Just Another Sunday

I don't usually write about movies on my blog but this post is among the few that come in that category.  I love movies that we as common people can connect to - the simple, straight forward movies without too much of superficiality; movies that talk about real life and not some villian and hero chase.

One such movie that I absolutely loved was 'Tu Hai Mera Sunday'.  This is an old film (2016), which I somehow never got to watch until now.  I came across it by chance today and am glad I watched it.  It is about 5 friends who love to play football.  It is shot in the city of Mumbai.  It is very different from the usual Bollywood masala movies, and comes with a dose of reality and simplicity. This movie warms the heart. Most of the cast are not very famous but they are really talented.

The movie makes us realize how each of us has a story and how everyone is dealing with something in their lives. A young lady is abandoned by her husband and she lives with two small children in a flat, yet she always has a smile on her face. It breaks the heart to see her alone with her small kids but her attitude towards life is wonderful!

An old man leaves home and is brought back by Arjun (one of the 5 friends).  The helpful nature of Arjun touches the heart once again. He is shown as a sensible and sensitive guy. He follows his heart, and doesn't follow the crowd.  He is romantic but in a non-dramatic way.  He also happens to be one of my favorite characters in the movie. Arjun's character is played by Barun Sobti, whose performance is very good in the movie.  And Barun is soooooooooooo cute !! :)

The movie portrays day to day life, the tiny incidents that happen, and the many moments that make up life.  There is humor, anger, rage, fear, insecurity, vulnerability, and an array of emotions.

The way Milind Dhaimade, the director of the movie has depicted the emotion of love is also beautiful.  It is very simple, real, deep and non-perfect.  In today's world where relationships are so complicated, and many people go out with each other just for superficial reasons, this movie shows love for what it is. A beautiful and complex human emotion. None of the characters plan on meeting each other, but unexpected events bring them together. Something like destiny maybe.  There are no dramatic romantic songs or long dialogues. Everything just happens at it's pace during the course of the movie. The chemistry between the characters is good.

I really hope more such movies are made in future. Stories that we connect to, that we enjoy watching and that are great with a cup of chai :)

They Don't Need To Get It

We live in a world where society expects us to live a certain way and be a certain way.  Right from the time a child is born, he or she is expected to fit in. If a child doesn't get good marks in his or her exams, he or she is termed as a 'failure' by society.  If a child is quiet or hyperactive, then again society classifies him or her as a child with issues. It is not just during childhood that all this happens. It affects us adults as well.

Society has so much expectation of us in every part of our life. If we happen to be a little different from what we are supposed to be (as per society) then we are questioned for sure.  What has happened to us is that we are taught to be part of a herd (as Paulo Coelho mentions in the book The Alchemist).  We are not encouraged to think outside the box. We are confined by society.

But what if we don't like following rules? What is we see things differently? What if we want to move out of that herd and see what lies outside? What if we want to live life our way and not the herd way? Something like Jonathan Livingston Sea Gull, who knew that he didn't really fit in and yet he learnt how to fly. Many gulls scolded him and made fun of him, but he didn't give up. He knew there was something beyond the crowd and and there was more than what he had been taught to see. He discovered Freedom.

So if you feel like you don't entirely belong in the crowd, it is probably because you are different and you see things in a different way. The worst thing you can do is suppress yourself just to be like them.  It is ok to be who you are, even if it means you are not like 'THEM'.  Dress up your way, break a few rules, travel, sing a song, adopt a cat, whatever it be just follow your heart. 

Don't give up on your dreams just because of people and the crowd.  Not everyone will understand where you are in life, nor will they relate to it. And that is ok. Most people are busy in their own lives.   They won't always get it and you don't need to explain. Once you take a step towards accepting who you are, the universe helps you out in small and big ways.  After all, " It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.

The Dairy Of Naomi

Many people are looking at me and most of them appear amazed. Some of them clap their hands, and the others are too busy clicking selfies with me in the background. Some of the kids try to speak to me while the others are just too busy staring at me! Ok, now this is a little irritating. Why do they have to look at me and take my photographs? My eyes hurt because of the flash. And the sound of the camera is one of the most unpleasant sounds I have heard. Can't these people get a life? Can't they mind their own business? How would they feel if my friends and I did the same to them? And now here comes another wierdo who is actually throwing food at me! I mean seriously, back-off dude!! I have more than enough food for myself and I don't need the stuff you just threw at me.

