proverb here. In Brno transport system, you can literally buy time with money, time on transport system that is. Just like any public transport ticket, you buy in most of European cities, the ticket you buy here is valid for multiple modes of transport like the bus and the tram. However, the important difference is that you buy a ticket for duration of time. So, a 20 Kc ticket purchased at the tram gives you 15 minutes worth of time, to travel to your intended destination. But for city like Brno, where the distances are not big and trams travel frequently 15 minutes is more than enough for you. And just for the record the time starts when you stamp your ticket on entering the bus or the tram. If you try to read the numbers on the stamp on the tram ticket to the left of the screen, you would realize that the stamp itself contains the date and time of start of the travel. However, it is wiser to buy ticket from the shop where they are sold at lesser price. So, a 24 Kc ticket gives 90 minutes and access to 3 zones at seen in the picture on the left.

From what rules the Czech roads to what rules the Czech hearts....

The coat of arms of the Czech Republic
(Badge used on the players jerseys).

It would be hard to lose to Germans? No, now I am not referring to Czech beer consumption, where it would be impossible for Czechs to loose to Germans. I am just referring to, one of the points of bar room discussion before the Czech vs Germany clash in group stages of Ice Hockey Qualifier (2012 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships).
Why is it hard to loose to Germany? Well, if I were to explain this phenomena  in cricketing lingo, I would say Germany is the proverbial Bangladesh  of Ice Hockey World, and Czech republic probably . While Czech republic has won the Ice Hockey Championship 12 times (3rd after Russia and Canada) with a total of 46 podium finishes (joint leader with Canada), the Germans have never manged to win it and have barely managed to obtain podium finish on 4 occasions.
So, why would the Czech team want to lose to Germany? So, that they face Russia in quarterfinals, which were supposedly easier opponents than the more organized and consistent Swedish team.
What happened in the end? As expected, the Czech team didn't take these bar room discussions seriously, defeating Germany easily in that match. They went further ahead, and also ended up defeating Swedish in Quarters to surprise of many. Bigger surprises were to follow though, as the Czech finally lost to friendly neighbors Slovaks in semi-final, who eventually lost, to the Russians (Australians of the Icehockey, if I were to use cricketing analogy). Considering both Czech republic and Slovakia were once part of the united Czechoslovakia, I didn't get an impression that the loss to Slovakia was as painful to Czechs as the loss to Pakistan is to Indians. Probably, my next para will analyze why things are this way.



Since I have already mentioned about Czech republic and Slovakia being a part of Czechoslovakia, let me tell you something I realized after going over how the nations came into existence ...

Czechoslovakia as a federal republic
between 1968 (Constitutional Law of Federation)
and 1989 (Velvet Revolution) .

Break-ups can be peaceful too: Since, we are talking history here, please forgive me (or be thankful to me) for not inserting any PJs here. Partition of India happened during its independence, and still remains the most haunting memory of what was supposed to be India's tryst with destiny. By a rough estimate, around 1 million people lost their lives in communal clashes during the partition. Even 66 years after the partition, the relations between the two nations that emerged out of the partition, India and Pakistan, continue to be sore and cause of concern for the development of both the nations. In contrast, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia into Czech republic and Slovakia, also known as Velvet Divorce was a completely peaceful and bloodless event. I have also read that the velvet divorce also brought stability to central Europe at a time of great unrest, allowing the Czechs and Slovaks to sidestep what would have been a period of intense legal and political wrangling, and cultural tension, and instead focus on state building. I also realized that the Brno office (part of Czech republic) employed quite a few Slovaks, and I couldn't sense any bitterness between colleagues from Czech republic and those from Slovakia. Perhaps, there were some jokes when it came to the question of who defeats whom in Ice Hockey, or probably whether a united team of Czechoslovakia might have ruled Ice Hockey. Otherwise, the question of nationality was never of any relevance. Perhaps, the totally different context of partition of India and dissolution of Czechoslovakia renders any comparative analysis useless. However, it is still worthwhile to note not all breakups need to be violent.

That's all???
Well, I have plenty of other experiences to share, like: Some not so pleasant ones about the difficulty to communicate with people in English, more so with the Indian accent; How wide the footpaths really were, and what a travesty it was not to allow them to be used for cycling, when in fact I felt unsafe at times to cycle on the roads; How good it was to see the Czech people coming to eat in Indian restaurants and thoroughly enjoying the same;How glad I was when I got a genuine team jersey of Ice Hockey team courtesy by colleagues at work;

 But I believe you are running out of patience, so I would like to end this blog entry before you take out all the anger on your laptop ;)!

