Aamchi Mumbai

So am back again with my bags & baggage.Back to the city which never sleeps.Each time i have come here i have had a different feel to it, a very different experience. Its kind of bizaare to know that the life of a common Bombayite ( yes Mr Thakery I continute to call it Bombay )is so tough yet their attitude towards life is so relaxed. When i ask local people here they tell me ,people here are already so stressed ( Long travelling hours, hectic work life , blah blah ) that they dont have any time left to brood or crib ,they just wanna have fun. The definition of Fun varies from the dictionaray of a Delhiites ( I hate to call myself a Delhiite but that's how people address me here , The Delhi - Bombay diffence still persists ).For a Delhiite Fun means going out to a fancy DLF Mall , spending a bomb on a First day movie show , or going to a fine dine restaurant and talking about it the next day in your office...to catch up with the joneses..the wannabe's and so called " arrived " dude's & babes...(Disclaimer - I was just born in Delhi and i am not a Delhiite ).But Fun here has a twisted meaning , I see people ( read couples ) sitting on the sea face and just talking , smiling , laughing. A group of young boys and girls giggling , an elderly couple taking a stroll...that'z their way of unwinding a hectic and stresfull day yet it is fun for them and i know when they say its fun... it trully is fun sans any pretence. I have seen couples getting soaked in the rains, i have seen couples eating kulfi in the rains. Oh what fun!! is what i said to myself and that made me realize ..these guys are different. Their life is not as convenient , their houses are not 1900 sq feet , they dont live in plush DLF condos , they might not have memberships to some pompous clubs, they might not afford to wear Satya pauls, they dont drive the most fancy cars, their house might just have one TV but the happy part is they still watch it together. A husband ,wife and kids and sometimes their elders stay with them. Sophitication is a far flung word for them, they talk in hindi with a Mumbai accent " bole to ekdum jhakkas "..but they seem to be living with an attitude , an attitue to never give up and to continue this struggle for survival and whenever they get some time..they just want to break free.

Here i am completely disillusioned as i hate to call myself a Delhiite and i am still not a Bombayite..again i am in transition and i really pray and hope this transition turns out to be life changing for me. I have no qualms shedding my opinioated opinions about life in general but i am sure the road ahead is long and interesting.

I am slowly picking up, the other day i realized i hve started saying idhar se lene ka, mudne ka, turn marne ka and all of that and i laughed...and to top it all i told my maid " tum ko parvarta hai to bolne ka ", gosh was it me ? I kept giggling thinking about it.Man its funny but its nice.

So i end by saying " Kasakai Mumbai "

Vijay Dashmi

Time flies it seems , last year same time me , mum & piya went to kasuali and that was the best vijay dashmi we have ever had. I can just close my eyes and feel that sky even today. Who knew so much will change so soon.May be it was all destined and it had to happen the way it did. Its been quite some time i haven't prayed , i am somewhat distracted by so many events happening around me and so many changes . Life in the past eight months have been just packing and unpacking. My bags are always packed to move..but while i am moving i fail to comprehend where i actually belong to . At times i wake up middle of the night in a crises , not knowing where i am ..sheer state of oblivion. It takes me good 30 seconds to recollect my memory and consolidate to the surroundings . Change is THE word in my dictionary these days somewhat happily administered and somewhat with a pinch of salt .Needless to mention sometimes the salt becomes far too bitter :) Such is life i guess.
When i look back i just see myself flowing , flowing freely like a river, extremely flexible , no qualms and ready to merge with the ocean. I think i always wanted an ocean with whom i may merge, i never wanted to be a river by myself .For me the ocean was my destination and my identity .I have never been rigid in my life , in fact if you ask me define myself i would take sometime as i am still exploring my being.All i can say is i have travelled across traditions, across languages , across dialects , across lifestyles, across personalities and have always felt the warmth of each phase of life .I am happy living in a Irish castle and happy living in a small cottage .Haven't actually defined what all i want in life. Today i feel quite contend with all i have . I am almost on stage where i carve for a very few things and my dependency on others for providing to me is almost negligible. All my life i have been a provider to my kith & kin and everything i have achieved by myself , so now i feel i can provide for myself and am quite okay with that.
Its been a transition , not so long back i had these desires to go for a world tour to the most exotic places , acquire a pair of jimmy choo or a louis vuitton but now am over it.There is something more to my life which i need to explore rather than exploring some exotic places. I know and have learnt one HUGE lesson in life , its your state of mind which brings you happiness and if you are happy..you already reside in heaven. I dont mean to sound i have become a sage , not at all i have my own share of vices but yes somewhat mellowed and somewhat relaxed in life. bad weathers and turbulence will always be there but sooner or later a rainbow appears and we all should wait for our own little bright rainbows.
I will end the note by saying " If you want to defy , defy the ravana within you.If you want to win , win over your vices "