Oh in the midst of all the anger and desperation, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Naomi the rabbit. I live in the Waffles Zoo at the 5th Street. I got here when I was 4 months old. The older buds I have say my uncle left me here. No one really knows about my mom and dad. No one has seen them. I feel a deep urge to meet them and ask them why they left me. But since the time I remember the zoo has been my home. While I was a kid I used to enjoy the attention but now, I have changed. Grown up maybe?

  I have a nice group of friends at the zoo. They are of all age groups. The elder ones seem more matured than me and are not as sensitive as I am. They don't care about how many selfies people take with them, and many of them are not really bothered. The old ones have reached a state of apathy (which is scary).

As for me, I really want to get out of this zoo. I mean, imagine being born and spending your entire life entertaining other people? Being around people who don't know you, who don't really care about you, and who are just there to look amazed. I mean I can't spend the rest of my life like this. I want to get the hell out of the Waffles Zoo and discover myself.

I want to see places, climb a bus, have red and orange carrots and see if I can actually spot the difference between them. I want to have an adventure before I grow old. I want to live for me and not as an object of attraction for these strangers. I hate being the center of attraction anyways. It is such a big, wide world. There are so many mountains, grasslands, lakes and rivers. There are volcanoes and there are wild sunsets. And all of that is much better than living my life locked up in a zoo. I want to run away from here, I want to fall in love, I want to have an adventure of some kind.  The zoo isn't really my place.

I don't really know when I fell asleep thinking about all this. The next day I opened my eyes and found myself in a completely new place. I was in a room that looked very beautiful. There were red and orange carrots kept near me and a bowl of water. "Where am I, I wondered!". I knew it definitely wasn't the zoo! I was a little anxious as a new situation in life is always a cause of anxiety. I got up and went towards the window. There was a beautiful garden outside. "Öh you are up! My darling rabbit", said a voice. I turned around and saw a little girl. She said her name was Tina. She knew everything about me. My thoughts, my dreams, my anger and fear. I wondered how. She then said she could communicate with animals. She understood their language and thoughts. That was her super power.

She had come to visit Waffles the previous week and heard me saying that I wanted to move out of the zoo.  She then decided to take me out of there and wrote a letter to the zoo authorities. Her dad knows the manager there and so here I was - at her house.  She said I could stay there for as long as I wanted and leave whenever my heart wanted to!!

I couldn't really believe it! How my life had changed so much. It was totally unexpected. And all I could tell myself at that moment was 'Miracles do happen. So never stop dreaming, as you never know when your dream will come true! '

-- The Dairy Of Naomi

Dexter's Story

"Hey guys!!" I'm Dexter, a 3 year old Lab. I'm beige in color and oh ya my paws are white. That is probably because my father was white in color. I live on the 21st Street in Blossom Town with my owner, master and family - Ray. Ray is the best owner any dog can have. He is caring and at the same time gives me space to bark my heart out when I want to. He doesn't mind my chasing away pigeons with my right paw. I love sleeping and I also snore at times, but Ray has never scolded me for snoring loudly. Ray and I love exercising. Both of us are very sporty. We run for an hour every morning at 6 AM. And I love running with Ray. Where do we run? Oh, there is a park near by and it's the perfect place to run and exercise.

I'm handsome, super sexy, have many fans in the park, I live a healthy and fit life and have a wonderful master who gives me yummy chicken, leafy vegetables, potatoes and rice. Occasionally I also get pampered with some ice cream from Ray!

I thought my life was perfect until one day everything changed! Life took a new turn and my perfect life felt not-so-perfect. Yes yes, I know, you must be wondering what happened that changed everything. Lily happened!

Lily had just moved into the next house with her master. I usually hate having neighbors right next to us because their loud human voices and languages that I don't understand irritate me and disturb my sleep. But this time it was different, because Lily was there.  I first saw her at her balcony, looking deeply at the aquarium her owner had just placed. Lily was a mix of white, brown and black colors - a rare combination I must say. She was small built, looked tiny but very pretty. There was something unique about her.

