Facebook has altered my daily routine. The first thing I do waking up every morning is brush my teeth. Facebook has replaced my toothpaste now. It’s an addiction. I wake up to see how many comments on my update, how many likes on my picture, how many comments and generally what the world is up to.
In the days of yore, my idea of fun was bean bags, cups of chai, namkeen or matthi and being with like minded, trust worthy people I called friends. With facebook, even the meaning of friends has changed. People I might not even know reflect in my friend list.
When was the last that we went out on a picnic, watched a movie with friends, lounged at a cafe, played a game of cards or badminton and NOT facebooked about it??
Enter any get together/party/event, most of the people in the room would either be BBMing or updating about their whereabouts, uploading pictures or just telling the world how much ‘fun’ they are having in life. Trust me in this mad race of telling the world about our ‘fun’ times, we actually miss out on the real fun.
We were at a concert the other day. Mohit Chauhan was performing. I have a vivid picture of the stage, the lights, the sound, how Mohit almost tripped over the wires, and how the guitarist just posed and played his part. My friend doesn’t remember any bit. He was busy shooting videos and taking pictures and updating ‘how much fun’ he had at the concert. I fail to understand how one can have fun if you are constantly on the phone. You have to drink in the moment, absorb all that surrounds you, see, hear, feel...only if you lift your face from that godforsaken phone of yours. I guess it’s the virtual peer pressure, the need to tell the world the ‘cool’ things you are doing, the ‘cool’ places you are at and the ‘cool’ people you are meeting.
It’s because of the same peer pressure that I overheard someone complain how badly she wanted to go shopping. Back in the day you wouldn’t repeat a dress in the same circle of friends but could easily wear it elsewhere. Now you CAN NOT repeat a dress, period. Everyone has checked all your clothes in your innumerable facebook albums.
And then there are funny rules to the game. Your popularity is directly proportional to the number of likes you have got on your update or the number of comments on your picture. My cousin and I almost picked a fight coz we chose not to comment on each others’ pictures or comments. Yes this is called virtual ignoring. And this is no exaggeration when I say that couples have broken up because one didn’t comment or like the other’s update or picture.
So you know your quote friend unquote has got married not because you received the invitation card or attended his/her wedding, but because the relationship status changed from being single to married.
In fact a month ago when Delhi was hit by an earthquake, people tweeted and facebooked about it instead of running out of the house. The need of being the first one to break it first might even cost us our lives.
On a lighter note, I read something funny ironically on facebook. A newly married guy updated- suhag raat hain, ghoongat utha raha hoon main. Heights!!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
incomplete...
Like my scribble-stories that I start and leave unsaid
And those thick books, unread
Like a gym membership that works as a charity
Like my favourite TV show losing its popularity
Like the much awaited movies
That I walk out coz I am so bored
And an almost interesting chat
That I log out coz I aint sure
Like the song that I so love
Alas only for a minute
Coz right after the first verse
I start to fidget
Like ideas that excite me
And just excite me
Like the dishes I cook hungrily but hardly sit down to eat
Like many a things I skip and leave incomplete
Like those things that have a beginning but do not seem to end
This verse I promise is no different,
Coz I...
And those thick books, unread
Like a gym membership that works as a charity
Like my favourite TV show losing its popularity
Like the much awaited movies
That I walk out coz I am so bored
And an almost interesting chat
That I log out coz I aint sure
Like the song that I so love
Alas only for a minute
Coz right after the first verse
I start to fidget
Like ideas that excite me
And just excite me
Like the dishes I cook hungrily but hardly sit down to eat
Like many a things I skip and leave incomplete
Like those things that have a beginning but do not seem to end
This verse I promise is no different,
Coz I...
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Sardiyaan...
Garam angidhi mein barsaat ke bhunte huye bhutte
aur sardiyon ki sulaghti moongfaliya...
chashni mein chip chip jalebiyan
aur sust chai ki chuskiyan...
haus khas ke kile pe hawa se baatein
aur ridge road ke thande meethe goonjte sannate...
kabhi kabhi aaj bhi dil ke veeran kone mein sardiyon ki sarsarahat si dastak de jate hain...
aur sardiyon ki sulaghti moongfaliya...
chashni mein chip chip jalebiyan
aur sust chai ki chuskiyan...
haus khas ke kile pe hawa se baatein
aur ridge road ke thande meethe goonjte sannate...
kabhi kabhi aaj bhi dil ke veeran kone mein sardiyon ki sarsarahat si dastak de jate hain...
