Mausam gone bad.

Pankaj Kapur’s directorial debut – Mausam - starts off by being intriguingly fresh and sparky and snowballs into a cold, hard, rolling-downwards, tonking-bluntly-on-your-head kind of, well, Snow-ball. From being light and likable it metamorphoses into being completely irritating and implausible right in front of your eyes. And the premise which leads it to such a state is made up by the help many aspects – The protagonists, among them, being the main contributors.


Shahid Kapur portrays the role of a youthful, vibrant Punjabi munda, living his life on the edge in the fictional town of Mallukot – a character-sketch he wades through with cheek and vigour. His surroundings are just as common as any right out of umpteen Bollywood flicks based out of similar sounding locations, but still, thanks to veteran Pankaj Kapur’s eye, embodied in an unmarked, warm cutesiness of heart and flavor. And extra marks to Binod Pradhan for his camerawork where he fluidly blends in and makes the medium of transfer of images into being a part of that very imagery. The quintessential banter of the elderly gents and ladies of the small town is again similar in depth of the texture but still remarkably different and watchable. The songs set in this location too are gut-thumping when they wish to be so and soulful when they want to be so. The character curve of mostly all the actors on screen is aptly sketched. At this point in time, one is implicitly urged to presume that, barring a few unrelated Sonam Kapoor-esque scream-y outburst and/or giggles, the experience can only head northward thenceforth. Unfortunately, that is where the good news ends.


The underplaying carpet of the story is one which would sound a brilliant piece of writing in terms of vision that’s required to be summoned for such a script: A tale of love and lovelorn-ness, woven on the platform of milestones of erupting communal/regional/national/international chaos of Human existence, traversing a span of over a decade and places from Punjab-Scotland-America-Switzerland-Punjab-Ahmedabad (and I think one more Europian nation I just can’t seem to place), ultimately leading to a La Happily-Ever-After end.  But where it eats major mud is in the Editing department. 


It takes a quantum jump from Mallukot to Scotland. And the Bizzaro-ride begins. Cut to 7 years ahead – Our Mr. Protagonist is an IAF pilot, who tends to walk with a rod straight spine, and sports a tiny moustache, grits his teeth often, and tries to speak with Victorian grandeur of expression. But instead he turns out to be one of the most bothersome elements up on the screen. His take-no-prisoners no-nonsense exterior is a far cry from everything that is convincing whether in form or in substance. In gist - way too self-serious to be taken seriously. Our exquisitely named – Aayat (Sonam Kapur) lacks the maturity required to portray the demeanor expected of her in such a setting. One moment she is a Shop-owner selling Kashmiri shawls and the next a Ballet student/teacher (We are never told) and next movement an Opera-Show ticket seller! The story changes her job faster than what an entry level Software Engineer would in Pvt. Sector India. 


The love-story, which supposedly is the basis of the entailing shenanigan, is portrayed to have gone awry purely because of under-communication. In an age ridden with ever/over-present electronic communication channels, we are told to believe that the boy and the girl couldn’t convene just due to lack of forwarding addresses and an bitter-internally, unrequited-love struck dame. And when they, somehow inexplicably, do get hold of each other in some other nation 3000 miles from the other, they coyly retreat just when they shouldn’t. And when this act begins to get played again and again you just stop giving a damn about letter piling over in an unpopulated-now courtyard. And even if one does manage to overlook this massive oversight, one just can’t bring themselves to finding even an inkling of chemistry between the lead pair. 


The story curve too gets frustrated of itself and dumbs down the Gujarat Riot act to such ridiculous end that it tries to redeem and vindicate itself by using a lost, supposedly orphan girl child and a white Horse. And I am not even kidding. 


All in all, it is a film which had the heart-of-gold on paper but played out exactly as a limpy handicap with an artery blockage on the screen. It has its moment of poised poignancy and some really attention-grabbing breezy flashes. But as a whole it leaves a bland taste in your mouth and bad back-ache to carry back from the movie-hall after having spent upwards of three hours in-there. 

Editorial - September. Enlightenment.

So, here’s presenting your yet another monthly dosage of fun, frolic and funtooshgiri. 

August has always been the month which is characterized by a certain vibe of patriotism which it leans to invoke in many of us. This time’s was no different. Only, the cause tended to be different. And, thereby, the effect even more so.