Now you will ask me what breed she was?  Ok, let me tell you - she was not a dog like me, but a cat! Ok, laugh if you must but the truth still remains that I fell in love with a cat! It was love at first sight for me. They say you never know when love happens and it defies all logic and turns your life upside down. Well, that is what happened to my perfect doggy life. I would sit for hours and look at her balcony in the hope that I would get to see her. And when I would, my eyes would light up. Her voice was very childlike. It wasn't rough like the other cats. There was a certain kind of innocence in her and that is what I liked about her. She was the dreamy kind, most of the time in her own world.  I can go on and on about Lily but I guess this is enough introduction about her.

One morning, my uncle Jimmy (the black lab from the next street) had come to meet me at the park  and he noticed a change in me. He asked me what the matter was and when I told him I had fallen in love with Lily, he fainted! I then had to ask Ray to get some water and sprinkle it on his face.  Once Jimmy was up, he tried to talk me out of the idea of asking Lily out. He said 'she is different from you. There is nothing common between you. How on earth can you think about her (a feline species!!)' Jimmy said he would introduce me to some awesome doggy ladies from the neighborhood.  There was a black Pomeranian called Sheela, a pug called Rixy, and I think he said about a dalmatian called Ash! But all my heart wanted was Lily. Yes, Lily my cat.

The biggest worry Jimmy had about Lily and I was our language. I mean come on, I bark and she miaws. How on earth will we communicate? How would she understand what I meant and how will I get what she says! Well, yeah Jimmy had a point - a very valid point actually. But then you know what? I told Jimmy I would learn the miaw language for Lily. Jimmy gave me a long lecture that lasted for about half an hour and when he was done, he left. I am sure he was still in shock!

After about six months, I still felt the same about Lily. I would wait to hear her voice and see her come out of her house. My taste of music changed and now I listened to dreamy and soft doggy songs. I also listened to some cat songs and enjoyed them just as much.  Her presence definitely had an effect on me. If Ray knew that I had fallen for Lily and fallen so bad, I am sure he would have understood and helped me out as I have heard that human beings also have something called inter community relationships.  But mine isn't even an inter community relationship, it is inter species!!

I was a little scared of what my family would do if they had known about Lily. She was beautiful, cute, adorable and childlike but then she was a CAT! And a dog and a cat can't fall in love! At least according to the world they can't. I am sure Lily had no clue of what I felt for her. But six months had passed and I decided to tell her about my feelings with a ring and an imported fish from the Indian Ocean. (Cats love fish, that is why.)

I took Jimmy with me to the ring shop and picked up one with a fish shaped stone. I got our names engraved on it just to personalize it more. My Indian Ocean fish had been ordered online, and it would reach me in a while.

Everything was ready and I had practiced what to say to Lily a million times in front of Jimmy until Jimmy had a headache. I was scared, a little anxious, but my heart beat very fast. I felt excitement that I had never felt before. I didn't care about anything - the other dogs, cats, our language issue, etc. I just knew I had to tell Lily.

That day Lily didn't come out from her house. I was worried, but I waited for her. Much later Jimmy came and said Lily and her family had shifted to England.

Ok, guys so that is my story. Now it's time for my daily run with Ray and Jimmy is planning to join us from now on. Bye guys!"

Brinkley Lands On Earth

It was a usual morning in India. The monsoon shower had just got over and it was starting to get sunny. A small part of the rainbow was visible in the sky. A child who was waiting for his school bus along with his mom looked at the rainbow in awe.  Dogs were sleeping near newspaper shops. Buses and auto rickshaws were honking loudly. Vegetable vendors were neatly laying the fresh vegetables down.

A spaceship was traveling far away in space. It started from the moon of Saturn and was on it's way to Mercury and back.  That morning, the spaceship happen to cross Earth and Brinkley (one of the aliens in it) was awestruck at the beauty of our planet. Shades of blue with a hint of green and white and brown! He instantly felt a deep desire to land on Earth, if just for a while. He spoke to the others and after a long discussion they said they would drop him off on Earth and let him explore. They would be back after some days. Brinkley was very happy.