Ek baat...
Ek baat
Shabdo ki mohtaaj
Khud se jhoojthi hui...
Lavjo ko dhoondti hui,
Kabhi aankhon ke raste bahar aana chahe...
Kabhi dabi muskurahat ban ke reh jaye
Aur lab par aate hi
Phir ladkhada jaye
Avaz se dushmani ho jaise...
Yeh baat nikle toh nikle kaise...?
Lokesh Dharmani- 18th Oct 2011 7:37 p.m
Shabdo ki mohtaaj
Khud se jhoojthi hui...
Lavjo ko dhoondti hui,
Kabhi aankhon ke raste bahar aana chahe...
Kabhi dabi muskurahat ban ke reh jaye
Aur lab par aate hi
Phir ladkhada jaye
Avaz se dushmani ho jaise...
Yeh baat nikle toh nikle kaise...?
Lokesh Dharmani- 18th Oct 2011 7:37 p.m
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Let's find a solution...
It’s been more than ten days now ever since Mumbai blasts, or shall I say, ever since the latest, most recent Mumbai bomb blasts. (It’s imperative to give reference when we have so many of them!) I have been keeping quiet, acting like a sponge, observing and absorbing everything that people have to say about the issue of terrorism that has been plaguing our country since time immemorial. So right from facebook/twitter updates to news channels to radio stations to blogs, I have watched/read/heard them all. It was almost like preparing for a debate competition back in school or preparing a long literature answer in college. You refer to different books and notes and put all the best points together to come up with the best piece. I wanted to hear everyone and sundry so that I could find solutions, some concrete solutions that would enable us to combat terrorism.
Alas! There aren’t too many.
While the facebook updates either lash angst at the neighbouring country or squeak a lame ‘how long’ post for the sake of ‘being with it’, the TV channels are on a different tangent altogether! From shamelessly reporting the heart wrenching sights of a dying Mumbai, to mercilessly zooming into helpless faces, asking them the lamest, the most inhuman question, how they felt at a loss of a young family member to morally judging a politician for his presence at a fashion show or a Bollywood star for throwing a birthday party for a fellow star, they have titillated enough for petty TRPs.
What disgusts and amuses me at the same time is the lavish usage of the new word- resilience! Resilience is the ability to recover from misfortune. My only question – does a middle class man who earns a few hundred everyday have the luxury to be resilient?? Paradoxical! Painfully paradoxical. Dear Politician, try earning five thousand a month and then dare spell helplessness as r-e-s-i-l-i-e-n-c-e!
I wanted to have some solutions so badly that I struck a conversation with a couple of my colleagues this morning. One fumed with anger and the other shrugged shoulders in a –nobody-cares-dude vibe..ofcourse...coz bomb blasts always happen to other people, not us!
Some thoughts that I still ponder on after absorbing it all-
# 10 people die every day in Mumbai local trains that makes an average of 300 every month, almost thrice the number of deaths in the last bomb blast. Terrorism comes much later, get your trains system right first.
# Can our political parties be ever human? Would we ever see our Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition call a press conference and take a stand TOGETHER against terrorism?
# Why don’t we hike our police personnel’s salaries? Almost one third of the State Intelligence department’s seats are lying vacant. Have you ever wondered why parents never say- “humara beta toh police join karega?” (After all a DJ spins for a night and earns five times a police officer’s monthly income!)
# Should we have an autonomous apolitical party that’s accountable for terrorist attacks?
# Would some kind of training be of any help?
# How much can we as citizens contribute? Be more receptive to the security checks?
It's high time we found concrete solutions to this problem and stopped taking pot-shots at one another. If you have any more thoughts, feel free to contribute.
They have attacked our malls, markets, parks, pubs, hell the iconic Taj in Mumbai. They have not even spared our Parliament House and we still sign mercy petitions for the likes of Kasab and Afzal Guru and continue giving a fillip to the terrorist morale.
Alas! There aren’t too many.
While the facebook updates either lash angst at the neighbouring country or squeak a lame ‘how long’ post for the sake of ‘being with it’, the TV channels are on a different tangent altogether! From shamelessly reporting the heart wrenching sights of a dying Mumbai, to mercilessly zooming into helpless faces, asking them the lamest, the most inhuman question, how they felt at a loss of a young family member to morally judging a politician for his presence at a fashion show or a Bollywood star for throwing a birthday party for a fellow star, they have titillated enough for petty TRPs.