Clouding the news-circuit was The Anna-tomy of Ramlila Maidan. Where footfalls reached dizzying heights and heartfelt support-ism touched even a farther horizon. Since the J.P. movement and Anti- Mandal movement, veterans say, they haven’t witnessed anything so spontaneous turn into such a big force with which you just can’t but reckon with. Jan Lokpal Bill movement, if not anything (which we know it has), has achieved in giving a People’s republic a booster short in the arm of Morality and Righteousness –if, that is, everyone begins walking their talk. Also, the country would never be the same again, as this movement has ended up educating the masses about the functioning of all the four pillars of democracy like never before. The race to reach to what now remains to be achieved is not going to be a sprint but, instead, a Marathon. A Marathon – and this requires suitable stamina. 

If the civil society, at large, was all up for making their voices heard, the GOVT wasn’t far behind in reaching out either. The Approach Paper to the Twelfth Five Year Plan was adopted by the Planning Commission on Aug 20th. It was for the first time ever that when the making of the same was underway, they had opened online portals for the youth of the nation to come forth and get their pulse gauged. Around 950 civil society organizations have already placed in their inputs. A page on Facebook, managed by an organization called “India@75” is doing this very thing on that portal to get in touch with the classes and the masses to later send out these acquired bits feedback to around 150 working groups of experts who will, thereupon, lay down the Plan later. 

We at Enlightenment, urge you to go and get your suggestions, whatever they maybe regarding, turned in through - http://12thplan.gov.in/ . Remember, information must always precede opinions. And to arrive at a scene of tangible “change” – viz, freedom from apathy, corruption, and unaccountable government - one must act and not merely complain. It would be doubly inspiring to see us L&T-ites surging ahead with a vision of a less corrupt and a more just society than merely a High-On-Consumption with a double digit GDP-growth-percentage one. 

Phew, so that’s what an August does to you!

The month we see ahead of us, if not be as “Holiday-Friendly” as the one that just went by, is surely an equally Excitement-Promising one.  With the completion of Volleyball tournament, LnT Dhanush will take us into Football thenceforth! CREST, emboldened by a successful launch and two-season run of Quizofire will surely go onto to find new ways to keep you all triply engaged. 

It only deems fit, to congratulate the idea, the vision and the execution panache of LnT Dhanush’s Uplift India Movement – 2’s volunteers, who have successfully completed rendering 72 sessions of Basic Computer Knowledge to kids of SOS Children’s Village, Greenfield, Faridabad. Do expect more from this corner in coming times. 

Moreover, L&T’s 66th Annual General Meeting was held on Aug 26th. Wherein, listening to our Chairman speak on Performance Overview and path to future Developmental Projects was just as welcoming as was to listen to him speak about strides taken in the direction of Corporate Social Responsibility and on our establishment’s unrelenting ways to adopt a path to Sustainable Development. 

So, here’s bidding a temporary adieu only to sneak back up from your shoulder and shout a loud “Boo!” in your ears next month. Till then, breathe well, breathe deep. And forget not, to sustain that curve on your face. Always. 

Take care. 

L&T's Enlightenment. June. Editorial.

........and just like that, we are back. 

You are, right now, either cursing the perceived disorientation of the central air conditioning or are outwardly frowning upon some spam SMS you just received trying to sell you a personal Air Conditioner for Re 1/- * (* - Condition Apply.) but secretly wishing for this to be true on the inside. Whatever the case maybe, we must let a collective shout-out leave our systems for a climatically confused summer, marked with untimely showers and windy sandstorms, that has been with us until now. And as it begins to get hotter, keep those lemonade jugs full and within reach all the time. Though, the good news is: The South-West monsoons have hit the coastal state of Kerala 3 days ahead of its schedule. Now, one can only wait for this month to reach its far end for the clouds to make their journey and provide us with three months of wet soil.

Adding to the atmospheric heat was the recently culminated IPL season 4. Which saw you either as a die-hard follower or an indifferent “there’s-way-too-much-cricket-around-these-days” point maker. Long story short, the finals yet again proved that Cricket is a game in which two teams play and Mahendra Singh Dhoni wins. The results also made Royal Challenger Bangalore leave the field with groans sounding like the “Before use” part of a Zandu Balm Ad. 