Monkey Symonds!

Call me a racist। Yet another citizen of so called "third world country" who decides to make fun of an Australian, going by his antics on and off the fields. But I stand by the title of this blog. Its debatable, whether its monkey race who is getting offended by being compared to Symonds (To be true, there are better monkeys in the sport), or vice-versa. But lets not even go in that direction.

What surprises me the most, is why don't Aussies appreciate the Indian sense of humor. Its the same Aussie crowd that pulled out an laugh riot in an episode which is popularly known as "Botham the Pig". How can Aussies forget the pig-chant tailor made for Ian Botham and Eddie Hemmings at the Gabba Test during England's 1982-83 tour? Mr. Symonds in case you are not aware of this, just look at the pic on the left hand side and the video: Botham the pig, before you launch your next protest at "Symonds the pig" (with all due respect to the pig race). A pig with Botham written on the right hand side, Eddie on other, and an Australian flag tied to his tale was made to walk right through the boundary rope into the stadium in that test. Botham never walked out of the ground, or made any suggestions that the "Pig Chant" can be contrived as being racist, let alone going into press or racing the issue with the then "Imperial Cricket Council". May be, Botham written on a pig makes up for Aussie sense of of humor and Indians mimicking Symonds the monkey doesn't. May be, an Aussie crowd making fun of English player is funny, while Indian crowd making fun of Aussie player is not. True, if seeing someone ape Symonds does not seem funny (for obvious reasons, see pic on the right hand side), its not torturous enough to merit punishing those aping him. Is it wise, to such a prank, a racial slur? May be its not wise, its just Australian. "Monkey, Australian for racism", the next Fosters ad might read! And cultural difference a certain "Steve Waugh" might say!

Secondly, I am just little confused by the fact that of all the racist words in English dictionary (trust me there are many, if you are unsure just see a video from Russel Peters in youtube!), the word that is the center of attraction is Monkey. How racial can this word be?? After all it reminds us of our ancestors. Leave that fact if monkey is considered a racial slur, then lots of past English, West Indian and other players have been target of racism.

Have you ever heard of Monkey Hornby?? See, cricinfo is not racists by any means (I hope). Whatever, be the world may be like in 1870s, I don't think even English team of that time was racist enough to call their own white Lancashire born team member a "Monkey". I think more than his white skin, his energy and enthusiasm on and off the field earned him that honor (Or Racial Slur as Mr. Symonds would make you believe). And call it irony or an obvious match he was also nicknamed "The Boss". (I am sure, you must be thinking of apparent similarities between the monkey and the boss [:-D]). Don't think that I am bringing some obscure player who played from some English county more than 140 years back into picture. "Monkey Hornby" is the one of the only two players to have captained England at both rugby and cricket. "Monkey Hornby" is not the only player to have been refer ed to as monkey in the history of international cricket। There is Kenneth Anderson Sellar (called Monkey Cellar). Incidentally, he also represented England in Rugby just like "Monkey Horby". There some players from WI also, nicknamed "Monkey". I think when the issue settles down, there might even be a cricinfo profile titled "Monkey Symonds" (with all due respect to the monkey race)!

If I go by an English proverb, Symonds is really becoming a big monkey for Indian cricketers and fans. Ever heard of "getting monkey of your back" Mr. Symonds? How do Indians get you of their back?

Harry potter’s magic!

No I am not talking about next J.K. Rowling’s novel or next Warner Bros. production. Just close your eyes for a few seconds, and assume being in Harry Potter’s magical world. Imagine the place you are in, the interesting things around you. Think of yourself being in Harry Potter’s mind and soul as the great magical power within him. Think of all the powers, the charm, the fame and the temptations associated with it.

Now, think of playing it on stage? Can you really do that? What sort of play would that be? Harry Potter’s magic wand? Bloggers, let me introduce a theatre group that allows you to be just that (and whatever you dream of) ….