Snaffu my love

I am amazed with snuffy , the way she expresses and emotes .I guess havent come across anyone who can be so expressive and so loving as her . For the benfit of those who dont know who snuffy is " she is my darling 3 yr old Lhasa apso female doggy ( read baby )". I hate to suffix a doggy to her description as under no circumstances she behaves like one. Mum was over with me for the weekend and snuffy was left behind with my sis, can you believe she quit eating as she was missing mumma so much. She talks to me on phone these days , mum just has to shout that Manu is calling and she comes happily wagging her tale and starts making those strange noises...thats her style of telling us that she misses us and wants us around.

Mum is not well today and each time she would get up and puke , snuffy will wake up and come close to mum talk to her and lick her and then go back to sleep. She wants each one of us but more than anything she wants mum.

She is a magician and she can cure people with her love & expressions.

I am so looking forward to see snuffy bear kids and gonna keep one pup with me .Dying for that day to turn up....till then Snuffy ..u rock our world .

Raindrops falling on my head..

Today it rained, when i say it rained it means a proper shower after ages and i was so happy and just felt like stopping the car by the roadside and dancing. This is what rains can do to me, again i go back to my fairytale days when i used to dream about finding my true love in the rainy season and then that famous french kiss under the umbrella , walking hand in hand and singing" raindrops falling on my head"...haaaahhhaa now i laught it out as that was my barbie days i guess. Barbie grew up in size but may be somewhere the barbie heart didnt grow :)
I am good & loyal target client of M&B's and romantic flicks as i live each moment of their scenes and the situation . I mean its funny but i can watch Eric Seagal's Love Story a zillion times and each time i watch it , i cry . I think i was always in love with the concept of falling in love.
U know that sequence in the movie "Taal " when aishwarya is dancing in the rains and that too admist a beautifull lush green valley...wow its so breathtaking and fresh in my mind as if it was me all through with her dancing. When my mum was a school going girl they used to celebrate this month called " Savan ka mahina " in which all the young damsel's used to swing on the "jhoola" in the rain and sing songs , eat loads of sweets and have so much fun..Last i saw such a swing was in Punjab ages back, never to seen again in Delhi. I have more memory of my childhood days when one of my "Jain" neghbours used to invite me over to her bunglow for the teej festival, i know nothing about the occassion but knew it would be superb fun , loads of sweets, swings , mehndi , etc etc.
Strange, i live in the past or live in the future... think its time i start living in the present.

The Beate Klarsfeld Story

Directed by - Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
This fact-based film based in 1960 portrays a sheltered young miss, Beate, who has no concept of what went on in the wartime concentration camps, until she meets and falls in love with Holocaust survivor Serge Karsfeld and how she transforms and finds a new mission in life to put to trial all the senior nazi's officers who are currently living a guilt free and fulfilled life in Germany after killing hundreds and thousands of jews .

Its a heart warming and extremelly impressionable movie , of the hardships the couple face, their strong love for each other which stands the test of time . A strange alliance between a German girl and a jewish boy and how a german girl protects the pride of her motherland by proving those men guilty who were responsible for marring the reputation of Germany once upon a time.

After watching it , it really made me think how important it is to have a mission in life and how fortunate you would be to share that mission with your loved ones. How things become achievable if you have the will to change them.

The DVD is available on UTV motion pictures . A must watch for all the world war movie buffs and real life movie watchers.
Enjoy