A hard night's work

After a hard night's work, Alex was returning home. A bouncer's life in a seedy bar was filthy anyway.....it became filthier, when you had to throw out three scumbags in a day.It was already 3:30 and Alex calculated that it would take atleast half an hour more.The night had been stormy,the rain slowly buiding up from a drizzle to a heavy downpour......it was stormy in more ways than one. Thoughts were whirling around in his mind. "Why did the old man talk about the revolution, heck, what revolution? Why did he not come earlier?Why did he wait till I was at the very edge and then tell me some crap and go away? Did he himself believe in this revolution bullshit?Why did the country need a revolution anyway?"Well, it all boiled down to one and only one question...."was he demented or am I?"

These thoughts ony made the raindrops more hard.....and sharp........he shuddered........his body, pierced by the rain, and, his mind, by the old man's blabber.He held his coat more tightly, somehow hoping that it would not only protect him from the rain,but, also from within.


He felt a movement behind him. From the corner of his eye, he could figure out a shadow crouching behind him. He kept walking, hoping that it was just another passer-by, going home after a hard night's work,but, suddenly, a thought struck him.....who would use these mean streets at this late an hour?Only people like him and the people like the one whom he would throw out. He slowly turned. The shadow actually had a body.The body had a face. A poke-marked one, adorned with a 3-day old stubble and sporting a nice long cut from the left nostril, all the way to the ear.....and it had a fimilarity......fimilarity of the face whom he had thrown out today.

Alex cursed himself. The kind of curse that didn't have any reason or listener(except yourself), the kind that you just said to relieve your frustration......but, then he reembered the wise old saying....."People who don't learn once, have to be taught again." He could see the water dripping from the edge of the knife.The dim street light made it's razor sharp edges shine like diamonds....not the kind of shine that attracted awe,but, the kind, that attracted disgust.Alex cursed again."Why do such beauties always exist in the hands of a beast".The next thing he felt was the swooshing sound of the knife striking, and he moved back to avoid it , and then, he also felt the pain. He always hated to see blood...........and his own, he hated the most.

His right palm was bleeding. The blood was dripping to the ground and the rain was doing the rest......washing it down the gutter. he didn't have time to settle it the old-fashioned way.So, he took out the revolver and pointed it straight at the scum's temple. He always felt a surge of pride when he saw his darling.The kind of pride, a father would feel, when he saw his son win a trophy...but, today, there were no trophies to be won. Only scum's to be killed.

Alex's eyes moved from the tip of his darling to the eyes of the assailant. The eyes were shallow........a drunkard's eyes....and the bland eyes showed only one emotion.....Fear....Fear of Death. Alex then remembered the second saying"don't teach more than what is necessary". The eyes showed that the man had learnt his lesson."These streets already have a lot of dirt.....don't add more"told Alex. With these words..more to himself , than to anyone else... Alex pulled his coat closer ,turned and walked away.

My second speech at Toastmaster's

Good afternoon everyone. I am Krishnan Subramanian and today, I am going to give my second speech. In my speech, I am going to talk about arguably, India's greatest asset---No, I am not talking about democracy, or freedom of speech or multi-culturalism or anything of that sort. I am going to talk about Bollywood and about how it simultaneously been the greatest reflection of the Indian society and also its greatest influencer.

If you see, it was only after independence, during the 50's and 60's, when making a movie for a living became a lucrative profession, and, India at that time was going through a turbulent phase. Independence had generated so much optimism and hope--maybe, for hte first time in their life, people believed in a bright future, but, there was also the concern of freedom getting to our head and our population becoming morally corrupt, the fear of the government not able to administer effectively and the country slipping into anarchy. These emotions were very beautifully portrayed in many Raj Kapoor movies, most notably 'Shri 420' where Raj Kapoor acts as a country boy who moves to a big city to earn a living and ends up becoming a swindler, or 'Jis desh mein Ganga behti hei' in which he shows the life of dacoits who steal and fight against the police. I think, the greatest contribution of Raj Kapoor to Bollywood and to Indian cinema in general was that, his movies made you sit and think--is our country going in the right direction? What can I do to change thing?, etc.

This kind of thinking took an extreme position in the 70's. That was the time when general disillusionment and hatred against the 'System' was beginning to take root, and the emergency only further fueled this feeling. In Bollywood also, this was the era of the angry young man who would fight the system, and, when you think of angry young man, only one person comes to your mind--Amitabh Bachchan. Whether it was the inspector Vijay Khanna of 'Zanjeer' or Vijay Verma of 'Deewar' or maybe movies like Trishul and Kaala Pathar, all of them showed Amitabh Bachchan fight the tyranny of the system, and , along with fighting the system, Bachchan also teamed up with Dharmendra to fight Ghabbar Singh in Sholay. That was one movie, which revolutionized the film industry, because, for the first time, both the hero and the villain were being shown as equally powerful characters.

In the late 80's and early 90's, the tide shifted towards family-centric, romantic musicals. If you would excuse my usage of non-English words, these were the typical "Samajik and Parivarik" movies-- movies like "Hum apke hei kaun", "Dilwale Dulhania Le jayenge", etc. These movies catered to a family audience consisting of both the young and old, and, in the last 4 to 5 years, to put it bluntly, the whole spectrum is getting covered, for example, gritty violent movies like "Satya", "D", "Ab tak Chappan" at one end, movies like "Kabhi khushi kabhi gham", "Kabhi alvida na kehna", at the other end and movies like "Krrish", "Munnabhai", "Jhankar beats", somewhere in between.