Here we would like to take a pause and applaud the efforts put in by LnT Dhanush members in kicking off a one-of-its-kind activity and seeing it through to end with a panache matched only by the best of the best. Uplift India Movement declared its first two projects which included conducting an Inter-School Competitions for GOVT schools in and around Faridabad and Weekend Computer coaching sessions for kids under the care of SOS organisation. The uniqueness quotient goes shooting up when the way in which the funds were generated gets factored in. A game of Tambola (well, reverse Tambola actually) played over the Public Address System generated the required buzz which further went on to add upto a collection which could cover most of the expenses for the said event. So, amidst all fun and excitement - a cause got attended to and around 300 students from not-that-privileged strata could earn themselves and their schools some utility prizes, certificates attesting their fabulous talent, and smiles - upon which no tag can be placed. More on the event can be found in the Flashback section. 

Going with the vibe, Enlightenment too saw a foray of newness enter its foyer. With new sections as “@Home” and “Parichay – Family Member” getting lauded handsomely, the team is all geared up in planning some new launches which will meet your eye in times to come. Till then, we wish and hope that you keep partaking in each and every way you can. 

To close this, we just want to touch upon this one observation: In this madness filled race to reach the proverbial “destination” on the path of upward mobility, let’s not forget to warrant frequent silent recesses to take stock of the “journey”. Slog only to the extent you can, never miss your breakfast, take your family off to a thrill filled session of White Water Rafting, read more of such didactic editorials and smile as a four year old child would on seeing an ice-cream trolley. And, say, if things don’t exactly fall in place like clockwork, then just close your eyes for a moment and internalize what the instrumental being played right now on the ground floor stair region by the Beatles have to say: “There will be an answer, let it be. Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. Let it be.” 

On that note, here’s scooting only to come back later. Love.

  

Those Four

(Disclaimer – “Advice” - is a form of nostalgia. That said, here goes.)

One-

You come. Aglow. You enter. You stow.

You see. You feel. You reel. You “Oh!”

You meet. You learn. You listen. You know.

You share. You bend. You amend. Stay low.

You make. Put at stake. Some, they bow.

Two-

You flow. You grow. That said, you show.

You fly. A little “high”. Some, a bit further they go.

You work. You put. You cram. You throw.

You prove. You correct. You believe. You mow.

You charge. At large. Some, they toe.

Three-

You arrive. You preside. You establish, the Status Quo.

You care. You pair. You ask. You bestow.

You shove. You love. You feel. You know.

You rage. You break. You shatter. Go low...

Some meet no-one. Some, doe.

Four-

You reckon. You reconcile. You re-invent. You thaw.

You beam. You smile. You breathe... a lil slow.

You create. You initiate. You restart, some show.

You cater. You provide. You feel, you owe.

You record. You capture. You prepare, to leave...to go.

But there stays, a fight, so trite. Day and night.

Asking you to change, to kowtow.

But, remember.

The challenge is – To never “Grow Up”

...as you Grow.

Off The Record

There were many things which I saw tacitly get added to my list of Shared Human Experiences on this planet during the time I saw myself attached with Renesa. If we were to speak of last year in particular, the period where I had the most fun, I can distinctly put forth an experience which I wish people reading this right now should get to have. Which is what are, in journalistic parlance called - The Off-The-Record Conversations.

I used to conduct a regular feature – Walk When You Talk (Which still is carried by the current team) Up in where a Nokia 5300 device used to keep recording every tick and turn of the conversation which later used to go and lap-up verbatim in press. But what I cherished the most was the inevitable conversation that followed the said On-The-Record talk. Where I used to get invited to the interviewee’s residence and, besides availing periphery benefits like home-made tea and morning snacks (Dr. Porey had a remarkable snack-sense, so to speak, I remember.) I used to ask them various question, share many an uncomfortable opinions and ideas and the same used to happen from the other end.  Be it Dr Porey emphasizing the need to “Own the system”  or Dr Joshi discussing about his ideas on frugal living, or Dr Naik discussing further on the topic of Ethical-Bonds, or Dr. Vakharia speaking thinking aloud on the topic of freshman orientation, or Mrs Porey sharing her views on ‘The Idea That Is Love.’ And amuse at how her name happens to be ‘Kiran’ her husband’s ‘Prakash’ and her son’s ‘Deepak.’

To append to the list- The numerous, free-wheeling, and endless conversations with Dr. Banerjee was something, which I guess, made me more clear in the head all-the-while leaving a lingering sense of chaos for it to get further transformed. After a particularly heavy Idea-Bouncing session I remember him saying to me “Remember, always, Truth with Tact.” The way it encompassed the zing in the air at that point in time is remarkably unparallel. A discussion on the matter of Education with Dr. Channiwala, at his residence in his study (If you ever get a chance, do visit his place. With his permission, ofcourse.) made a lasting impact and further made me raise more questions to myself. Talks with Dr. Christian, Dr. Urvashi Kaushal, Dr. M.N. Mehta, not to forget – Shekhar Bhaiya and many many more teachers has given me perspective about things which broadens my own spectrum of thought and amplifies the log of avenues where more efforts can be put so as to streamline the solution-lending process.

