Route 11 Diaries - Part 1

I have been wanting to write about EMC Route 11 cab for some time now. Well I think I have atlast shrugged off that last ounce of lethargy that was weighing me down. For the starters, EMC Route 11 is the cab that takes me to and back from office everyday(ok almost everyday!!). When I joined EMC around 7 months ago, I thought travelling in a cab would be a very insipid experience - sitting in one corner of the vehicle with your earphones plugged into your ears even as the vehicle tries to hustle through the chaotic morning Bangalore traffic. But boy how wrong I was!! I was in fact surprised (more precisely 'shocked') at the sheer energy of the crowd there. The young (this refers to ppl of almost my age...!!) and the old (this refers to ppl a tad elder to me......!!) alike were bustling with enthusiasm and were pulling each other's legs with such gusto. Clearly people were having a whale of a time.......they were enjoying themselves (whoever told people are tired and weary after a hard day's work!!)

I remained a silent spectator initially - just remained a sort of aloof observing the people there. The way people went about discussing and joking - it seemed to me as though they had known each other for a long, long time. But I was wrong again...........I learnt that the cab service had commenced just a couple of months before I had joined. Evenings while returning home, it was time either for "Bluff" ( a card game) or DC (Dumb Charades). It was while playing DC that I actually got to know my "cabmates" better. I discovered that most of my cabmates were "movie-freaks" like myself and that really broke the ice. I have always enjoyed discussions on topics like movies, books, sports or politics and in this cab, every topic seemed to have an "in-cab" expert. Often found guilty of being very talkative myself, I slowly began to find my groove. Within a month or so, I was on my way to acquiring the "most talkative person on EMC Route 11" tag (of course with some serious competition!!!)...............

One thing that has struck me about my cabmates is the sense of humor that they manage to bring into their conversations so effortlessly. Often I am left to wonder as to from where do people acquire this 'street smart' sense of humor. Another aspect is of course, the willingness of people to take the joke upon themselves and I must admit my cabmates are very sportive about that. It is very often said that 'humor' is best appreciated when it is directed towards yourself (something which I do when I meet new people........I crack a joke on myself and it immediately breaks the ice............). I vividly remember times when the whole journey has been a 'laugh riot'..........jokes and wisecracks flying thick and fast ( idea is to enjoy even if you are the subject of all the jokes !!!). At times, it has been a sort of forum for intense discussions on topics ranging from philosophy, morality to ghosts!!

With this I come to the end of this introductory post.........in the next post let me take of pleasure(or pain) of unravelling the story behind 'IT.calm' - the skit that has become such an integral part of our lives on EMC Route 11. It is also a story of how a bunch of first timers, a wannabe playwright, a down to earth plot, a half baked script and a super cool fast talking protagonist can pull off a 'laugh riot' in front of a few hundred people. It tells you can often end up surprising yourself!!

For more keep reading!!!

Creative lethargy!!

Open your laptop and just start typing in your ideas.......well I thought this was all writing was about. But how wrong I was........'writing' is just as laborious a process as making a movie or painting on a canvas. Sometimes the idea goes all awry, sometimes the idea is in place but not the words, sometimes pangs of self doubt come visiting, sometimes skepticism about the whole idea creeps in mysteriously. 'Writing' is in fact a journey - you keep evolving with every word you write. You write, delete and again write - in search of that elusive 'magical' sentence or expression. You try hard to be subtle yet not be abstract - the thin line you need to tread often blurs and you find yourself deep in either territory. You try to be intelligent and try to avoid pitfalls of illogicality but often a simple idea is complicated and its impact lost. So writing is really a struggle..........a lonely struggle.............you sometimes enjoy it and also sometimes loathe it..............but at the end of the day you would not mind getting back to it. Often you go through phases of 'creative lethargy' - a phase where you want to write but still cant write..........(just like what I am going through now) But at the end of it all.........the satisfaction of creating something new makes you undergo the struggle again and again!!

It's no "monkey" business!!

"Man is a homo sapien - part of a larger group called 'Primates'. In fact our ancestors were apes and monkeys. We all evolved from them......." the biology teacher explained earnestly to an attentive class.

Suddenly a hand shot up.........the teacher looked at the boy in the first bench.

"Sir....I think you are 'racially abusing' us by calling us descendents of 'monkeys'.........."

Well the 'M-word' is now right up there......so the next time around you use that word make sure there is no human being around!! Even as the debate on racism and the 'M-word' gobbles up reams of newsprint and hours of prime time television, its time to put things in the right perspective.