Now, there have always been allegations that stories in Bollywood are not truly original and that many times; they are "inspired" ones. Example, "Akele hum akele tum" as a copy of "Krammer Vs Krammer" or "Kaante" as a copy of "Usual suspects" and "Reservoir dogs", but, there have been some movies which have taken a very much existing story and blended it into an Indian context--the most recent example being, Shakespeare’s Othello in the UP badlands as "Omkara".

However, one genre of movies that Bollywood is yet to take up is science-fiction. The closest we have come to is Mr. Anil Kapoor Invisible as Mr. India or maybe, "Tarzan--the wonder car", but, this is one genre that is yet to pick-up. Also, we are yet to see more of super-hero flicks. "Krrish" is a good start, but, there is a lot of potential in that field.

From patriotic flicks to fighting against the system, to lovers running around trees to gangsters slugging it out--Bollywood has indeed come a long way and every time, it has succeeded in capturing the pulse of the audience. I dearly hope that this continues in the coming decades also.

Hyde

Today, me and Saurav met this band called the Hyde.They play on saturday's and Sunday's(8:30 PM to 10:30 PM) in Little Italy.

It just started off as one of our regular trips to Barista.While sipping some calypso something, we heard some guitar music and a guy singing(Saurav later told me that he was singing a Linkin Park song), and it was followed up by "ab toh adat si hei mujhko" by Jal. I kinda liked the guy's voice,and, then Saurav did one of his "I want to buy you a drink" thing, and, the next thing I knew, we were all sitting together and talking about sufi music(actually it was mainly Saurav and the lead singer---I was just intently listening, as I mostly do).

My first impression about those guys was kinda sceptical(to say the least :) ) . I mean, I have never really respected the college going guys with torn jeans pants and lockets around their neck and smoking ciggis.I always used to think that they were "rich dad's spoilt kids",but, these guys made me change my opinion cos they have talent and I think pure talent and raw enthusiasm overshadows all other characters. I found out that they mostly like to sing sufi songs with a little bit of their own. They sang one of their originals---a very strong song that really made me sit and think.They have a few rough edges to be smoothened,but, they have a lot of potential.

These are the kinda guys whom I would have dismissed off one year ago as failures,cos, they are not of the type who would please teachers and get good marks, and then go join a MegaCorp., but, now I have realised that success lies in achieving what you want, rather than achieving what society wants you to achieve and they are the ones who would rather chuck the whole world and follow their passion than go take the well-trodden path.

Guys, you and your soulful songs made me sit up and think....which I did after a very long time....keep up the good work.

The Revolution

Pleas read "the meeting" before reading this post.

It was a rainy saturday evening and Alex was sitting by the window watching the rain splatter against the window pane. The rain drops bouncing off the window panes were making him wet, but, that pleased him. The vodka in his hand was as clear as the falling water. He liked the way his throat burned when the sips of vodka went in , every burning sensation an infinite ecstasy. He madly wanted a drink to wind-off the day.

The day had been long and tiresome , for it was not an easy task to go and meet yourself and convince not to kill yourself.In the morning, when he had been talking, he had felt the grip of fear--the same feeling he had felt 5 months back, when he had been participating in the march and firing orders had been given.How he survived that incident, god alone knew. And that day he had promised himself not to do anything foolish again, not to do anything that he would have to regret later, and, today, he had broken that promise. He knew the repurcussions of an illegal time migration,even if it was only for 10 mins.Who was he fooling but himself, when he thought that 10 min into the past would not change anything.

He sighed and realised that there was no point thinking about the repurcusions... the action had already been commited, and the penalty was known--death---courtesy, a firing squad.An illegal time migration did not require a case and hearing and punishment and all, all it required, was to get recorded, and death.The squad would be here anytime now,but, Alex was not afraid of them anymore. He had finished all of his tasks for this life.

The next sip brought a feeling of content---content at the way he had conviced his younger counterpart. He knew himself very well. All it had required, was to give a glimpse of the future--the rest would automatically be understood and acted upon.But until he could choose the exact words to utter, it had been a harrowing experience.The same feeling of helplessness--- mouth going dry. Feeling as if you were standing in a crowded room, with the microphone in front of you, everyone watching you, and , you had nothing to say.To avoid this thought, Alex started thinking about the revolution. He still vividly remembered that cold January morning when the great bard had been executed.That execution was the trigger point that had bought the collapse of the monarchy(or the "government"--as it was officially called).The bard had been a kind and gentle man, who was liked by everyone except the one's who mattered, and, revolutionary songs talking of freedom from tyranny hadn't exactly helped him either.When the bard had been executed, the revolutionaries found a rallying point.If today, the government shoots the messenger of freedom, tomorrow, it would shoot freedom itself, and, as always, it had been the students who stood up for the cause. Ofcourse, sending riot-police to the university campus only stoked the fire instead of dousing it.The student movement was soon joined by traders who saw better profits in an open market(an off-shoot of proper democracy) and the working class(all they wanted was better working conditions--but the monarch was too much in the sky to hear their voice ) and the artists and intellectuals(cos the revolution had the power of free will) and the politicians(because, by now, the revolution was supported by a majority of voters)and the army(who understood that supporting the monarch was a lost cause).

When more than a million people from all corners of the country and all walks of life had gathered in front of the monarch's palace as a show of strength, all he could do was announce elections and run away.Alex's thoughts were suddenly broken by a crisp knock on the door.He got up and opened the door. The squad leader was standing with a letter in his hand."Mr Alex. A.Jeffrey, as you are well aware, an illegal time migration happened today..........do u have any last wishes, which we will try to fulfill to the best of our ability "."Just let me finish my Vodka"--Alex replied.