The Age'ing Factor

When we were kids, the only wish we had was to grow up as soon as possible so that we get rid of studies, homework, exams, surprise tests and restrictions. How much we prayed to have a life with freedom, job that can buy us all the toys and games that we we need. Girls pretended to be 16 at the age of 14 just to enjoy the label of sweet 16. And at 16, she couldn't wait to become adult!

After entering in the twenties, a lady grows old by one year every ten years. And by mistake you ask her about her age, then god also cannot save you! 

Women are more mature than men - they claim; and it is said that maturity comes with age. Ah, we are indeed confused species. We do not know what exactly we want from life - maturity or forever young image!

There are so many products available in the market for a lady to look young forever. And they all sell like crazy all the time! There are wrinkle lifting creams, acne removal creams, forehead lines and under eye lines removal creams and what not! An upper middle class lady even undergoes surgery to look young.

That way, a man is so sensible and lucky! He does not have to worry at all about the wrinkles on his face or under eye bags. You won't find any products which are meant for men to lift their wrinkles. So what if they use fairness creams? At least no wrinkle lifting creams for them so far!

In fact, it is said that the older a man becomes, the smarter he looks (in quite a few cases) especially with his salt-n-pepper hair. And a lady with grays? A complete no no. I wish I were a man!

But with time I have learnt one thing (though I am not that old) - growing old is inevitable while growing up is optional. Why to hide your age and come across as a fool if you get to enjoy the title of a wise lady!

So, what's your age?


Image Source: http://www.efunnycartoons.com/funny-cartoons/110-old-couple-cartoon.gif

Love in Bollywood

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Love in Bollywood - when I got this topic, very first thought that crossed my mind was the interpretation of it. I was confused whether to choose real life love stories or reel life love stories. Well, there is not much of a difference between them as few of them are very dramatical and cliched in real as well as reel life. Movie buff that I am, I decided to go for the latter one.

Who can forget the legendary "On Screen" couple Raj Kapoor and Nargis singing "Pyaar hua Ikraar hua hai" under one umbrella. There was Nargis; reluctant to go close to Raj Kapoor; shy, elegant and still managed to create the magical moment of love and attraction.

Like it happens in most of the bollywood movies, a scene change takes place - the Villain enters. Since this scene is playing in my head (now, ain't I brilliant?), the villain turns out to be Raveena Tandon singing "Tip Tip barsa Paani" from the movie Mohra and trying really hard to seduce Akshay Kumar by dancing in the artificial rain in a chiffon saari. The latest movies do not differentiate between love and lust; but let me stick to the former one!

In the Sixties and Seventies, love was defined in a different manner. Hero and heroine went behind the bush to hide from the world, or the moving leaves meant that they were expressing their love for each other, wo palke jhukana aur sharmana, Kahin pe nigahe kahi pe nishana, sending love letters to each other and such.

Then the Eighties era started with "Ek Duje Ke liye" and "Love Story". So many couples committed suicide after watching Ek Duje Ke liye; and after watching Love Story, they eloped. We did take movies seriously; to an extent that dying for our love "because Vasu and Sapna did so" was a small thing.

Nineties saw many couples making a hit "on screen" pair - Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit, Akshay Kumar and Raveena Tandon, Anil Kapoor-Shridevi to name a few; but none became as popular as Shahrukh-Kajol. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge set an example of a perfect love story. It won the hearts of 99% of Indian movie lovers (I fall in that 1% category)


These days, love stories start in exotic locations and end with a bed scene that creates a lot of controversies and gives publicity to the movie. Not only a reel life love story is used for the fame, but in real life too a break up or a patch up between two co-stars happens before the release of their movies.


Like the movies, these actors and actresses have had a lot of twists in real life too. Sanjeev Kumar was madly in love with Hema Malini. But she did not love him, so he remained bachelor all his life, Parveen Babi went mad literally as Amitabh Bachchan did not marry her, Nargis broke up with Raj Kapoor and married Sunil Dutt instead as he saved her life from the fire that erupted on the sets of Mother India.