The one thing which remained constant between all these talks was the statement “Please tell them to...” which typifies the overwhelming need on the said person’s side to reach-out. Which makes me infer that not many outlets are there, present, for that to effortlessly happen. They all, also, expressed a need to have more pupils come and share their opinions with them personally. Yet again a thing which I don’t suppose happens much. So, before I get carried away and spew out a quintessential didactic screed – Talk more, share more, Know more about the other side of table, yada yada – let me just put it On-The-Record that being conversant with both my friends and them the teachers, I have come to realize how very important it is to view a thing from point of views of people placed some 20+ units apart on the age-line. It has, if not anything, made me understand me more. And how you can’t believe on Wednesday what you believed in on Monday without taking into account what happened on Tuesday. And, although, I did delink myself from the Newsletter owing to ideological differences- consensus on which would have over-shot the time-boundary which I could allot to the idea - I am happy that I never and neither did they, stopped sharing and talking. Off-The-Record.

Does It All Really Matter?

  

Think about it for a moment, does it? Even if it be a plea from an energy-to-mass-to-energy converting rabble rouser of a certain contraption called “life form” who has revolved only of a total of 22 times around this 1,292,200 kms diameter-ed ball of Helium and Hydrigen illuminating what period we call as “a Day.” Seriously, think about it. 

Our vaunting of a certain aspect of our shared human experience to heights of such greatness that tantamount to some sort of deification or even the downright rejection of the same, interwoven with a certain creed of rage possible only off a high-levelled cock-surety and the farce that is the self-make-belief that one can actually “know it all.” Ask again, does it all really matter? 

Does it all really matter when you imbibe within the results put forth by Stratigraphic analysis of layers and layers of sedimentary rocks and the geo-logic time frame it sets out for us to gape at? Does anything really matter in the larger scheme of things? In the boundless infinity of the ever expanding Universe, where time is measured not by transient human experiences but by huge scale evolutionary changes and cascading magnanimity of this very hugeness that we’ll ever grasp? 

Does your “opinions” your “ideas” your “initiatives” your “wants” hold any true value as a cognisance of anything “real”? When juxtaposed with the vastness of time-space continuum it appears to be nothing more than the speck of grain on the shores of oceans which will inevitably be groped in by the high-minded force of the wave. Does it all really matter when you very well come to acknowledge that in about as small as a morsel of “Time” in the context of planetary geo-chronology, the whole idea behind existence of the Sun, the moon, the Earth, Sachin Tendulkar, you, me, will vaporize and render itself the colour of vagueness? 

Your hyperbolic reverence towards anything does as much to the whole “what matters” part as does you vitriolic bile. Would not all your personal pointless mooning, disdain and woes be forever put to mum by the inevitable spiral of ever increasing entropy? Would the blithe instance of your feeble, fickle existence upon this planet mean anything to the Byrd glacier moving silently through the calm whites of the Antarctic taking almost 10,000 years to do so? Even the faintest of the memory left behind by us bipeds will be lost in the incessant collapse of all the matter under its own self-weight in a sudden spark of cataclysmic catastrophe at a point in the Time dimension. Then, behold. Pause. Aver. Think – Does it all really matter? 

The point is: If you ever find yourself cribbing about how your present isn’t as good as how you over-glorified past was and how your future won’t be as exciting as you want it to be. Then, I am sorry to say this but you have whacked away that brief window of being a cognizant blip on the radar of this Universal timepassery given to you by Nature and the Unknown force of a much much bigger wisdom. 

It will almost be a Laugh Out Loud situation if I were to ever be that person to tell you how better you could utilize this puny tiny little duration of sentience by loving everything unconditionally. Go tell someone you love them and why you don’t know why you love them. And how loving them is not the equivalent of “I want to posses you too.” Call up your 4th grade teacher and tell her that something she told you then makes sense only now and how. Write a heartfelt email to that someone whom you bid farewell at not that hunky-dowry a moment. Then, breathe. Breathe well. Breathe deep. Take stock of the intricate beauty of a dew-flecked cobweb shall you will. Smile. Talk. Live. 