"Yours Truly"

I guess you must be wondering whether it is name of theatre group or ending of a letter. I still remember the days, when I used to end my e-mails with this ending, probably a hang over from school days where the endings “Yours Sincerely”, “Yours Faithfully”, “Yours Affectionately” really mattered. Well, in exams anyways. Wonder no more. This blog entry does not have anything to do with the art letter writing anyways (btw how email has changed the art of letter writing could make for another interesting reading/writing). This blog is inspired by the theatre workshop by the same name, which I joined sometime back. I was not aware, that the name of the workshop could be a problem, until I got a call from the bank whose cheque, I had given to the workshop people. “Sir, I am calling from …. Bank…… What kind of cheque is this? Yours Truly? Did you mean a self cheque?” I told her, that I know better practical jokes than this, and bank would be the last place I would try one.

Okay, enough of playing around with the name. When, I started thinking of joining a theatre, I had an open mind (easy to have open mind, when you don’t have anything in it anyways [:-D]). I just wanted to find a better way to spend time on weekends rather then burning my eyes in front of TV. When I told my friends about my intention of joining the theatre workshop, I got the usual comments which you get when you try something new. “Theatre? It’s a great skill and takes years of practice for you to be able to make an appearance on stage. For all you know, you might be a lamp-post for my first show.” Point taken anyways, but I did not mind being a tree. Just that theatre people would have to manage with a very short tree.

So, with high enthusiasm I interacted with Nandini, one of the first members of Yours Truly group. She asked to come on a Sunday around 4 for registration. True, to my reputation I made it around 5, and was probably the last person to the join the workshop. There I met Ranji, who told me that about different formats of theatre that this group deals in.


The first day of the workshop arrived and again I made it to the workshop only ½ hour late. Accustomed (rather) to the embarrassment of late entry, I tried to find the corner of the big hall. As I was dashing towards the corner, I was asked to tell my name with gesture. Punishment for late entry may be. Then Ranji enacted the one for himself, just to make me comfortable. Running in slow motion, he spoke out loudly, "I ammm Rrrrunnnjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjji…………". I realized I had to come up with something real fast. Running out of ideas, I came up with V for Vineet gesture. (Glad that my name did not start with Q or R or something like that). And just that this much embarrassment was not enough, I had to see 20 simultaneous replays for the same gesture, enacted by the other newbies. However, slight consolation was seeing the same treatment being met out to other people, who strangely arrived even later than me.

Then everyone settled down and we were asked to enact some background scenes like one in the playground, a wedding scene, a railway platform etc. I enacted a child playing cricket and guy proposing on someone else wedding (Just take the still from Dil Chahta Hai). From there on, I knew it was going to be a fun all the way. All my apprehensions about performing on stage, started to disappear as we enacted different kinds of situation and objects workshop after workshop.

Sorry, for being carried away with what you could call “My first experiences in Yours Truly…”.

From the first day of workshop till the end we all enacted different situations, backgrounds, animate and inanimate objects. Initially, I wondered how it would help us, but then I realized it allowed us to get in touch with different aspects of theatre, that we would otherwise miss or take much longer time to comprehend, if we were asked to take up a role in a play straightaway. Now that I look back at it. We tried lots of different activities during the workshop, which we enjoyed thoroughly, but I am sure were mostly not able to comprehend of magnitude of learning and experience gained by those activities. Not to mention the sheer joy of performing to those activities on stage, and seeing other members performing them too.

Lets see what all we tried out during the workshop.

We tried enacting different backdrops/settings like railway platform, playground, temple, school, kitchen etc.

We became inanimate objects sometimes singularly while other times being in group. The objects ranged from traditional objects enacted on stage like tree, lamp-post etc. to more bizarre yet challenging ones like kitchen utensils, office accessories etc.

As we progressed in the workshop we tried enacting different situations without dialogs, showing different situations using fixed dialogs. I found this one most interesting as it was interesting to see different depictions of 3-dialog set, “I am going”, “Why”, “I have to” sequence), enacting a short story by interchanging the roles frequently. Imagine jailor being prisoner in very next scene, or worse the hero being the heroine the very next dialog.I think this is something even Ekta Kapoor can’t boast of doing in her endless death-duplicate-rebirth sagas.

One of most challenging ones was that of enacting a story told by different members by constantly changing the levels .i.e. by constantly switching between sitting, standing and standing high postures dialog after dialog. I have to say that this was the toughest one. Needless, to the say while it was terrible experience on stage, the audience had a laugh riot, seeing the utter chaos on the stage.

We enacted different stories told by participants impromptu. In impromptu you literally have no time to prepare or coordinate amongst each other. The only preparation time you can sneak in is the one, you get when the story is being told. Initially, it appeared as if the central characters in the story get the best part.

