KVK - class of 2000 - reunion

The backstory
It was yet another tiring weekday. I have had my rough day already and was seeking some peace for myself. The disease was known and the symptoms were clear, and I also decided to apply the same old medicine for it. Chat up with old friends. Today, however the term old meant something different. I had caught up with Namrata and Hricha the previous weekend - online. So I pinged Nammu trying to break a meaningful conversation. Which I did, in a while. An hour into our conversation we added Aditya into the chat, and soon Ramana, and soon we said "we should meet, guys!"

  

Then someone used the word "reunion" - an irony sort of since Namrata was never in my section and we never had a union while in school. We decided to give it a shot and honestly we have got very nice responses from everybody. Chakri - we loved that email of yours despite its taste. ;)

Over 100 emails, tens of group chats and many phone calls later - the D-day - 27th March arrived.

The D-day

I was 10 minutes late, along with Nammu at our pre-decided meeting spot "the school ground". There wasn't anybody around but soon Shravan came in to join us. We already knew, it was kind of going to be a slow start. An hour later nearly everybody was there with us and we stormed into the school gate - we had written permission from principal - it was only symbolic that the first picture we clicked of was that of me and Shravan kneeling down in front of principal's office. Epic! (pic below) 

Within minutes we all became so close as if we have been meeting daily at school over the past 20 yrs. We went down to some classrooms of 6th-8th, and from there down to the assembly area, where we held a mock assembly - and made a mockery of it (pic below). Totally. Me, Ramana and Raghavendra soon took over our role in handling the A&V system - again, only there wasn't any. Some (read many) pics were clicked here, and many subgroups formed and disintegrated - a classic case of a dynamic network behavior. Okay, Rahul - shut up now.

Then we went over to the primary section to meet nobody. But slowly, wryly, I was being reminded of all the tickling events of my life at the time. For instance, in the 5th grade I was punished along with a bunch of others for getting into the scientist hostel behind the school and playing in the pool of water there naked - well almost. We were only swimming. :D

And from the 4th grade, I distinctly remember Rabya Khan madam slapping my test note book on my face. Of course, there after, nothing changed in particular. 

In the 3rd grade, I was reminded of very sweet memories of Mini trying her best to make me write my notes and neatly. I did neither of the two.

Two scenes from 2nd class stand apart for me. One was of Mini and Nisha dancing in class in Rama Menon madam's SUPW class. Second was that of Nida. Nida and I were benchmates those days, but I was the lesser benchmate you see. She used to be first to arrive in class and always occupied the bench to the fullest giving me a few centimeters to sit (that allowance, if she wished to be generous!), and again I wasn't supposed to touch her. You see those days, it was a sin, no? (Me and Nida went over to see if our bench by the window still stands - it isn't there anymore sadly.)

I wish there were an easy way to explain the day to you guys who couldn't make it. I wish I had the powers to articulate what I felt today. I wish even deeper we had all guys turned in just so the fun could have replicated. 

But for a bubbly angel in the form of Hricha who kept us enthused all along, and but for Shravan's PJs in the latter half of the day (which were not poor at all!) the day wouldn't have maintained its flair. 

I wish there was a way in which I (on behalf of all of us) could thank Ramana for taking care in arranging the luncheon. It was special for many reasons including but not limited to: Sowmya's singing talent, SL Aditya's story about the class leaders' punishment, and in many doses the revelation of Ashu-Adi relationship. Okay, not really (pic below). Thanks to Ashu for volunteering for the fun, and Aditya for involuntarily generating much fun. Raghav for the occasional one-liners, Nida for being candid about the sweet corn soup (\m/), Harini and Narayani for those careful stares that reminded me of class 9 and 10. I'm sure at many occasions they had a story to tell and didn't. Waiting for next meet, perhaps? Naresh at his witty best didn't let the flow drift away, Namrata presiding over the proceedings was silently observing and throwing away an occasional  tongue-in-cheek one-liner that accounted for her powers of observation and silence.

