सबकी एक कहानी

बटोरने चला हूँ साज़ो सामान जिंदगानी का ...
वक़्त मिला तो कभी ढूँढ लाऊंगा खुदको भी

Blessed are those who know what they seek in life.......

PS: The above lines are not mine. Said by a senior colleague in office.....

My Current Job

Hello Hello...Testing Testing ...123...123.....Mobile(Samsung) testing...

A question on Failure

Why do people find it so difficult to acknowledge their failures and give weird reasons for the same?

Home is where the heart is :)

New Life, New Universe, New Everything

Tomorrow afternoon, I will leave Jaipur, my home for the past 23 years.....and I am going to miss each and everything related to it. My life has been great and I have been a really lucky guy so far, I had all the luxuries of life, went to one of the finest schools in Jaipur, studied in a very reputed college (at least in Rajasthan :) :P) ; but most importantly I had a great family and some excellent friends one can only dream of.

I really thank god for all that He has given me. Many people are not so fortunate as I have been. Speaking of friends, I think I am very very lucky. I met some people who were real gems from the heart. Be it joy or misery, they were always there to hold my hand, to support me, to guide me. They laughed with me when I was happy, celebrated my success as if it was their own, supported me when I was down, scolded me when I did something wrong and, even shouted at me when I did not share my sorrows with them. I count myself amongst the blessed ones. Some others, even though they can't be classified as friends, really made a mark upon my life, influenced(positively) it in more than one ways.

From tomorrow onwards, most of it is going to be left behind. I'll begin a new life, meet new people, make new relations, work in new conditions. I hope that I'll meet as good people I have met so far, if not better. I hope that I'll enjoy with them as much as I have enjoyed with my friends from school and college. I hope that I'll be able to fulfill some promises I had made to myself, my family and friends. I hope......

Swades & Shahrukh Khan

There are some movies that over a period of time I have watched over and over again. One factor common among them all is that they all have been really very simple, nothing larger than life in them, have an excellent presentation of a very simple story(one you can relate to) and yes ....none of them have been major blockbuster hits.

Swades is one such movie. I normally don't watch Shahrukh Khan movies, simply because the basic story revolves mostly around his 'lover boy' image. The sole motive of the movie and Shahrukh Khan remains mainly(and quite simply) to earn as much money as it can, making young and not so young girls love him through his mannerism (often wrongly labelled as his charm and charisma). Swades is one big exception.

Shahrukh Khan, portrayed as a scientist working in NASA, comes back to his motherland in search of himself. The movie carries patriotism as the message it is trying to convey(read sell). But it is done in a very subtle manner. No shouting slogans like those in Sunny Deol movies or long emotional dialogues (akin to Manoj Kumar's movies) are there in the movie. He is not fighting terrorism or some corrupt politician (jisne chand chandi ke sikko ke liye apne desh ko bech diya ho). In fact, he tries to counter the basic problems that still plague the society even after 60 years of independence. He comes back to India to fulfil his duties towards Kaveri Amma, his nanny in his childhood. It is here that he realizes what he can do for his country and his people, trying to bring an improvement in society through education and by empowering the lower sections of society.

The greatness of the movie lies in its simplicity. No extrovert display of patriotism (or love for the girl) is used by Ashutosh Govarikar to deliver the message. Music is amazing as is expected of A R Rahman (Udit Narayan actually won National Award for Ye Tara! Vo tara!)The hero does not need to do dhishum dhishum with any villain, does not dance in the rain (or for that matter otherwise as well) doing stupid moves with his girl. He is a very common and simple man, a young guy who went abroad to study, worked there and in his adulthood realized his love for his motherland. Unlike other patriotic movies, he does not come back to village and takes farming as his occupation, rather becomes a project manager at Vikram Sarabhai Space Research Center.

Shahrukh Khan is undoubtedly the most popular man in India. But, unfortunately he is NOT a great actor. He is a good actor alright, but not in the league of Dileep Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amitabh Bachchan and among his contemporaries Irrfan Khan. But that is how he is. In the past decade or so, Shahrukh Khan the businessman has taken precedence over Shahrukh Khan, the actor. He does not experiment with his roles, works with the directors/production houses of his choice, in the process makes crores of rupees strengthening the image of Lover Boy that he carries and now even runs an IPL team full of stars but unfortunately is a bunch of losers.

In Swades, he tries to achieve the greatness that eludes him. But regrettably, falls back to a pathetic movie like Om Shanti Om which, to the misfortune of Indian Cinema, is the biggest money making movie ever (I actually became a huge fan of SRK after this movie. Jo aadmi aisi movie ko super hit kara sakta hai, vo desh me kuchh bhi kar sakta hai). It is really disappointing that Swades did not become a block buster hit. But Indian cinema goers still love Masala more than the main ingredient. The generation ahead of us will probably remember Shahrukh Khan as the most popular man(and definitely not as a great actor) India saw in the two decade of '90s and '2000s. I would like to remember him for Swades and Chak De! India...

HUMILITY

People sometimes call me humble...I know I am not...People confuse 'not bragging' with humility and probably that's where I think people make a major mistake. I know my limitations and many a time I get irritated when people think I am better than what I actually am. But does 'not bragging' make one humble..I don't think so...

I have failed many times in many things that I have tried. Biggest among them have been not getting through JEE and CAT as of now. There can be many reasons why I failed and probably the most important one is not preparing well enough. Putting in long hours is way different from hard work.

Some time back I met a friend of mine who had scored better than me in CAT. I know that he was not as passionate and enthusiastic about CAT as I had been, neither had he put in as much effort. But the end result for both of us was pretty much same. 'Not Selected'. We laughed about it when me met. I remember his exact words....'Dekh yaar! prepare tune bhi nahi kiya aur maine bhi nahi!!! ye to hona hi tha...agli baar prepare karke denge to badhiya hoga aur call bhi aa jayegi".

To him it did not make much of a difference since it was not something he had seriously tried. But to me it did. And that was precisely the time when my ego took a hit. Had he said the same thing again or had repeated it in some other way, I would have definitely told him..."Mujhe tera nahi pata...maine to bahut mehnat ki thi". I did not say that but I would have for sure. That would have satisfied my ego even if it was for a very short moment. But probably he had said a bitter truth I had refused to accept. Had I been well prepared, I would have got through at least one entrance exam among many that I wrote. It was not him that I was trying to convince. It was me all the way.

I know people who would not utter a word about their achievements. Humility reflects in their attitude and behaviour. They don't need the world to know who/what they are. Humility is about being brave and accepting the truth. More importantly it is definitely not about self deprecation. To me, Shahrukh Khan is more humble than Amitabh Bachchan. It may appear otherwise, but that is what I feel.