And we thought such things happen only in movies. Such love stories exist in real life too. Bollywood truly lives by its reputation of extremity in everything especially in case of love.

PS: To convey the feelings of true love, I have used certain Hindi words. The translation is:

wo palke jhukana aur sharmana, Kahin pe nigahe kahi pe nishana - eyes lowered down, feeling shy, looking somewhere and targeting somewhere else.

This expression is used as in those days, a lady never made any eye contact to the person she loved out of respect and shyness. 

(Not only) Public Transport

Lacs of people commute by public transport - be it a local train, bus, auto, taxi, metro train or a tram. And like I always do; I will be writing about Mumbai. 

Public Transport is more than a lifeline of Mumbai. Everyday, more than half of the Mumbai travel by the local trains and BEST buses to and fro. If you are visiting the city for the first time, and if you happen to be on any of the stations during the peak hour; then God save you!

But for us Mumbaikars, the day we do not see this crowd, we get nervous. Even on a Sunday, we expect to travel standing with hardly any room to stand or without getting stamped on your feet! I have travelled for eight years by local trains; and enjoyed every minute of it. If you travel by the same train each day, then you usually find your "9:27 local Train Group" who reserve a seat for you, or give you their seat to sit for a while, chitchat, sing song and such other activities happen within the "Group".

And the Mumbai city Autowalas. I am sure they will throw more tantrums and weight around than our celebrities! You have to be born lucky to get an auto each day within five minutes. But you know, Mumbai autos and cabs are used not only for the public transport; but other objects get the privilege too, to be a passenger and take a ride.

Again, like always the spirit of the city surprises me. In one of my posts, I had mentioned about what all kinds of work people do for their living. Two men were changing the hoardings under the sun without worrying about the height factor!

Commendable job they do. But another set of people who carry more weight than they can pull of on their cycle or push cart.

Ain't they amazing? Last, but not the least - there are nice autowalas too around. Like the one who took me around the Mumbai suburbs this morning, without complaining once about the waiting time for which he did not charge me anything.

All I could say was "Thank You"!

Romantic? How boring!

When a girl thinks about her dream guy; she imagines him coming on a horse or a Ferrari depending on the era she is in mentally and takes her with him in the dreamland with nature and its beauty all around them; a perfect weather (usually spring; yeah even Indian girls dream of springs); the guy is showering her with flowers, evening is so very special with candle light dinner, amazing evening gowns and tuxedos as dress code, a violin is playing in the background specially for you. While you are waiting for your food to arrive; the guy proposes to you. Ah, picture perfect tears come in your eyes but you realize that this situation is not for real!

Yes, most of us dream of such a situation; but we know they are not for real always! And thank god such things don't happen. At least not in my case.

I lack interest for romantic things and gestures. They kind of bore me. How very dull it is to get red roses as a gift! Isn't it a complete waste of money? For they wither in a few hours and all your money is wasted. Those long drives are good; but not when you live in Mumbai and while coming back, you get stuck in the traffic at Panvel, Vashi, Sion and Western Express highway!

And those candle light dinners! If you cannot see your food properly; then how can you enjoy eating it? Sigh! the synonym for romantic things is suffering - monetarily, mentally and physically!

But I love the idea of a perfect date! An ideal date for me would be - a live match in the stadium. A cricket, football or a tennis match. But my husband is only fond of cricket; and sadly there are no good football and tennis matches happening in India; so cricket it is. Isn't it exciting to go, cheer and shout on top of your voice to support your team?

And dinners - I so loathe to dress up well to go out for dinner. Sit at home, order your meal and eat! Isn't it super comfortable to sit and eat on your bed? It's feels so good when you play card games with your partner rather than saying "I love you" ten times in one minutes! Romantic things can never give you such a comfort!

Let me not discuss my dancing abilities all over again! Who said that a ball dance is romantic? Ask me! How awkward it leaves me and how embarrassing it may get for my dancing partner! 

