HELLO... KAUN BOL RAHA HAI????

23^rd March was my birthday...........

Okay, you can wish me even now, I won’t mind. After all, its not a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE type of wish.What did you say just right now???
 “HAPPY  BELATED BIRTHDAY”??
Well, thank you so much. :)

Anyways, I am writing this post not because I want you readers to wish me (well, I do want that), but to talk about an experience I’m sure you would relate to. So, the thing is, I have roughly 70-80 contacts in my phonebook, which I think is too much. So I was hoping that whoever calls or messages to wish me, mujhe pata hoga wo kaun hai. But still, there were many calls I received that were from unknown numbers!! HADD HAI MALAB! If you want to wish me, call from the number I have saved with me na, dusro ke phone kyu use karte ho? So, it was like those audio rounds in music reality shows where I had to guess the person from their voice, and let me tell you, I did quite a good job! Though there were 2-3 instances when I got a call from an unknown number and had the following conversation with the person at the other end of the phone:

THEY: Hey, Happy Birthday!!

ME: Thank You!!
THEY: Did You recognize me?
ME: No.

After that, there was a series of “GUESS TO KARO”, “PEHCHAANO”, “I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD RECOGNIZE MY VOICE” type of games. These instances reminded me of the golden old days of the landline phone, when there was no caller ID and I had a whole list of relatives calling one day or the other. The telephone ring sounded so exciting that I would often rush towards the phone to pick it up. And then there were these dooooorr ke rishteddar, you know long lost relatives who I had no idea about.
I was a very reserved, shy kid back then, so I found it irriating when I had no idea as to who the other person was and still had to chat with them, many a times just so that I could tell my parents who had called after all. 

A maternal aunt of mine, my mother’s cousin, used to call almost every weekend to talk to my mom, you know... to catch up. So earlier when I used to pick up the phone, she would say, “Hello Beta. Mummy ko phone dena.”, I would shout out loudly..... “MUMMMYYYYYYYY.... PHONE HAIIII AAPKAAA!!” This continued for a few years. But then I got jawaan, and was no longer that kid with the soft voice. That baritone in my voice was apparent. So one day the aunt called. I picked up the phone, said hello and she said rightaway, “JEEJA JI Namaste. Didi Hain?”
I could die laughing that very moment, but somehow I kept the firm voice intact and replied, “Namaste. Haan bulaata hoon."

I still literally LOL whenever I think of that instance. There have been other times when unknown numbers or wrong numbers have turned out to be really funny. Once I got a call from someone, shouting as to why the pizza hadn’t reached him yet. At first I told him he had dialled the wrong number. Few minutes later he called again, and this time I also said angrily, “Wait. Its on the way!!”

Then of course there are these calls from matrimony sites. My sister’s name was registered at one of those matrimony centres where you submit your marriage profile and get to look at others' as well. So we often got calls from the interested families telling us about their son. We in our family used to talk seriously then. Later, roughly 2-3 weeks after my sister had got married, we got a call again. Have a look at the conversation I once had with one such interested party:

LADY: Hello, I got this number from that matrimony centre.
ME: Okay. So I guess you are looking for a girl for your son?
LADY: Yes.
ME: Oh, the girl you’re looking for here has gotten married by the way.
LADY: Oh. Ok.
(I could imagine seeing her make the sad smiley face :(, so I decided to cheer her up.)
ME: Anyways, do you have a younger daughter also?
LADY: Yes. 10 year old. Why?
ME: Never Mind!!
_____DISCONNECTED______

So my first attempt at trying my luck went down the drain. Few days back, I did get a call from a matrimony site asking "Sir, Kya Aap Rishta Dhund Rahe Hain?".
So, you never know ;)

Anyways, I am looking at the word limit of this post and it seems to be getting too much. So I will leave it here.

And before I go, remember my birthday next year then. No Gifts Please.

Until next time
Take Care :)  

And New It Shall Remain... Perhaps!!

Last week, I bought my subject books for this semester.

The words in the above sentence are pretty significant. Firstly, this semester is my last one, and after that, hopefully, I will be a graduate. Secondly, I bought my subject books for the first time during the course of my 3 year graduation, the reason being that I felt why should I buy books when they won’t be required after 2-3 months? So, I made most of the Rs. 370 my college charged me with at the time of admission under the head “Library Fees”. I got books issued on my card, sometimes even on others’ cards. I passed 5 semesters like this, BUT....... had to buy the books this time because for some reason the college authorities feel that the final year students will run away with their books! Honestly, I would better run away with a girl rather than a book called “Investment Management-Theory & Practices”! 