What disgusts and amuses me at the same time is the lavish usage of the new word- resilience! Resilience is the ability to recover from misfortune. My only question – does a middle class man who earns a few hundred everyday have the luxury to be resilient?? Paradoxical! Painfully paradoxical. Dear Politician, try earning five thousand a month and then dare spell helplessness as r-e-s-i-l-i-e-n-c-e!
I wanted to have some solutions so badly that I struck a conversation with a couple of my colleagues this morning. One fumed with anger and the other shrugged shoulders in a –nobody-cares-dude vibe..ofcourse...coz bomb blasts always happen to other people, not us!
Some thoughts that I still ponder on after absorbing it all-
# 10 people die every day in Mumbai local trains that makes an average of 300 every month, almost thrice the number of deaths in the last bomb blast. Terrorism comes much later, get your trains system right first.
# Can our political parties be ever human? Would we ever see our Prime Minister and the leader of the Opposition call a press conference and take a stand TOGETHER against terrorism?
# Why don’t we hike our police personnel’s salaries? Almost one third of the State Intelligence department’s seats are lying vacant. Have you ever wondered why parents never say- “humara beta toh police join karega?” (After all a DJ spins for a night and earns five times a police officer’s monthly income!)
# Should we have an autonomous apolitical party that’s accountable for terrorist attacks?
# Would some kind of training be of any help?
# How much can we as citizens contribute? Be more receptive to the security checks?
It's high time we found concrete solutions to this problem and stopped taking pot-shots at one another. If you have any more thoughts, feel free to contribute.
They have attacked our malls, markets, parks, pubs, hell the iconic Taj in Mumbai. They have not even spared our Parliament House and we still sign mercy petitions for the likes of Kasab and Afzal Guru and continue giving a fillip to the terrorist morale.
Friday, June 3, 2011
An apology to the inarticulate.
I want to apologise to many today. I might even take names. I think I am a bit shallow....or at least used to be. Isn’t funny how we always judge people by how glib they are, how well they can talk. Talent, a good heart, passion...nothing else matters but the gift of gab.
Almost half a decade ago, in a conversation with one of my friends, Neelu, I candidly called someone boring coz he wasn’t too articulate! She re torted, frowned and sighed at the ways of the world, how one is instantly written off if one doesn’t have a way with words. I might have brushed aside her thought as an overreaction but I realise now what she meant then! In fact I almost reacted similarly recently when yet another 24 year old judged the world based on the art of communication.
There are a lot of names that I can mention here whom I sincerely want to apologise to coz I thought they were ‘boring’/’worthless’ coz they couldn’t crack an original joke or string a one liner at a drop of a hat, but I would rather not. (Calling someone inarticulate on a public forum like this is not done)
So there was a student who wrote well, a radio colleague who is talent personified, another ex- colleague who has a heart of gold and so many others who faced my silly judgements all because they couldn’t say something funny/witty/interesting!
Words and wit might make good marketing, good packaging and sometimes JUST THAT!
Almost half a decade ago, in a conversation with one of my friends, Neelu, I candidly called someone boring coz he wasn’t too articulate! She re torted, frowned and sighed at the ways of the world, how one is instantly written off if one doesn’t have a way with words. I might have brushed aside her thought as an overreaction but I realise now what she meant then! In fact I almost reacted similarly recently when yet another 24 year old judged the world based on the art of communication.
There are a lot of names that I can mention here whom I sincerely want to apologise to coz I thought they were ‘boring’/’worthless’ coz they couldn’t crack an original joke or string a one liner at a drop of a hat, but I would rather not. (Calling someone inarticulate on a public forum like this is not done)
So there was a student who wrote well, a radio colleague who is talent personified, another ex- colleague who has a heart of gold and so many others who faced my silly judgements all because they couldn’t say something funny/witty/interesting!
Words and wit might make good marketing, good packaging and sometimes JUST THAT!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
...
Some memories clutch at the seams of my mind...Delhi and its beings still spasm every now and then in my mind, a native recurrent reminiscence for me! The Earth has taken a full solar revolution since I left India!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Post 56th Filmfare awards thoughts!