However, as we did story after story, we realized that central characters are limited to the character they are playing, while others can play different objects/characters/emotions during the play. I must say, all the performances were excellent, and how somehow able to comprehend how something like “Whose line is it anyway?” can be produced anyways. One performance that comes to my mind is that of the lost bag. Yes, a lost bag. That’s beauty of theatre, you don’t have to play the mundane characters. You can play the in-animate objects which sometimes play a central role in a story. Imagine playing Pinocchio’s nose, or Aladdin’s lamp, or Methane Gas in Bhopal Gas tragedy, Itch Powder (I enjoyed this role) in a familiar itchy story, or Harry Potter magic wand (the inspiration behind the title), or a lost bag. The sort of emotions associated with these inanimate objects and sheer possibilities in terms of their depiction, are far greater than that can be associated with any living human character in these stories. That’s what makes theatre so great. And that’s what makes “Yours Truly”, even greater because it gives a chance to newcomers to understand and experience the magic of theatre in a very subtle and fun way. Trust me, I would have really not thought of prospect of playing these characters ever (even though my over-acting would most probably murder the heart and soul of these characters [:-D]), had I not been introduced to this kind of theatre.

Towards the end of the workshop, we were happy to know that we will be putting an actual stage performance consisting of a couple of semi-scripted plays “The Unknown” and “A pair of Glasses”, and four impromptu performances in groups of 5-6 each, marking the end of the workshop. First task was to find the name of the show. Hmmmm, all of us came with lots of suggestions, and finally it was down to 2, "Squared" (from Ranji for 2*2 performances) and "Chautanki" (from myself, a adjoin of "Char" (4 in Hindi) and "Nautanki" (Stage play in Hindi)). Somehow, the name "Chautanki" was accepted as the name of the show, for its witty appeal .

I term the plays as semi scripted because the roles and story was fixed, but dialogs were left to individual characters. Again, fixing the dialogs in advance was a good idea so that all of us get to think over our characters, and also not to divert everyone’s attention to remembering the dialogs, rather than way of delivering them and more importantly fitting into our assigned roles.

The rehearsals were fun, and a particularly interesting rehearsal session was doing our play in fast forward. What made it particularly hard for the team I was associated with was that I took almost 25% time in my small part of morning walk, staring at girls and fighting with my serious son, true to the “crazy old man” character. Actually, I think it was my boring PJs that forced Nandini to add the crazy twist to old mans character.

The final show spread over a span of 2 days. Our play “The Unknown” was played on both the days, as the number of characters in the play were more than 5-6 member groups initially assigned for the play.

Each of us had butterflies not only because it was first time on stage for most of us, and also because how people would take the short plays and impromptu performances. However, our fears vanished when Runji made audience interact with each other (and with us also on the second day) thereby dropping the hint to the audience of this kind of theatrical performance.

From my side, I thought that I was not able to put up a good enough performance in plays as well as the impromptu, although slight over-acting and exaggeration helped on the second day (not being modest here, just being honest). However, most of the performances in the show were awesome, and particularly the impromptus. Our impromptus before the show usually used to very funny and sometimes with dialogs that would bring the censor scissors into the picture. However, on the 2nd day of the show, the first impromptu was based on Bhopal Gas Tragedy, which scared everyone. However, it was treat to watch it being performed on the stage (as were the other impromptus). Some of the scenes that impromptu were really compelling enough to providing fitting depiction of the tragedy.

After the show, we all had a great team lunch in “Legacy of Punjab”. The food was delicious the most noticeable thing for me was the XXL size plates which were large enough to accommodate large quantities 4-5 dishes in one go!

Finally, there was all to familiar good bye, “Yours Truly” isstyle. No I am not talking about emotional speeches, or a tearful farewell. Congratulations, Hugs, Kisses, Bums, to all the members.
No wonder, no one ever left “Yours Truly” workshop sessions without the ceremonious goodbye!

PS: The photographs in the blog from top to bottom in order are: Nandini hoping for the best, Ranji giving last minute tips, a scene from impromptu play, Methane Gas in action, the tickets for Chautanki, a still from "A pair of Glasses" and finally the "Yours Truly" troop. Thanks to Vipul for his great camerawork in capturing the moments that made "Yours Truly" an unforgettable experience.

When a loser tells his tale!