Romantic gifts - those red hearts all over the place - be it a teddy bear or a tee. I will not say it's very kiddish as many of you might be loving such hearts placed all over.

But there is one romantic gift that I simply love - chocolates. They do not have to have a heart shape; or even wrapped in a fancy paper and ribbons. A simple pack of chocolates will also do.

So, are you guys as boring as me or being romantic is boring for you?

Being Human

Since last Monday, there has been only one face across all the news channels and newspapers - Ajmal Aamir Kasab! I had almost started believing that he is some sort of a hero; but luckily his death sentence was pronounced and he was awarded capital punishment under five counts! This case was indeed a rarity in "Rarest of the rare" case!

A landmark Judgment - some say; while some believe that it is "inhuman" to kill somebody and capital punishment should be abolished as many "Foreign" countries have done this too. First and foremost thing that really makes me irate is that we always follow others but we never take the lead! We have to certain things only because others are doing it. We must abolish capital punishment only because other countries have done it. Great! Then why don't we attack on Pakistan when other countries did it too post 9/11?

And there goes those wonderful arguments by our "learned" Human Activists. I happened to watch a few debates about the morality and humanity issues relating to death penalty. The arguments were:

To kill someone is inhuman and immoral. We cannot be like them!

Yes, to kill someone is inhuman. but to kill an inhuman is human or not? A person who killed 62 people that included men, women and children without any remorse; his intentions were to kill as many people as possible and sacrifice his own life in the deed if needed! Not even once his hand shivered when he shot a nine year old girl who is still recovering from the bullet injury on her leg!

I want to ask those activists; "If you had lost your only son of 25 in the attack; or your mother or pregnant wife; would you still have maintained the same statement of not killing a terrorist? Would Kasab still be a HUMAN for you?"

Capital Punishment will not serve as a deterrent for criminals. Award them a rigorous life imprisonment.

And what good will that do? Terrorists will get scared if you are going to lock them up for life? Will that serve as a deterrent? And how much money will the State spend behind their security? A normal person works hard to earn bread; so that he can eat twice a day. The terrorist will do the same thing - work hard and eat four times a day.

There will be a day when our plane will be hijacked or our people will be made hostages by terrorists. Their demand will be to release Kasab or they will kill our people. Then what will the state do? Sacrifice another 200 lives or release the person who has already killed 62? Oh yes I forgot. To kill is inhuman. We cannot endanger 200 lives; so release Kasab!


Kasab must stay alive; so that we can take out more information from him. He has not yet revealed all the secrets.

Do they know that interrogating a convict is illegal? The state CANNOT ask him a single question to the accused as our Constitution of India has provided an accuse a right to remain silent under article 20(3)? I wonder who appointed these people as spokespersons for Rights Commission?

By killing Kasab, we are closing all the doors of his reformation. He is only 21!

Reform a person who joined LeT - A terrorist organization voluntarily. He was not brainwashed, nor was he forced into joining it. He joined it as he wanted to become a terrorist! After his training period got over; he was given an option to either go and stay with his family for a few days; or stay in the camp. Many of his colleagues left for home and never came back; while Kasab preferred to stay back in the camp. He did not even feel for his family. What reformation you will do to him further? And does he deserve it really? You should reform the person who regrets his acts and not the one who did it without any guilt or regret or fear!


I think it's high time that we realize that certain acts and certain people cannot be changed by showing humanity. They need to be punished. A person has been convicted and awarded a death penalty under five counts. Isn't it a sufficient enough case to consider his case an exception in your so called Human Rights Books? I know killing Kasab will not help much as he is a small fish in the large pond full of crocodiles; but don't you think our State cannot let go of him only because he is a small fish? The same small fish killed so many. How can we finish the master minds if we forget and forgive these small people who eventually make a big difference?

If my wish to kill Kasab makes me inhuman; then I am happy being one!

PS: The post is based on my views completely. You may disagree to it.