 There was one complaint though, Sreelekha was silent for most part of the day. Most, because, she wasn't silent when we were driving from school to the lunch venue. No, I'm not telling you what she spoke of. It was a secret between her, Namrata and me. :P

Now after all this if don't tell you what I was doing it would be cheating. I was reminiscing good old days at each moment spent with those around me, and those who couldn't come. And whom am I kidding? I was also occasionally stealing a few glances at the ladies who grew up from being young kids over more than a decade. 

In the rest of the pics (in that order) the rest of the story would be summed up. The last one really completes it - the billion dollar smile. :)

Quoting noted activist and politician Jayprakash Narayan's words:

 భాష కి అందని భావము గుండెను పిండేస్తుంటే మనకి మామూలు మాటలు చాలవు ...  

Literally meaning: When words fail to represent emotions and squeezes our heart - normal words won't be enough.  

Many thanks to everybody for making it memorable to the extant that words fail me in writing this post.

And like I have said before "Brought back many memories. And new ones were made." :-)

PS: Despite the hype (read motivation) given by Hricha - I couldn't articulate this post well. I'm posting this in order to make it timely.

PS2: This happens to be one of the poorly written post I wrote in recent times. Where my words fail I hope the adorning pics will complete the true story. :)
PS3: It was fantastic to speak on phone with Mini, Nikita and Sriram Reddy while we were in school. 

Women's day

My dear mom, dearest sister, very special aunt, lovely cousin, two of my best friends, and all you sweet fille. 

My dear ladies: I didn't greet you on Women's day because I think of you in my own special way every day and there could be no special day for which I could wait. 

Women's day is an idea - that demands more of a quest than a celebration. The idea is to be able to afford 'not needing a day to celebrate'. I am living to see a period in time when nobody hears about Women's day anymore. Because, there would be no need, because we would be gender equal among male, female and homophile.  While I patiently wait to see that day, dear ladies, I want you to know, that I love you each day with the same fervor and respect.

Still, if me just saying "Happy Women's day" makes a difference to you, I just said it. 

Love always.

Will you be my Valentine?

Okay, so some of you are gearing up for making a special Valentine's day? You see those roses, the chocolates, a card and hopefully lot of love; such emblematic stuff. And some of you -- I know a lot of you -- are quetching for not having a date for this Valentine's day.

Why do you guys forget that this was supposed to be a day for Valentines and not you - who, it appears, are clearly not one.

How difficult is it?

I never see people kicking for not being able to celebrate Mother's day or Father's day? There is no anticipation for those; they just come and they just go. Yeah you do wish your parents and show your love and stuff but you don't exactly want to become a mother or father, do you? Then why this craving for being a Valentine or wanting one? The question being - not so much the why, but why today?

Let me tell you guys - this is a conspiracy. A global one. You are being dealt into believing that you have to have a Valentine to be a worthwhile citizen. No you don't. It is nice if you have one, but you don't have to pass through this phase of shallowness and maniac dumbness this year if you don't have a valentine.

The roots of the solution to this problem stem from the grand solution to all the social problems. And that solution depends heavily not on an answer but a question: "How do you define happiness?"

If your definition of happiness is defined around you - that is alright and close to perfect. But if you have it defined in contrast with others - your life is a total mess. And that is the problem with Valentine's day. We are being led into believing that everybody around you has something special this day, while you don't. Somehow inferior. So you must have a Valentine by next year and feel better perhaps. Right? preposterous.

On giving further thought - I might come to a conclusion that says "the reason for too many break-ups these days is these Valentine's syndrome".

Like mothers' day is for mothers, or as fathers' day is for fathers, the same is for valentine's day - it is for valentines. In each case, as much as you want it to be, it is not for the to-be's.

Now some quirky notes from my twitter folks with a bottomline: Valentines' day is overrated.

Like @Krishashok famously said: "Valentine's day is for people who aren't creative enough to express love on the remaining 364 days". I'd only add, 'Leap years make them only worse; beware 2012 is around'.