It was amusing even shocking to see the kind of strong reactions the word "racism" can evoke. Though it is a forgone conclusion that no progressive society should tolerate racism, its time we looked at ourselves in the mirror and make an honest evaluation. I think we as a country have embraced 'racism' in a lot of ways - in fact it is now a part of our everyday life and we even fail to to recognise that in our midst. How else would you explain the our caste ridden society, religious bigotry, caste based politics to woo the voters and our very well known penchant for 'fair skin'. Well agreed, I am not sure if caste and religion might not fall into the purview of 'racism' but 'racism' according to me includes discrimination in any form and on any basis . We tend to ignore all these since we have lived with them all our lives. We assume it is all a part of the social fabric. But sadly it is not........we are only fooling ourselves. We created it and we have sustained it with and without our own knowledge - a kind of vicious cycle in fact.

In fact there is no society on earth that is free of prejudices and discrimination, but the greatness of the society lies in the effort it takes to recognise it in its midst and of course fight it.

'Racism' is alive and kicking- in fact it is living in our midst in various forms. Only we dont see it.

So the next time around you hanker for a 'fair looking' hero or heroine on screen, remember that the streaks of 'racism' in you are already at work!!!

The Shining

I have been a fan of the legendary Stanley Kubrick ever since I saw his disturbing "The Clockwork Orange". I know it sounds oxymoronic to say that I am a big fan of a film maker whose film "The Clockwork Orange" disturbed and even disoriented me. A story of what a dysfunctional society can do to its youngsters - it was so unsettling that I don't think I can ever muster the courage to watch it again. Therein lies the strength of all Kubrick movies - the leisurely pace at which the story unfolds, the orchestrated music that continuously plays in the background, the amazing camerawork, the "whats the fuss all about" kind of acting style, the unexpected twists in the plot that hit you like a thunderbolt, the "tell it all in the face" kind of narrative style - all combine to ensure a compelling movie watching experience.

I recently got hold one of Kubrick's all time popular movies - "The Shining" (incidentally this movie was voted as the scariest movie of all times in a recent poll) I was both apprehensive and skeptical at the same time - apprehensive because I was sure I would be in for a relentlessly unsettling movie experience (as is the case with all Kubrick movies) and skeptical because I cannot think anyone can make a better horror movie than the Gregory Peck starrer "The Omen". But boy I was wrong......I was literally glued to my seat for the entire duration of the movie......It was a very "claustrophobic" cinematic experience - the tension was unrelenting, the trademark orchestrated background score was teasingly building up an atmosphere of impending doom, the twists in the story began to unleash themselves at the most unexpected junctures.........phew!!

Very few people have banished the stereotypes of the "horror" genre the way Kubrick has done in "Shining". Very little blood, no gore, no awful looking computer generated ghosts........the tension and thrill lay in the plot, the performances and of course the cold direction of the master craftsman. The plot of the "The Shining" revolves around Jack Nicholson (in one of his best performances) moving into a secluded and opulent-looking hotel with his family, as its new caretaker. Jack's predecessor as we come to know had butchered his family and had also killed himself. As the movie progresses, we sense a gradual degradation in the mental state of Jack and as he is driven to repeat the atrocity committed by his predecessor, the only thing that can save the day for Jack's family is the unique telepathic power called "Shining" possessed by his little son.

Anyway a Stanley Kubric movie is not everyone's cup of tea - many might be put off by its excruciatingly slow pace and the water-tight atmosphere it builds up - but nevertheless you will be taken aback by the sheer audacity and technique of the late master film-maker.

Ready for a long haul!!

Ages have passed since my last post here........hence I had to summon all the will power at my disposal to shake off that last ounce of lethargy that was holding me back from getting back to blogging. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since that last post of mine -( from the 123 Nuclear deal to the exciting 20-20 world cup)...........so there must be no dearth of issues to ponder upon. On the personal front , though life is far from being called 'interesting', some interesting perspectives have begun to emerge...............

All about this and more in the forthcoming posts.................

Adieu Spider man !!

Breaking News!!

The fourth installment of Spiderman will be scripted by the writer of this blog. The rumor(of course started by this author himself) has it that it will be the story of young man who inherits his father's powers......oops.......sorry that was inadvertently plagiariased from an Indian masterpiece 'Krish' (which of course this author sat through five times - each time until the interval only).............