In the end, though, even these all won’t matter either. Not at all in the great and ever-widening chasm of geological time. But, maybe, in these scrawny ticks of the clock and emotion is when and how you’ll be able to guilt-freely escape from the existential dread of your daily self-over-thunk “predicaments.” Trust me, if that matters to you that is, the past is nothing but a collective memory subject to permanent annihilation shall there be a sudden world-wide Amnesia attack. The future is nothing if a hasty asteroid floating carelessly in the deep of the dark decides to direct its trajectory and renders it a direction which culminates upon your living room. It’s all here and now. This moment, yes this one – The one that just came in as another one just went by – is, maybe, all that there is. And, at the risk of sounding sure, all that does matter. Or doesn't.

Ed's note. Enlightenment. L&T. April-2011.

Cricket. 

Yes, we know you are not going to read this until and unless there’s some sort of a proverbial clock needle pointing towards this particular aspect of our shared human experience. So, even we have decided to go with the vibe and replace all our ‘Hello’s and ‘Hi’s with this little seven letter word. Go, relish it. 

Cricket happens to be that fulcrum in course of every Indian’s life about which the extremes of emotion pivot and try to balance each other out in the long run. Hence, in one moment you saw yourself inadvertently utter many an unprintable words as came along the news of Ashwin being dropped out. In the very next you saw yourself praise Ashish Nehra for his deserving-of-all-of-that stint. And, mind you, our friends from across the border aren’t much different either. They went from “Wah, wah” –ing Wahab to mentally trashing Afridi for having played that shot which made him Shaheed Afridi without imposing a batting PowerPlay. And now, as this is being written, we look forward to another, not to mention - special, one-day run of Ramayana on television only with a much much larger audience on 2/04/2011 coming live from Mumbai. And the holiday declared in lieu of the same is as breezy and soothing a gesture as the spray of a fairy’s sparkledust. All said and done, it boils down to this: It’s just a game – But, what a game it is. If you are not a citizen of CricketCrazy-istan yet and need a confirmation, ask around from people for those snaps they took at 1740hrs near the punch-out machines at the ground floor on 30/03/2011. And you’ll flatly know what this whole paragraph was all about. 

The month of April’s up and so is the demand for Air-Conditioners, Coolers, those jute-shield-with-high-water-retention-capacity thingys and, most important of all, prickly heat talcum powder and decilitres of Lemonade. And the fact that IPL’s almost here doesn’t help the whole Heat matter at all. (Okay! No more Cricket henceforth!) Besides the customary beginning with celebrating the global April Fool’s day and the pranks that it brings alongwith, what’s even more so special about this month is that almost all of the distinct and immensely colourful cultures that this great nation houses finds itself celebrating their respective New Years in this time-gap. Thanks to the Lunar based calendarery we’ll have our friends from North celebrating Baisakhi and Navreh. From West you’ll see the merriment of Gudi Padwa erupt. From down South you’ll have Vishu, Ugadi and Varsha Pirappu make their share of noise. And the Eastern terrains will see themselves go gala with Bihu and Naba Barsha. Also, there’s Cheti-Chand too. So, much sweet-distribution and exotic dinner invitations await us all. Be on your toes to milk as many delicacies as you can! 

Forget at your own peril the International Earth Day on April 22 and be trashed by those Environmentalist colleagues of yours at the water-cooler for two weeks straight. The news from L&T’s annals feeds in all that customary dosage of positive information with which we have all become so used to. It’s still as invigorating as ever, nevertheless.   

Our Pic of the Month contest saw the Cartier Bressons of our campus put out their lens muses up for everyone to see and rate. Find the ensuing results here. Also, do not forget to turn in your own pictures for this whole cycle to repeat again for this month. 

As we go on to embrace yet another set of 30 days, let’s keep a thought reserved for all that happened with our fellow life-forms, Humans and every other species, back in the lovely nation of Japan. The resilience and queititude with which they endured what was clearly one of the hugest natural calamities in recent history is a mark of definitive maturity and clarity of the head off which we all can learn a thing or two. Here’s hoping for everything in Fukushima to get back to normal as soon as it can. 

So, here’s signing off with the hope that you’ll receive the sections tagged alongwith this release with as much warmth and click-preponderance as you all always do. Wishing for you a great period of ephemeral happiness and aplenty life-affirming epiphanies ahead. Breathe well. Keep smiling. Till the next time, take care.