Or the world famous (according to @krishashok :P) @Lavsmohan said: "If you're single today, don't be miserable. Remember that you're going to be single tomorrow, too. And maybe forever. That's a lot of miserable."

And she adds "Dear me, Happy Valentines Day. I love you."

Now go ahead and bitch about me already, or go give your love to those friends who have valentines. Celebrate their valentine's day.

Have a fun-filled Valentine's day, and really, every other day too!

With Love.

Rahul

Our common differences.

All of you, each one of you whom I am addressing in this post are different, very different, and yet have something in common. There is something common to all of us, and it is not our education or our career. We are all people, and despite all our differences in appearances, thoughts and imaginations, we have a belief in common. By virtue of experience I believe that all readers of this piece are ~25 yrs old. A 5 here or there is fine, because you’d still believe in what I’m going to say. That belief is this: “Half our active life has been done with, so let’s play the second innings a little better.” Disagree?

Truth be told: I have felt it ever since I have been a 20 year old, and I presume each one of you did, but since that isn’t the central idea behind this post I’d defer the discussion to our personal chat, shall I?

So we all are a bunch of 25 somethings—to sound being inclusive let me say 20 somethings – that are all very different from each other and have spent half our life, supposedly purposelessly and are working towards a better life in the second innings. The journey of a human being is defined by his relationships with various people in his life; how he deals with his friend, parents, spouse, daughter etc. Quite nerve-wrenchingly we agree –with a reasonable discomfort– that at times we have had messed up some of our relationships. I give you three very short stories that you can relate to (either directly or indirectly) and those that connect together to put forward the message I want to convey.

• You have had a friend, a rather nice friend, someone whom you have harbored for many years, and who returned the same cozy environment to you. But this was before you were forced to break out of that beautiful relationship you shared. I cannot stress the importance of how well you enjoyed in their company, how beautifully you treasure each of the particle of their shady character. On a beautiful Saturday evening, however, in a momentary (and perhaps momentous) fit of anger, you discarded the possibility of having a greater & much deeper (meaningful) friendship.

• Then there was a friend – of opposite sex – and she was as nice to you as nice could mean; you studied, gabbled, played pranks on others, laughed and cried, everything together. You had begun liking her a lot, and there was an incessant dream of sharing the rest of the life with her – which suddenly looked possible. You told her your feelings; she retaliated and resisted your advances. It looked like a ton of contradictions, and life seemed miser than ever before. Now at this point you probably decided to live on as a great friend with her, but perhaps, she has other ideas – she wants to move out of this volatile relationship you both were having. You both have never dealt with this before – and she chose the wrong way to end it – and she ends the relationship abruptly, calling you guilty of treachery & betrayal. Feeling disgusted at what just happened, you riposted in authority – claiming innocence. The irony – you feel cheated, betrayed and see yourself on the other side of the treason. You snub off the person from your life, and vowed to never communicate with the person again.

• You were talking to your dad; discussing, debating, and fencing each other well. During the activity came an awkward situation which you thought wasn’t appropriate, a very awkward conversation it was turning to be. Soon the discussion would result in a debate, you continue. But, out of the blue, the debate would result in a wasted confrontation. It was a petty issue, nevertheless. If not, then like the countless other lowly issues, this issue had a wide-eyed solution that could be accepted. If only, yes, if only, instead of confronting your dad, you were willing to confront the petty issue. You hated your dad since that evening, and that had conjured itself & nurtured for the rest of your life.

So what do we have here?

1. A great friendship that went too shallow.
2. A great friendship that was lost in confusion.
3. A steady relationship that succumbed to confrontation.