Aah, does this world really care about what a loser has to say. People are living a fast paced life, where they really don't have time to bother about anything. Even the onetime heroes (or the so called winners) are forgotten in no time, so who will have the time to listen to the woes of loser. Who will spend his or her precious time on the lost cause? To your surprise, a lot of people do.

The fact is that the people not only listen to the loser's side of the story but enjoy it too. Hard to digest? Let’s look at few tales of losers that have really captured our mind and imagination. Be it the cute looking "Kevin Arnold" in "The Wonder Years", nerdy looking intern Dr. John Dorian (aka JD) in "The Scrubs", or the nervous Greg in “Meet the parents", all these characters have been a hit with masses. Even "Friends" (almost a cult hit in India) can be identified as story of 6 losers with lives going nowhere and enjoying each and every moment of their life by virtue their friendship.

But what is it, with these characters and their tales which makes them capture our minds and imagination? Perhaps, it has to do with the most basic of human traits. Everyone knows the pain and suffering associated with a loss. While winning makes you feel happy, it also creates feelings of arrogance and overconfidence. On the other hand, loosing brings out the child in you, almost brings tears to your eyes, makes you ponder over each and every mistake you made, and also go over those factors that were never in your control but would have changed the eventual consequence. Perhaps, each loss makes you more sober. Coming back to the point, whenever you see Kevin Arnold staring at Winnie Cooper, you remember your childhood crush, or Kevin Arnold trying his level best to resolve family feuds very well aware of his youngest status in the family, you remember your family feuds, whenever you see JD in Scrubs, you remember how difficult it is to say no sometimes, and whenever you see Greg in "Meet the Parents", you remember the most embarrassing moments of your life, where you made a fool of yourself trying to impress someone. It’s the innocuousness of these moments that makes you listen to these tales. It also gives you the belief and the satisfaction that sometimes the result really does not matter as much as your feelings. The tales also enable us to discuss and analyse certain embarrassing moments in life, which sometimes one is not able to discuss with oneself let alone others. So, at one level these tales allow us to get in touch with our innermost feelings. We might not be able identify ourselves with the feelings of the character in question, but at least it provokes a thought process, which lets us know ourselves better.

In the long run, these tales also tell you the fact that while losing occasionally might not be bad, one has to cross the line at some point in life in order to be a winner. Some of these characters did that successfully, while others are waiting for the sequels or seasons for that the victorious moment. Even, these characters don't win the eventual war, they are still fighting for the right cause.

Bussiness as usual!

Two Nations, two neighbours, two beligerent enimies, with one thing in commong. Love for cricket. Its not hard to guess, which two nations are we talking about.

Despite, the passion of over a billion people, both the nations find themselves out of the world cup. But why is it, that the reactions of the people involved in defeats are totally different. While the crisis in Pakistan cricket can best titled as "All in a days loss!", the reactions Indian cricket team can ony be title as "Bussiness as usual!"

In just one loss, Pakistan lost its renowned foriegn coach, one of greatest players in ODI cricket and thier captain resigned. In a short matter of 8 hours, a team which was favoirite in its group, and capable of defeating any team in world on its day was out of the world cup. Even though, it would be hardly a consolation Pakistan defeat in second ODI was a shocking one, and an unexpected. Pakistan did not know what hit them in the second ODI.

While look at India. India was shocked in the first ODI itself. India very well knew, what it had do to qualify. Yet it lost the crunch match, to the same team, who they bashed 3-1 and 6-1 in the last two series. And at end of the day, it was still business as usual.

Take reaction of "The Wall" to any loss. It starts with we were 20-30 run short, and ends up with the congratulation to the opposition team. No emotion, no passion, no hint of an intent to bounce back. Only a pale blue face (none of the blue billion fame!!!) reflecting disappointment, depression and submission to the fate. After all, its a just a game. Only a game where around billion of crazy fans, spend 8 hours sitting in front of TV, hoping that India wins. Only a game that brings billions of dollars to these players via advertising contracts. I guess, if Indian players were playing on the field, like they play larger than life roles in ads, the billion fans would not even one day of disappointment and frustation.

Was Dravids reaction any different this time around. Not any different. What about the big-3? One of them expressed a desire to play 2011 World Cup, even if he had to be carried on stretcher! While the other 2 shamlessly retain their place in the side. And for the coach, the self obsessed, cynical architect of Indias exit of the world cup, its just part of the process.

Yaa process it is. May be process, by which the billion people come back to thier senses, and stop wasting thier precious 8 hours in front of TV, and start investing in in something more productive (dont take literally, otherwise billion might become trillion)!

