AKS

Since I didn’t go home last weekend I spent my time in Pune enjoying myself. My Saturday was spent celebrating suddenly planned childhood friends’ re-union and pajama party at Mansi’s Place with Meghana, Maya, Priya and their kids- Isha, Rhea and Simran. We had loads of fun. The kids called me Maau mavshi. Hehehe. Cute isn’t it??? I asked Rhea what she liked Pani puri or Bhel puri and the Little smart girl said she liked me…hahaha street smart kids, must say! Know exactly what will melt mavshis’s heart away! Kids are such fun to be with!! So many old childhood memories pleasantly came alive. Spent the whole of Sunday in bed suffering from fever and cold due to excessive intake of COLD DRINKS on Sunday nite ; ) Nikita showed me two films on her laptop to make me feel better and forget the agonizing ordeal that the high-temperature had subjected me to.


I am glad I got to see Luck by Chance : ) not so glad I had to see Victory : (



Points to be noticed




Luck by Chance

Zoya Akhtar rolls out a fabulous Film on luck, opportunities and success in her directorial debut. At the tad end of the film, when selfish Vikram played to the hilt by Farhan Akhtar confronts Sona acted by the charming Konkona Sen and tells her how much he needs her and how she is the pillar of strength etc etc. At that moment you feel like it is going to wrap with a clichéd end of an archetypical Hindi film, the heroine with a huge heart will put her wounds behind and embrace the hero, but instead she packs a punch by gently declining it saying that the hero is an opportunity seeker perhaps a narcissist who puts his interest before others. He talks a lot about himself, how she will add to his joy thus undermining the emotions of Sona- how she feels and why. How he will contribute to her life……..

She says his selfishness is not his fault; its how some people are…..that set me brooding on the topic


I just know of somebody who jumped the gun at others expense and discarded someone out of his life because he had found a single Window of opportunity to do so. That makes me think may be this particular XYZee was hunting for one, who knows may be for a long time. So the rhetoric question that bombed my mind was is Opportunism a crime, is it moral or is it just a way of life? Are opportunists born with a different brain mechanism or are they just people like u and me with a strong alternate set of ambitious priorities for which they can go to any dire ruthless limits?



When Milton Friedman an American Economist said in 1912 that one man’s opportunity is another man’s statesmanship he was right to a certain extent. Opportunism is an art. And a very intelligent one at that. From whatever I have gathered by observing these people. You need to have the following qualities to be a good opportunist, other wise you will fall flat on your face even if you attempt it.


Extreme stone hearted behavior
Burning Ambition for fulfilling self-possessed prophecies
Art of conveniently sidelining the goodness of others
Leaving no stone un-turned to cater to your high end priorities
Most importantly, an acute sense of timing to hit the iron rod when it is hot.

Not everyone has a capacity to incorporate all these and make other people’s destruction work to their vantage.

It takes a lot of Business like intelligence and management to execute these elaborate selfish plans. These people are practical Geniuses.

Though you may morally decline this idea yet such people are the ones who reach most close to success. They get whatever they want. I do not know how long they enjoy what they get! But yes their goals are achieved for sure. And all of us join this selfish brigade at some point or the other.


Shawn Carlson on the other hand gives a different treatment to the subject by comparing it with devil worship. Allow me to quote him-
Never attribute to Devil-worshipping conspiracies what opportunism, emotional instability and religious bigotry are sufficient to explain.

If we take a look from the moral point of view- Opportunists are at par with the Jew’s ideology of Hitler. They are people who do not care for the emotional and physical abuse of others that their actions invite. Such people do not care for even their own kin when it comes to gaining what they intend to. If you are married to one of these kinds, then you better beware. If your business partners are of this nature you should start keeping your Plan B ready right from day one.


These people are everywhere. They exist both in our public and private domains of life. If you are one of them thank your stars that you are at the USER end but if you belong to the rest- beware because sooner or later you will meet people who will put you in the USED category.

So, my inference is – Opportunism is definitely not moral but it’s not immoral as well. It is just a way of life, practiced by a few success driven people…..

Other good food for thought dialogues

If you really want to be successful you will have to go and meet success, it won’t come to you

You can either be happy by thinking about what you have or either be sad crying for what you haven’t. It’s a choice you make.




Victory

Victory is a hackneyed film with no interesting credit points- Neither has the premise any novel promise nor has the acting been exceptional.

Same old “ Yuvraaj Singh” like hackneyed story of small town guy- getting fame- Becomes leisure driven- change in priorities- ignores cricket- downward spiral starts- Falls- works on his drawbacks- rises to super stardom again. The movie had nothing new to offer, with average performances from Harman and Amrita. Gulshan Grover’s baddie act reminded me of his 80’s films where he played the loud mean villain. (Surprisingly he got to rape atleast one girl in all these films, giving a tough competition to his contemporary Shakati Kapoor). Anupam Kher is good at what he does! Especially playing a paralytic is quiet challenging! You get goose bumps when you look at him (I do not mean he is too hot; I am only trying to say he is too good at acting : )

Four things I liked about it

Failure is not when you fall but failing to rise when you fall( Sounds like the exact same dialogue that Raj Babbar tells Priyanka Chopra in Fashion)
When you are wrong, don’t just say sorry! Work towards healing what you have damaged. And you can do it even when the road is tough!
BRET LEE………..I was drooling over him! My God he is such a handsome hunk! I think I will start watching cricket for him??? What say…hehehe
Did I mention BRET LEE……..BRET LEE….BRET LEE…………..and BRET LEE of course ; )

Lots of love..............always..........and............forever..............