In each of the above cases, the much clichéd idea of apologizing could sort the problem out. But, on the face of it, there seems to be a problem with apologizing. Apologizing might imply that you were wrong in first place; truth is: nobody likes to lose a battle, even with the loved ones. Apologizing would make sense If, and only if, at least one of the two parties were willing to move on with the idea that 'losing a battle with the loved one' being equivalent to 'losing the battle for the loved one'. The idea behind this post isn’t just to re-ignite the pleasures of those greener pastures, those most cherished moments of your life, the importance of the most pricy people of your life; I always had a greater purpose, for I want to understand what an apology means. Imagine how simple life would be if you were not required to apologize. Yes, what if none of the two parties had to apologize – because maybe none of them was ever wrong. It is important to realize that there could be something beyond apologizing and forgiving; which is to do neither of the two. Yes the good old English proverb “Ignorance is bliss” is the message we all know but hardly implement at the right time. Let us get the second innings right –and win this life in peace. :)

The Unsolicited Movie Review

Before I start my first ever movie review I’d like to make the rules of the review clear.

1. I’m not a movie freak, and not a fan to any actor/actress.
2. I’m not even a controlled movie freak, and still not a fan to any actor/actress.
3. I’m always trying not to hate (especially since I’m known to hate Lakshmi Manchu for producing Jummandhi Naadham and trying to rave about it on twitter streams).

Now that the three not’s have dilated the rules/assumptions, I’d get to the theme of this plot.

Yamla Pagla Deewana

Totally unexpected that I would run into this movie because I have always thought that Bobby Deol sucks; and completely thankful to those who suggested this movie to me. When I asked a colleague to come watch the movie with us, she said “Koi Pagla hi aaye us movie ko dekhne”; I smiled and now reluctantly agreed. Given their reputation who expects a decent movie from Sunny Deol these days? Now don’t get me started on Bobby Deol because that pawn doesn’t even trot.

The Deol trio had got together, marking the comeback of Dharmendra, and perhaps what should be the final attempt to revive the career – that never took off – of Bobby Deol. Though Dharmendra must be lauded for his performance at that age, and considering his comeback after a long time, he must understand that his son Bobby isn’t worth the time. Sunny Deol gave the audience what was expected of him: Masculinity and masculine dialogues. The chirping comedy that traversed throughout the movie was missing the essential timing in some cases, but overall was a great success, and generated the guffaws expected of this film. Oh, and did I mention the amazing comic timing of Anupam Kher? Nothing new, and everybody is bound to be on a laughter riot when the village politics scene is portrayed; which also turns out to be a tolerant mockery of our political system. And of course, the simple & beautiful Kulraj Randhwa did justice to her clichéd role.

Now another point worth mentioning is that the first 30 minutes were a total shocker, it nearly gave me nausea. In creating the rather lousy characters of Dharam paaji (Dharmendra) & Gajodhar (Bobby Deol), they created a mess that was totally outlandish, however at the end of the movie you won’t remember the vile beginnings the movie made. This was also the first time (for me) two item songs were played in the same film, and these were also played nearly back-to-back & were part of the first half hour, thankfully.

As soon as I came back from the movie I gave it a rating 3.0, and soon saw this conversation my Brother had with his roomies.

As soon as I saw that I realized two things:

1. My brother was talking about me (or my tweet on this movie).
2. His friend was right.

So now I reevaluated my scripts and the final rating for the movie is 2.75, without any regrets. So, if you are looking for a movie with just the entertainment quotient high – go for it, you won’t regret.

Anaganaga O Dheerudu (AOD)

As soon as I came back from the movie I tweeted this:

There are average movies. And there is "Anaganaga O Dheerudu" which is below that line. Yes. Below Average. Not recommended. #MovieRating 2.0

Not friendly at all, I understand. But I’d like to explain why I gave that.

Plot

A fantasy must have – at the least –a closely-knit gripping storyline, strong central characters, and a great villain. AOD has been promising all three of these ever since they started promoting it. AOD clearly lacked the first, tried to create the second (& failed at the borderline), and was very close to making it at the third requirement. Let us be clear about it, getting fantasy right is very difficult and very important; there must have been, after all, some reason why nobody tried such a fantasy-adventure in Tollywood too often. And

Now since everybody has been comparing AOD with Magadheera (MD) even before AOD released it would be fair for me where there are differences and where it shouldn’t be compared at all.