Chalo koi nahi, today I finally took a book out to study for the impending internals, but I JUST COULDN’T DO IT. The book looked so new, I thought why spoil it with my hands by studying. Right?  

Well, this has been my habit for long. I treat my new acquisitions and purchases so sincerely that I don’t want to tarnish their novelty by using them. Though some days later I lose all the interest and treat them as if I have had them for long. Let me give you some examples: 

• When I bought my new spectacles, I diligently kept them in their case, cleaning them with the cloth and with the special liquid especially meant for lenses. "New Lenses, I Should Keep Them New" was my motto.  A week later, I threw them here and there, trying to see how correct was the optician when he said “These are glass lenses, treat with caution.” All that cleaning was done way with, and the case meant for keeping the specs is now home to some stationery items.
  But till date, the glasses have not broken!! 

• When I finally bought my new cell, the SAMSUNG Smartphone, I strived to keep it new forever and ever. "SUCH A GOOD PHONE, IT DESERVES CARE" was my motto this time. I used to constantly wipe the screen with that same cloth meant for cleaning spectacle lenses! Few days later, while I was listening to music on my phone, which was comfortably perched on my bed, I jumped on to the bed and as my great great uncle Newton’s law states “Every Action Has A Reaction”, my phone jumped off the bed, infact underneath the bed!
  As I got hold of a torch to locate it under the bed, I found it at the corner, where it wasn’t easy to reach by any means. The situation now was that, my phone was lying beneath the bed, at the same time playing the songs on my playlist. It was fine as long as the music was PARENTS FRIENDLY; it became a little tough to handle when Mr. Yo Yo Honey Singh’s songs started!! So much for my resolve to care for my phone! But it’s been over a year now, its working fine, I have accidentally dropped it also many a times, but CRACK NAHI AAYA!! That’s what you call LOYALTY.

I can give numerous examples like this, but... why bother typing so much? Let’s save this topic for some other day then. Meanwhile, I will go and try to dishonour the beauty of my newly purchased books by studying them. Wish Me Luck :)

Until Next Time
Take Care :)

REDEMPTION...

Last week I talked about the experiences the KKR team shared in the 4 part documentary “LIVING WITH KKR”, and how some of them I could relate to. If you missed it, you can read it here also. In hindsight, may be some of those reading the post might have felt the same feelings at some point in their life. Or maybe, some found the topic boring because it was cricket centric. But hey, I felt really strongly about writing this, so bear with me, varna.... jaane do.

Like I said, KKR bounced back, Sachin Tendulkar bounced back, and on some level, I did too. This week on the blog is about bouncing back, about life coming full circle, for them, for him, for me, and maybe for you as well.

The first three years in the IPL were tumultuous for the Knight Riders. The management, comprising Jay Mehta, Shahrukh and Juhi Chawla felt that maybe they weren’t doing justice to the role expected of them, so they appointed a CEO to manage the team, and decided not to interfere in the decision making process, thereby restricting their role to only supporting the team in the stadiums and outside. When they decided to make a fresh start in the run up to the IVth season, one audacious decision they took was to not have Sourav Ganguly in the team. The decision was obviously taken from a professional point of view, but it had emotional repercussions, like the case in India usually is. The people of Kolkata shouted out loud, “No Ganguly, No KKR”, they decided to boycott their own team. The team management knew this would happen, and took this in their stride.

“We were the only team which had lost home support”, Shahrukh said. They were now focused on doing well on the field and earning the love of the people of Kolkata again. And so they did, in the 5^th season. Led by Gautam Gambhir, the team played exemplary cricket and went on to defeat the favourites, Chennai Super Kings in the final, at their home ground. The love, the cheer, the support was back now. The critics turned into admirers. People changed yet again, this time for the better. KKR had bounced back from adversities. This was their time now.


Sachin Tendulkar continued to play for India at a time when almost the entire nation, the entire cricket fraternity felt that he should retire.  He worked as diligently as before, worked on his mistakes and chose to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to those who criticized him.

From the latter half of 2008 onwards, the old Sachin was making his way back in. He batted a 100 times better than the past, was stitching a string of centuries. The people who were questioning his abilities were once again cheering for him. He was impeccable in the World Cup in 2011, finally managed to get hold of the silver ware that had been eluding him for 28 years. Come 2013, he decided to bid adieu to cricket.