1. Sonakshi Sinha can think on her feet. Her ‘khamosh’ moment did leave the cheeky chandus Ranbir and Imran speechless.
2. Sonakshi’s amateur dance performance shows how she is still so untarnished with the ways of filmdom; her sharp contrast was Priyanka Chopra and her tribute to Madhuri Dixit.
3. Kajol reverently applauding everyone and sundry.
4. Katrina blowing kisses to practically everyone, Imran, Ranbir...err...Kareena. Was it bad editing of the show or the aftermaths of a breakup with Sallu?
5. Far better than any animated character hosting the show, far better than any smart ass act of wit, far far better than any wisely, wittily scripted act, what’s MOST endearing is to see Sonu Nigham go various stalwarts of the industry and weave some magic with his voice. Ah! How I wish I could slip into a song as effortlessly and beautifully as Mr. Nigham!
6. SRK can blah blah blah about his childhood days, how he holds Mr. Bachchan in great regard, how we all look upto him, how he always wanted to be like him, blah blah blah...and some more blah...and some more blah...someone tell the faff ball to shut up!! He can tomtom about his fake love for Mr. Bachchan in public and forget to reply to his birthday wishes.
7. I don’t hate SRK, but he is turning senile. Please tell him that humility is a virtue and silence, gold.
8. Arbaaz Khan’s candid confession of he had been struggling and finally struck gold with Dabangg was truly heartwarming!
9. Mamta Sharma’s very very very very very very very ‘thankful’ short speech was also truly heartwarming!
10. Farah Khan is a funny woman. She is funny when she is not reading from the autocue. After a spate of technical awards to Udan, she comes on stage and thanks GAWWWDD for no songs and dance in Udaan, else she would be deprived of this award!!
11. My most favourite moment- when my all time favourite Manna Da was given the lifetime achievement award.
12. Ranbir’s enactment of Rizwan khan of My name is Khan was spot ON!
13. Ranbir and Imran had a few funny moments!
14. Amitabh Bachchan with that white beard, like what was that dude?
15. So you thought Imran and Ranbir had you all cracked up? The funniest FILMFARE moment for me was- a) Kareena Kapoor- the best actress in a supporting role for We are Family.
b) Shah Rukh Khan- the best actor for MY name is Khan!
2. Sonakshi’s amateur dance performance shows how she is still so untarnished with the ways of filmdom; her sharp contrast was Priyanka Chopra and her tribute to Madhuri Dixit.
3. Kajol reverently applauding everyone and sundry.
4. Katrina blowing kisses to practically everyone, Imran, Ranbir...err...Kareena. Was it bad editing of the show or the aftermaths of a breakup with Sallu?
5. Far better than any animated character hosting the show, far better than any smart ass act of wit, far far better than any wisely, wittily scripted act, what’s MOST endearing is to see Sonu Nigham go various stalwarts of the industry and weave some magic with his voice. Ah! How I wish I could slip into a song as effortlessly and beautifully as Mr. Nigham!
6. SRK can blah blah blah about his childhood days, how he holds Mr. Bachchan in great regard, how we all look upto him, how he always wanted to be like him, blah blah blah...and some more blah...and some more blah...someone tell the faff ball to shut up!! He can tomtom about his fake love for Mr. Bachchan in public and forget to reply to his birthday wishes.
7. I don’t hate SRK, but he is turning senile. Please tell him that humility is a virtue and silence, gold.
8. Arbaaz Khan’s candid confession of he had been struggling and finally struck gold with Dabangg was truly heartwarming!
9. Mamta Sharma’s very very very very very very very ‘thankful’ short speech was also truly heartwarming!
10. Farah Khan is a funny woman. She is funny when she is not reading from the autocue. After a spate of technical awards to Udan, she comes on stage and thanks GAWWWDD for no songs and dance in Udaan, else she would be deprived of this award!!
11. My most favourite moment- when my all time favourite Manna Da was given the lifetime achievement award.
12. Ranbir’s enactment of Rizwan khan of My name is Khan was spot ON!
13. Ranbir and Imran had a few funny moments!
14. Amitabh Bachchan with that white beard, like what was that dude?
15. So you thought Imran and Ranbir had you all cracked up? The funniest FILMFARE moment for me was- a) Kareena Kapoor- the best actress in a supporting role for We are Family.
b) Shah Rukh Khan- the best actor for MY name is Khan!
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