Phew........shocking (or disgusting) as the above piece of news might seem to the reader, exactly the same kind of feeling was invading me as I sat in the darkness watching my favourite superhero (I'm being a little hypocritical, Rajinikanth shall always remain my all time favourite super hero) crumble into a heap of disappointment even as the villain of the piece 'Sandman' literally crumbled in a mountain of sand. A successful franchise, an endearing super-hero, a massive budget, maniacal hype - in spite of all this what went wrong?

1) First of all, the action scenes were very very few(quite evident from the restlessness of the kids who were seated in the row front of mine)................Whatever may be the excuse, definitely no one goes to a super hero movie to watch endless bantering and emotional kitsch (I think watching any of the 'K' (or 'Kk'......im not sure) serials would gratify the emotional needs of the viewer)
2) Weak villains are to a super hero movie what a fully clothed heroine is to a Bollywood movie ( a sure recipe to disaster!!). Sandman and Crapman( sorry can't remember the other villain's name) are possibly the weakest villains in recent movie history (possibly the previous one was Vivek Oberoi in 'Kisna'........definition of a villian is slightly altered in this case as there came a stage in that classic when I was rooting for the villain to escape with the heroine!!)
3) Story(or atleast something like it) is needed even for Spidey. Not that I went into the hall expecting a pulsating story with a shocking twist in the end (who knows had our own Night Shyamalan directed Spidey.....in the end it might have been revealed that Spidey was actually a ghost) but atleast you need a basic story to tell even in a super hero movie (now don't tell me Sunny Deol movies have a story)
4) Now Sam Raimi(the director) needs to move on. No I didn't mean he has to get back to make the fifth(or sixth?) installment of that amazing movie 'Evil Dead' (one of those classic movies I grew up watching......). Sam Raimi remained an icon in my view until I saw that iconic horror movie 'Kuch kuch hota hai'...............Anyway simply put Mr.Raimi move away from Spidey.........Harry Potter is waiting for you............
5) Now what needs to be done if Spidey 4 has to be made is to replace the old Tobey Maguire with a young George Clooney and replace the irritable Kirsten Dunst with the beautiful Meryl Streep. Of course the director of my choice would be Christopher Nolan(remember Memento??)

But the only problem is that all his movies begin with the climax (maybe in Spidey 4, Spidey would kill the villain in the first scene and the movie moves backwards from there on..........)
Well at the end of it all, the moral of the story is never watch the third part of any successful movie franchise (remember Terminator 3,Batman 3..........) with the exception of Pirates 3 (can't help this I'm very partial to Johnny Depp movies)..............................

The 'writing' is on the wall!!

During the brief course of my 'literary' adventures(or misadventures) aka writing, I have dished out a few short stories (some very banal and some reasonable). At times I have even tried writing critical essays which mostly have gone unnoticed. So even though I might be severely under-qualified, I still think I could pass a comment or two about writing.

Often I get asked where does the 'idea' for a story originate from - is it from life or movies or books or something else. An idea for a story lies all around us - it only needs to be tapped and more importantly noticed. Once the idea is sown in your mind, a logical narrative needs to build it up(sometimes the most difficult thing to do!!). One thing which I have observed over a period of time, is that people always love that 'twist in the tale' - the 'X' factor which keeps them guessing. Well the idea of holding the readers on tenterhooks might be exciting to any writer but the truth is managing to deliver that knockout punch in the end without falling into the pit of illogicality. The thing is sometimes you need to tread the middle path - keep it reasonable (rather believable) but still deliver that twist abeit with lesser impact. I do admit I have a couple of times tried to play to the gallery by forcefully inducing twists even when it was unwarranted. When things are forced, you know it is not going to work.

Ok now where is this discussion heading to? Frankly nowhere..............but somewhere I realise the process of writing should become self reliant i.e. you write because to honestly want to tell a story and not to keep the readers happy or any other reason. When you honestly tell a tale, you don't need to play to the gallery because the process is complete in itself - you don't need the readers to complete the process. The readers are like the last link in the chain - not essentially the propellers of the process. The propeller is the passion and excitement that a new idea can usher in. Afterall the great stories captured on celluloid or in books, were never crafted with pretensions or just for the heck of it - they are what they are because all of them had a genuine story to tell....................

With this I come to the end of this post. I am, keeping the spirit of this post in mind, will sign off with a simple bye and restrain myself from making any sweeping concluding statements. (what the heck again I am playing to the gallery...............)