Talking about Shuddh Desi Romance- I honestly expected more from this movie. This playing hide and seek when it comes to love funda just doesn't appeal to me at all. Either you say yes or you say no. But the movie did get the general indecisiveness that is common with quite a few youth spot-on. Inability to make decision apart, it was a tad disheartening to see that a good number of the youth don't really think about how they want to make their money; all they know for sure is that they want pot loads of it (according to a recent nation wide poll conducted last month). So, just when I was ready to get all judgmental and state that this country is never going to get anywhere if this is how Generation X thinks, that the youth threw up quite a few surprises.
The Times Youth Brigade for starters. Even if just a handful of the original number of applicants actually made it to the final few, the fact that so many youngsters were eager to come forward and do something useful with their time tells me that they may not be as 'I-give-a-damn' as I think. Or maybe as a lot of people think. On RTI Day, it was heartening to see the way so many youngsters actually sat down cross-legged and sprawled on the floors of the many RTI offices spread across the country. Why, you may ask? Because they were there to file RTI's and to get answers to a hell lot of questions. Questions that maybe have popped up in yours and my head, but about which we didn't care enough to do anything about.
And I was wrong if I was living with the assumption that the youth in Kochi only care about drugs, booze and rock n roll. On Monday, when there was a state wide hartal put into effect, a group of youngsters and professionals got together to play good samaritans to tourists and travellers who were otherwise stranded on the roads. With stickers that proudly declared ' Say NO to hartal', theirs were the only vehicles on otherwise empty streets. And no, they weren't scared about what the cops or other party workers would do. That's because they were mentally ready to take them on.
I've read articles written by tourists who visited India for the first time and said that this country never ceases to surprise them. Just when you think that nothing is well in India and probably will never be, she smiles and pulls out yet another ace from her pack of ready cards. All I can say is that as long as the youth never lose the sight and feel of their conscience, this country is in much safer hands than we imagined earlier. Jai Hind!
Me ThInKs- A mixed bag of almost every day diary entries, poetry bits, some serious reflections and questions but mostly sore ramblings of a restless mind
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Saturday, November 09, 2013
On once turning 18...... and many other things
'Outlook' celebrated its 18th anniversary last week and what a read the magazine turned out to be. For starters, the mag went to real 18 year olds and captured their views on being 18 and on what the future held for them. Well, it's very nice to see youngsters who want to make a difference in a world that largely doesn't really care anymore and that is also becoming darker by the day. But what really surprised me were the many tales that established Indian writers like Chetan Bhagat, Jerry Pinto, Anita Nair and many more had to say about turning 18. It wasn't that they had a whole repertoire of mind boggling stories to tell, but it was the fact that they actually remembered how it felt to turn 18. Thing is (blush, blush) I cannot remember how it felt to turn 18 for me at all!
Why is it that I don't remember feeling extra special on the day I became a major? Probably because I wasn't even aware of my rights then? Maybe because there really isn't much mischief you can get away with when you are in your first year BA and still living with your parents? I don't know. But, I'm glad to say that although amnesia has robbed me of my 18 year old memories, I remember plenty from the years that came after.
And after talking to other mums on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that society is generally after couples to have kids as early as possible only because they want us to experience what they went through raising us! My mother actually giggles shamelessly when my son gives me one of his looks and demands to know 'Exactly what have you done for me in life?' The first time he asked me that, I assumed that one week build-up of ear-wax had led me to hear the question all wrong. But my little terror was kind enough to repeat the question all over again, word for word. Till I looked at my mom, giggling away behind the newspaper saying 'And life comes a full circle'! If this isn't a universe-al act of revenge, I swear it I don't know what is!!
It's my that favourite time of the year- when Christmas is near and my phone is already showing off lovely Xmas wallpapers. Now it's time for me to whip out pen and paper and make a long list of presents to buy for the family. When my kid asked me what I would be giving him, I replied 'All my love', to which he said he preferred toys instead :-( My 16 year old bratty catty sister who once used to be an ultra cute walking bundle of fat (and she can no longer lay claim to that title either!) tells me she doesn't really need anything, but she still wouldn't mind a present or two! This time however, I will make the added effort of wrapping up the presents really nicely in gift wrapping paper because there's still something nice about seeing unrestrained excitement no matter how old or young the brat is. :-)
Why is it that I don't remember feeling extra special on the day I became a major? Probably because I wasn't even aware of my rights then? Maybe because there really isn't much mischief you can get away with when you are in your first year BA and still living with your parents? I don't know. But, I'm glad to say that although amnesia has robbed me of my 18 year old memories, I remember plenty from the years that came after.
And after talking to other mums on the subject, I have come to the conclusion that society is generally after couples to have kids as early as possible only because they want us to experience what they went through raising us! My mother actually giggles shamelessly when my son gives me one of his looks and demands to know 'Exactly what have you done for me in life?' The first time he asked me that, I assumed that one week build-up of ear-wax had led me to hear the question all wrong. But my little terror was kind enough to repeat the question all over again, word for word. Till I looked at my mom, giggling away behind the newspaper saying 'And life comes a full circle'! If this isn't a universe-al act of revenge, I swear it I don't know what is!!
It's my that favourite time of the year- when Christmas is near and my phone is already showing off lovely Xmas wallpapers. Now it's time for me to whip out pen and paper and make a long list of presents to buy for the family. When my kid asked me what I would be giving him, I replied 'All my love', to which he said he preferred toys instead :-( My 16 year old bratty catty sister who once used to be an ultra cute walking bundle of fat (and she can no longer lay claim to that title either!) tells me she doesn't really need anything, but she still wouldn't mind a present or two! This time however, I will make the added effort of wrapping up the presents really nicely in gift wrapping paper because there's still something nice about seeing unrestrained excitement no matter how old or young the brat is. :-)
Friday, November 08, 2013
No, I a'int done yet
With entertaining, confusing, irritating and informing all you lovely readers out there. And as in the words of The Terminator: I shall be back. Wait up, was it him or Godzilla who said that now? Serious confusion !!
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