Where did he play his last test match? At Mumbai. His home ground. The very place where he had been booed seven years ago. Now, everyone was behind him. Every run of his was loudly cheered. And we all know how much the crowd loved his farewell speech, there were tears, tears of love. Sachin Tendulkar once again felt at home.
Here too ,the people changed, for the better.


Now, as far as I’m concerned, I guess I grew wiser with the years. I began to lower my expectations from the people around me, as a result of which I wasn’t as dumbstruck and annoyed when some hurting things happened, as used to be the case earlier.
People did change, for me too. I came across nicer ones, patched up with valued ones, let go some of them and developed new, honest relationships with some as well. People I hardly knew once are very close to my heart now. While there were also some who were close to me at one time, but gradually parted ways. Overall, all’s good in the hood. Hopefully!

And here I am, writing all this just because I saw a show and I could relate to it.

Lastly, a big thanks to all you readers who have read this blog at one point or the other. It’s because of you  that THE ARTISTIC EXPRESSION has crossed the 2K mark.
Thank you, and keep the support coming... :)

Until next time...
Take Care :)

I SAW IT.. AND I COULD RELATE TO IT...

Last week, a four part series on the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders premiered, “LIVING WITH KKR”. Given my love for the game, I made sure that I didn’t miss the show. The first episode itself made the one hour worth it. Some of the things they said, they being the KKR team, including Shahrukh Khan, were really emotional. Today’s post is based on that very emotion, those feelings, which somehow, we all experience, and not just Shahrukh Khan. 

During the show, SRK talked about how they were showered with love and joy when his team (Red Chillies) decided to buy the Kolkata franchise in the IPL. Some Bengalis said that because Shahrukh Khan decided to base his team in Kolkata, they felt honoured.
 “A star like him could have chosen any team, but he chose Kolkata. That meant a lot to us..” were the exact words of one such person. As we all saw, KKR made an emphatic IPL debut, winning by 140 runs against RCB. They followed it up with another victory against Deccan Chargers but then began faltering, losing to Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. They were scheduled to play Mumbai Indians next in Mumbai. 

The KKR Director confessed on the show that Shahrukh dearly wanted to win in Mumbai, because that’s where he lived, that’s where he was the KING OF BOLLYWOOD. While he was expecting a good show from his team, there was one thing he hadn’t anticipated, that he would be booed at Wankhede stadium. The same people who so loved his films were now against him, because they believed that Mumbai made Shahrukh the star that he is today, Mumbai is the place where he works and earns his loving, and now he was bringing a team from OUTSIDE to beat the Mumbai team in Mumbai. HOW COULD HE? To make matters worse, KKR folded up for a paltry 67 in the match, the lowest score in the IPL then.  

Being booed is never  a good feeling. Sachin Tendulkar too, was booed at his home ground, the Wankhede, when he got out for just 1 against England in a test match in 2006. He too must have felt what wrong had he done that the very people he treated as a family were now against him. 

I mentioned above that there are feelings which not only SRK experienced, but sometimes we do as well. This is the feeling I’m talking about, the realization that people change. The ones who once admired you, could turn up against you, for no fault of yours. Personally, for me, the 12 years I spent in school taught me a lot in this regard. I experienced moments when the very persons I considered my friends somehow found reasons to hate me, there were misunderstandings, and at times, I had no idea what wrong had I done. People change, or rather, your equation with them changes. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. 

Going back to the show now, KKR owner Jay Mehta said that the 5-6 weeks they spent in South Africa for the 2^nd IPL were some of the worst days of his life. The team was losing, every move, every decision, every player they chose... just went wrong. He said that he felt lonely during those days. To quote him:

“Everybody left. They said they would come back after finishing their work India in about 10 days, but no one came, neither Shahrukh, nor Juhi. As a team owner, I was alone.” 

SRK too agreed to this. He said that when he left his team in South Africa, he felt like he had abandoned his child. That he had let his children down. The KKR director further emphasized that when they went to the hotel lobby for drinks with other teams, he noticed a look in others’ eyes one so dreads, the look of sympathy! 

KKR faltered again the next season. People, including cricket legends told Shahrukh that he didn’t know how to manage a team. There were times, when the KKR management themselves doubted their abilities. Just like how we sometimes doubt ourselves when the going gets tough. There have been times when I too doubted myself. Those times were never good. 

But..
KKR bounced back.
Sachin Tendulkar bounced back.
I bounced back.
We all do.
But HOW?

More on that next week , stay tuned... I’m not done yet.

Until next time..
Take care :)