Lazy revolutionaries!

Can revolutionaries be lazy??? Why can’t they be?? Infact, most of them are. Unknowingly, most of us express our frustration on tiny things in life that affect us, in the different yet ineffective ways. Things that are wrong and must be corrected. But things we have to live with, or rather choose to live with. The only time we worry about them, is when we have to face them.
Like an open pot hole, for which u would bother only when you have to maneuver your bike/car to negotiate the same in heavy traffic. Suddenly, you will feel rush of adrenaline through your veins and end up fuming few nice words to the good old government of India. Who cares about putting the lid back, if criticizing the government of India satsifies your ego.

Well you would not be alone. Lots of people do that everyday. Coming back to the point, how is frustration on something wrong related to revolution. It is just that we choose to call this form of revolution, a challenge to authority, a voice against something wrong, with a less respectable word. I guess the choice is the word is more inspired by the inaction in dishing out few abusive words against the authority, but no action. The intent is still a revolution, but the action is a lazy one. That’s why I choose to call it lazy revolution. The title just manages to galvanize the intent and ridicule the action at the same time.

Why did come across this word suddenly? I was just watching a movie which was centered on the fate of students inspired by the naxalite movement of 1970s. The lazy revolution was depicted in form of a college strike, organized by few students whose fathers had enough muscle and money to get their kids out of trouble, just in case the strike went out of control.

How is such a college strike a "lazy revolution"? First of all, who cares about it? Infact, it is bonus for teachers who get a day off and also get another chance to curse their students. For students, it’s just another day to party. The only people, who get bothered about the college strike, are the parents who have to bear with their supposedly unmanageable kids at home for that day. For the people who participate in the strike, these are usually kids of wealthy and powerful parents who want to get to key positions in college elections. You don’t change policies of government with that. You don’t end corruption with that. All it gives you is a feel good factor (remember “feel good factor” which cost BJP the 2001 general elections). It gives the participants a feeling that they have made an effort to protest about what is wrong in this world.

Well, some of you who participated in the great big fight against reservation would contend this. However, I believe that it was not just another college strike. It was a campaign in which students from all over India participated. Infact some of them gave their lives too. Still it was unsuccessful. The strike was just successful in delaying the ultimate implementation of “Quota Raj”.

The movie which I was seeing was filmed in 1969, when computers and internet had not arrived on the seen. People were lazy, but still put enough efforts to put together a strike. Internet has brought a new generation of lazy revolutionaries. These revolutionaries don’t bother going to college, to talk to a big group to convince people about what’s wrong in the world. They wake up one fine morning, sip a cup of tea (or coffee as the case may be) realize something is wrong with world (perhaps triggered by bad taste of tea or gastric trouble). Then they start searching of their laptop. Finger tips on keyboard, and mind concentrated on finding the best words to criticize the troublemaker. The comes a blog/email wishing to alert everyone who reads the same to alert people about one more problem in this world. Perhaps, a lazy attempt to get your message across to millions of internet users worldwide.

By the time, that last line is written or rather typed, mind is already exhausted in trying to think about the right set of words for describing, what is wrong in this world. Then they start to question themselves. Perhaps, it was not worth spending 30 minutes about what is wrong with the world. Who is going to read this article anyways? Perhaps, it is better if I choose to live this problem. Lazily, they end-up uploading their thoughts onto the internet. Perhaps, effort to press the submit button is purely driven by desire not to waste 30 minutes of effort spent in writing the article. However, they are not the laziest revolutionaries yet. Somewhere in this world, someone browsing the internet or checking his email comes across this "What wrong with the world in 30 minutes?” article. Another rush of adrenaline and the surfer ends up reading the first few lines. Again he blames good old government of India, skips the 30-minute article.

Perhaps, I overdid it in my last paragraph. But, let us compare the anti-quota campaign of 1990 with the anti-quota campaign of 2006. What was once fought on colleges and streets, was now fought in form of few chain emails? Emails seemingly meant to educate people on the reservation policy of Mr. Arjun Singh. I don’t question the intent of the email writers, but I certainly question their effectiveness? Almost, everyone on internet in India got those emails. How many of us acted on them?

Well, my 30-minutes are also almost up. And I am also running out of words. Now it’s your turn. Will you be next lazy revolutionary? Will you dish some nice words against me or the government of India?

It’s for you to decide...

From:
The laziest of them all.