First of all, let us get the difference right: AOD is a fantasy-adventure, while MD comes in an Action/Drama package. Now the similarities for me end at the usage of graphics/visual effects. While people have been saying that this will redefine the way movie making is done in tollywood, I’d like to disagree: on an average Tollywood movie you can’t use the sort of visuals that Disney provided for AOD. MD had a tight storyline, and had great connections with the central theme and characters from two incarnations, while AOD failed at creating any sort of mystique. Other comparisons are juxtaposed with AOD’s individual characters’ characterizations.

Tanikala Bharani was totally underutilized, and Ali’s Lachimi getup has become bland by now.

Actors

Siddharth: Siddharth Looked naïve for his character. He was supposed to be a Yodha, and to be entirely honest there were only one or two moments when I felt so. Except, of course, when he was called by his name in the movie – which of course was Yodha. The only reason (I reckon) for such a name to the character is that Sid couldn’t symbolize/carry such a strong character by himself. Which is piss poor because (in media and the ballyhoo) Yodha has been continually been compared to Kala Bhairava portrayed by Ram Charan Teja, which is wrong at so many levels. Firstly, the characterization of Yodha didn’t sound strong at all, or it couldn’t be reflected on screen. Within minutes of introducing Kala Bhairava, we were mesmerized into believing that he could fight scores of men all alone, while Yodha always looked like an underdog, and his blindfolded character wasn’t strengthened enough visually. This is an important differentiating aspect in the climax fight of the two movies. In MD the climax fight was inspiring, whereas in AOD it was just a formality. Secondly, though Siddharth is a better actor when compared to Ram Charan Teja, his performance is much lower than his caliber when compared to what Ram Charan raised.

Shruti: Shruti Hassan, marking her tollywood debut, carried herself beautifully in the character of Priya. Some scenes that were supposedly romantic were jinxed by the apparent lack of chemistry with Sid. Individually, however, she outscored what was expected by her as a debutant. She was a fresh face, and came with a sensual touch to her character right from the beginning. Her face has the charm to keep both men and women equally interested, and she is the best find of this movie for Tollywood.

Lakshmi: Lakshmi Manchu marked her Tollywood debut with a negative role of Irendri in AOD. Just for taking such a leap of faith, she must be commended; however, she wasn’t up to the mark and looked totally out of place. Especially, given the hoopla she created over her twitter stream each day that everybody is applauding her work. She doesn’t have a great amount of expression required for such a class negative role – which also happens to be the best developed character of the movie. Most of the negative role was played by the make-up and graphics, both of which have nothing to do with her. I’m also certain, her director faced a lot of trouble in getting her act right. If you see carefully, she cannot use her lower body at all, almost as if paralyzed down the waist. This is clearly visible in the solo song she was gifted with – and the song has been wasted. Even in other scenes where she was supposed to deliver strong negativity, her expressions underperformed in comparison to her voice, which wasn’t compatible either. To be clear: she should have got someone else to dub her voice as well; Lakshmi’s voice isn’t mature enough to take on this role. Overall, adding some points for her courage to take on such a role: she just crossed the line of average.

Harshita: Harshita as Moksha, did what she could, but again like I mentioned, she wasn’t given enough power in her role to do something special, though she was supposed to be one of the pillars of the movie. Moksha’s role missed the aura & mystique that should have accompanied the characterization. The only aura that Moksha is granted is her butterflies. Sorry, when I watched the movie even kids in the hall didn’t like it.

Response

I overheard (actually heard) kids shouting “Lets go back mom, this is boring.” So painful to hear such things because they were supposed to be most impressed with the visuals. By interval, one kid deciphered “Magadheera was much better than this one”. I felt genuinely sorry for the filmmakers and these kids, equally.

My Rating: 2.0 (and I stand still).