This is one of my favourite poems of all time!


Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go - so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, 'There is no memory of him here!'
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.

Edna St Vincent Millay (1892 -1950)

Dear Friends,

I being an ardent animal lover, take this opportunity to congratulate our friend Aakash for the exhibition of immense compassion and humility. He has rescued this Pariah Kite which was stuck in the air conditioner of a building. He then fed it, gave it some water and looked after it carefully until it could fly on its own and be sky bound again.

I think we all should appreciate this huge act of kindness! Gr8 work done Aakash! In times when humans do not have inclination for helping their own kin, you have proved to be a welcome exception and have gone out of your way to rush to the beck and call of a helpless bird.

It’s people like you who embody the lasting relics of the almost extinct humanity! We all know you are an amazing person! We all are so very proud of you! Keep up the good work dear!


Best Regards,
Ketaki

Have you ever heard one of the cheesiest dialogues in Hindi movies- Jiska koi nahi uska to khuda hai yaroon? Jokes apart, I really feel sometimes that someone up there loves me! Time and again strange incidents have re-instated in my belief in this hackneyed statement. I have my own dialogues with god- am angry, am sad, am begging, am praying, am thanking! He’s like a friend who looks after me when my parents are busy! Consider this- I stay alone but am never lonely! I am always surrounded by my relatives, best friends forever, friends form outside, friends from the hostel etc. I never had so many friends if all the 25 years were put together. I am never free; I always have a task or two to do, so my mind is never vacant to pull me into unwanted thoughts. I have attended 4 picnics since May along with family and friends to wonderful places like Roha, Kolhapur, Mahabaleshwar and Lonavala and the number of parties is simply unending. I have attended so many seminars and special programmes in the last 8 months on varied topics ranging from Management to near death experience. Independence is something that I am high strung on these days…and it has all translated itself so effortlessly. I am comfortable around all kinds of people, in spite of our differences. Every moment is like a blessing, am learning so much more!! It’s like a sea change has occurred without putting me into a difficult situation of adjusting to it abrasively. It has rather acted like a catalyst by infusing me with a high-strength mechanism to fight the odds! I guess all this has happened because God wants me to grow, to learn from my shortcomings and work towards overcoming them. Two small incidents that have happened since yesterday made me really ponder on my faith in him!

Yesterday, I was chillaxing at hostel after completing my usual chores. I was very hungry and felt a my stomach cringing to eat sweet shira(my taste buds were craving for it since Wednesday). I was praying god that I some how get it. I decided to cook it for myself and was about to go and get all the special material that it required when my friend called me and said something that made me jump with joy! She told me that our Lunch Tiffins had sweet shira in them and I could have her share as well as she didn’t like it! Isn’t it strange how without saying a word about it, I got what I wanted? I was absolutely flabbergasted. My prayers had been answered! I am using a quote that Akshata used some days back on Face book……it was as if from my mouth to gods ears! Its amazing how in small ways you find someone always there beside you to give you courage, wisdom and strength. Of course I ate the Shira stomach full! In times when I have least expected it God has sent an angel or two to bail me out of problems and longings!

Another one occurred at about 4 am today! Nilesh- Neelambari( I have named them because they are soooo much in loveeeee) is a pair of Blue love birds. My friend Pradnya got them a few months back and everyone dotes on them. They are a pair of very chirpy & happy birds and everyone loves to see their funny antics. Today morning at about 4 am. I could hear loud sounds of their wings fluttering as if they were calling for us. When I woke to see, I saw Massakali( Again don’t mistake him for a demure pigeon from Delhi 6. Our Hostel’s Massakali is a dangerous fat orange and white tom cat) pushing their cage with both its paws. Probably the cat was in a mood for an early morning breakfast. For the past many days we had observed him sitting with his eyes glued to the cage. He had sneaked inside the room from an open window and was about to eat them. I got up and drove it out! Felt good for the birdies. Till the time I left for office both of them were so traumatized that they huddled together in a corner. I could see how deeply they must have prayed when death stared hungrily in their face! How I woke from my slumber is also very surprising since I had slept very late the other nite after reading Mein Kempf! But I know one thing for sure, God answered their prayers! Yes! He did!

Few other good things to be happy about

Mama has got a new kitty kitten called crazzzzzzzzzzy who I absolutely love coz she matches exactly like Bajirao(my cat who passed away last year)Clifford my dear friend has finally got a good job after searching for so many months. You made I Cliffy!!!1 And that’s because of his relentless struggle and God’s Blessings. Banoo has fully recovered from her hospitalization from severe indigestion and back problem! Bhai’s gota new passion pro which my uncle is going to teach me to ride………swanky isn’t it?????

He gives us so much when we don’t ask for it or many times after asking for it! But we always blame God when he doesn’t give us what we want. How selfish of us!

So I just want to thank you God, for stepping in right when all of us wanted you the most! And for fulfilling our wishes! Thanks so much! And you know this but I will still say it! Love you God, so very much!