After a few hours, the spaceship hit Earth's surface and Brinkley was dropped off here. Due to the fact that he belonged to an advanced alien race, he didn't have issues adjusting to Earth's atmospheric changes. He landed near Hyderabad and in a while reached old Hyderabad. He looked quite different from us, he was pale green in color, was a little shorter that human beings and had very deep eyes. While most people looked at him and passed by, no one really came to speak to him. He was excited as he was on a totally new planet but he also felt a little lost.

After he walked for a while, he reached a shop where people were sitting and eating. He saw mostly groups of people, and wondered where to sit. He spotted a boy who was sitting alone and he went to him. The boy looked a little sad and depressed. When he first saw Brinkley, he was amazed. He wasn't scared but he was very curious. Brinkley and he spoke and in some time they seemed to have become friends. Brinkley said he had a few days on our planet and he wished to enjoy himself.

The boy told him a few thing that he could think of.

1. Try the masala chai in a road side shop

2. Have pani puri from any small chat shop

3. Make a visit to a nice city like Rajasthan and sit on the camel there.

4. Sit on a gaint wheel

5. Go to an ocean that isn't crowded

6. Visit Ooty in the toy train.

Brinkley had a long list now. He knew that he would have a great time. He asked the boy to join him and both of them started off with their list.  His advanced powers meant that he could travel across cities at the speed of light. He didn't need a train or bus (how cool is that!). He took the boy along.

After his holiday on Earth, Brinkley felt like a new being. He had made a friend on Earth, seen some places, listened to the sound of the ocean waves, tried some yummy food, and also done some shopping. He bought himself a kurta and mundu.   Brinkley's spaceship came to take him back after some time. Brinkley left with a heavy heart but one that was filled with many memories.

He also took with him a huge box of pani puris for his friends in the spaceship.

Friendship .....................

"Good Friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you know they are always there." This is a wonderful quote that is so true.

Most of us have many friends - they are the people we meet at school, college, office or life brings them into our life in some way. But out of these people, some of them become our true friends. They say that the best things happen when you least expect. A true friend will most likely be the person you never thought you would ever be in touch after college or work. They might be people you smiled at but never really spoke. And as life progresses, these people come back into your life and become your true friend. 

Talking a little more about true friends - 

Most of my true and close friends are those whom I had never thought I would be friends with. Most of my friendships have taken time to develop and eventually we have reached a point of 'forever friends'. 

So how do we know if someone is a true friend? 

Well, this is a tuff one! But I guess we will know. Our heart will tell us who is true and who is not. And if I have to be a little more specific, then some of the points to know are:

1. A true friend will always tell you the truth no matter how much it sucks. So, if you get a new hair cut and it looks hilarious on you, a true friend will tell it to you on the face. They won't sugar coat things. They wouldn't mind a few scoldings from you for having said the truth but no matter what they will speak the truth, 

2. They are true to you. 

A true friend will never lie to you or talk about you behind your back. They will never gossip about you. 

3. They accept you as you are.

So you might be a wierdo who loves to have chai at 12 midnight. Or you love watching romantic movies and you might even cry during one. You might want to take a late night walk in your pajamas and tees with a messy hair bun, or you are a hopeless dreamer who dreams of fairy tales and happy endings. No matter what, you are accepted just the way you are. You won't feel the pressure to change yourself just to fit in. You can be you without any worries whatsoever, and this is true friendship.

4. A very good listener and adviser.

We all have those moments when we need someone to listen to us. Someone to just listen. There are moments when we feel like talking for an hour or may be two hours. And all we need is a patient listener. Someone who not only hears us but listens to what we say. Someone who is attentive to what we are talking about and who is there through it all.  Just talking for an hour can be so relaxing and if a friend listens and advises us when we need advice then that sure is the trait of a true friend. 

5. You laugh at jokes which no one else understands.

There are times when all you need is some good laughter. And sometimes you need someone who can make you laugh and who laughs with you! 

6. Helpful people

Your true friends will always try to help you no matter what. Be it something small or big, they will be there for you!

They know the good, the bad and the ugly you. And yet they love you unconditionally. They see your flaws clearly but don't judge you. They might be people you never spoke to for a long time, but the friendship happened at it's own pace. A true friend happens unexpectedly. In fact most of the beautiful things in life happen when you don't plan or expect anything. 

So always keep your eyes open as you never know when you find a true friend!!