When life imitates art!

Social revolutions always take place when circumstances demand so. Whenever a society is stirred, troubled at heart, people will speak up! At times, this socio-emotional outburst is a result of the influence of some inspirational politician or some moving book. However, as they say life imitates art, I dare to say art influences life as well. Speaking of which, our movies have had their fair share of impact on society since times when animation was invented. This can be in the way people dress, wear hairdos or more importantly think! I was not born back then, but I think Raj Kapoor movies always dealt with social problems; be it Shree 420, Anari, Prem Rog & so on. He artistically communicated society’s problems at that time (I despise his skin show though!) through a media, which was influential & easily available. Well kapoor is an item of the past now & many have come and gone since then.

We grew up on some funny mithun & govinda movies that taught our neighborhood boys nothing more than break dance (may be I am wrong & they represented the diasporas in some obvious way). Now that our generation is facing life, two most influential movies that stirred our hearts & minds are; Dil Chahta Hai & Rang De Basanti. DCH established the concept that friends can be more than family & relatives at times. It also conveyed, no matter how hip we dress up (yeah all the goatee stuff, branded clothes & perms I am talking about) we still like being Indian & are quite conventional at heart! RDB took DCH’s message a step ahead. When people thought we couldn’t have another Bhagat Singh ever again, this movie gave our society the reason to believe that whenever time demands, a Bhagat Singh will be born in the world. What more, youth got so motivated, Supreme court had to reopen Jessica Lal murder trial & Government had a hard time defending reservation for the medicos! This movie had a simple message; when the common man speaks up, nobody can curb his voice. To prove this you don’t need a balle balle dance sequel in some malhotra-designed wardrobe! Hail the good times coming back to Indian cinema!!

Where is the party tonight?

Growing up, my idea of entertainment was about a pleasant chit-chat with relatives, family & friends. Well back then how many people actually went to some hip coffee shop or some pizza joint to share some hot spicy news? Indian culture predominantly epitomized the idea of fun as some family friends getting together over a cup of evening tea with some Marie biscuits or some local gujju brand chivda! Things always change & although we change with times (not really we like the way we are as Indians & our Indianess down the heart!). Life has changed so much since the open economy revolution of 1992 & its impacts can be seen on common life as well. How many family members (our generation) still return from work at 5 in the evening, practically none! Yeah right we make lot more money than what our dads made when they were our age, but weren’t they a little more grounded than what we are right now?

Introspecting my own lifestyle, now if I have to unwind, I go to some theatre or a mall visit with some friends, well either ways, it involves spending money. At times, everybody is so busy that I myself go to the neighborhood Barnes & noble or the local mall & end up spending more money than I needed to! I remember myself criticizing this American way of life, but just a matter of time & I see me being a part of it. Down the heart I knew I always had more fun over the family get together & unplanned social visits I used to have when nobody was this damn busy. We all know it’s the simple things in life that make a profound impact on our expectations from our life. However, I now realize it is very difficult to maintain & conduct this simplicity. I know everybody out there is missing the same element that I am, but I think now that I have realized it, I will make efforts to try to keep things the way they were. After all, so what if you can’t drop by anymore without any prior notice to your friend’s place as you may wonder if she might be busy, you can always call & visit!

Get over it gals!

Many of my girl friends have been discussing about how they planned & performed their “Karva Chouth” inspite of their hectic work schedules. Well I had nothing to add to their conversation, felt sort of left out! Actually I am married; infact quite happily married but never indulged in any such rituals. I don’t want to leave an impression that I don’t like Indian traditions or am not proud of it or anything just that is it not high time we think before we follow our traditions blindly?

As far as my knowledge goes, “Karva Chouth” fast is kept to wish for the well being/long life of your husband. Well, I pray for his well being everyday, for that matter I know we all pray for our family everyday. Karva chouth was practiced by women in an age when they were not working women & didn’t have any responsibilities other than the mundane domestic ones. Well times have changed for good now! We have been raised equally like our brothers, have been educated & work in a corporate world! How practical is it to fast for an entire day till the moon comes up when one has to show up at work at 7.30 am no matter what? Things should have changed with the changing time in Indian society, but we look confused allover. We want our girls to be engineers, pilots, astronauts & what not, but at the end of the day why do we act mentally weak? How efficiently can one perform at work if you fast for an entire day? We carry ipod’s in our bags & GPS navigator in our cars, but we participate in Karva Chouth, amitabh bacchan offers Rs 1 crore to Lord Tirupathi & Sachin Tendulkar undergoes some sort of “shanti pooja” to get rid of his ancestor’s sins! Culture & tradition are very sacred & should be preserved, but they should not be followed blindly. Beliefs should change with times, with us learning science! If we should fast, we donate a day’s meal saved to some poor kid who sleeps on the floor of his hut with stomach half empty almost everyday! Possibly; what can be achieved with us dressing up in some designer salwar suit/saree, flaunting fancy jewelry & waiting for the moon to show up? Karva Chouth is just another occasion which I picked on, but we Indians perform so many of such traditions blindly in every nook & corner of our country. We are smart, intelligent, brave & good hearted people, is it not high time we initiate some activities to bring about a positive change in our mindset/ society?

Getting started....

All my life, I have been quite afraid of commitment. During my teenage years; I also remember making comments like “I will never get married” & arguing over it with my dad. What changed my beliefs; is a story which needs to be told!

I grew up in a very liberal family & I was always very independent in my outlook & approach. However, whenever I saw people, families, and movies I thought when one is in a marriage (which to me at that time was a final destination in everybody’s life), one looses freedom. I never thought so because I was influenced by those melodramatic movies or was afraid of having a typical Indian husband, but just the idea of being in a relation & revolving my entire life around him seemed like a scary idea! It was not the fear of responsibility, but it was a fear of commitment. However, time has made me realize, when life brings you in front of the right person, all fears disappear & within seconds you know you were afraid of commitment for no reason at all!

Sanjay & I knew each other for almost 3 years before we got married. By nature, I was dead scared to commit him. One thing gave me the courage though; he has this inherent quality in him to make things look simpler! For the logical person that I am, I thought, he can make my life simple too! Marrying sanjay has made me realize that one can be committed for life & still have all the freedom in the world. Freedom is always accompanied by responsibilities & sanjay has made me realize mine! Not that I was irresponsible before, but it was him who made me realize that life can be beautiful with responsibilities & bondage. Today I feel like responsibilities help us learn how to handle life better! My brother once asked me why do people get married & I told him that I got married to have someone by me to witness my life!