Come back time

Hello friends, I am back (well, it took me almost 28 months to make a comeback). And surely this cannot be said with a BANG since I really have no idea what I should write about.

It’s been sometime that I am thinking of writing something. But the problem is that there are far too many topics that I want to write about – Life in general, Friends, Cricket, Sports, Politics, Local Issues etc etc.

The other day I read Amitabh Bachchan’s blog on Big adda and thought if this legend can pen down thoughts almost everyday (provided he really himself writes all that is being posted on big adda) then do I, vella for life, have an option to come up with an excuse for not writing ?

So, here I am back and would keep pushing myself to put down whatever meaningful and meaningless (which would form the major chunk) thoughts that come to my cluttered mind.

"...tu bola....aur mein chala..."

I picked up my TV remote; it was a Sony remote control way back in 1980’s.So fidgeting with a Sony remote control was a kind of luxury during those days. If I recollect, our 29” Sony Television during those days was shipped from Singapore. So it was in true sense an “imported item” bought for Rs.11, 000 with 29 channels to be played. It was a another sad story that our humble country could provide only 2 channels.

My Sony TV comes to life and starts amplifying “ Vikraam Vikraamm Vikrammmmmm………..Betaal Betaall Betaaallllll…..Vikram aur Betaal ki kahani..
…..”

Hearing this, I immediately take my seat and get completely engrossed in the world of Vikram and Betaal. The fact that I still remember vividly the title song and how both Vikram and Betaal looked suggest that it was one of the serials I consumed regularly during my childhood on television.

Vikram Betaal was a series comprising spellbinding stories told to the wise King Vikramaditya by a wily ghost, rather I should say a white ghost. The backdrop of all the stories would always remain the same, where King Vikramaditya had promised to get a corpse from the jungle. The episode used to begin where Mighty King Vikramaditya would capture this wily white ghost and put him on his back.

Now that the journey through the dark woods begins, we don’t have to tax our brain and bother about the starting of each episode. Suddenly you realize that our wily white ghost though enjoying the free ride gets bored and starts a conversation with an implied warning applicable for all the episodes.

WARNING: If King Vikramaditya speaks a single word during the journey or answers any of our dear ghots’s questions to the story, ghosts would get the opportunity to escape. (Why and how, please don’t bother to ask, after all he is the Ghost)

Now all the episodes (though I failed to recollect any story in its entirety ) used to have stories with some actions and counter action which would in the end raise one question to test the moral values, ethics and wisdom in the given context. The story would be told by Betaal and King Vikram would pay attention but at the same time he would be aware that he has to SHUT UP.

In the end, Betaal would pose the million Dollar question to which King Vikram would unknowingly answer his question and fall for the trap. Still King Vikram would end up impressing Betaal with his wisdom and intellect which would be the very reason why children should have watched Vikram Betaal then.

With this comes the best part of the entire series as far as I am concern. I would call it one of the most memorable dialogues of the 80’s. Being impressed with the King, Betaal reminds King Vikram now that the story is over let’s come to the point. After this Btaal say

“Tu bola….aur mein chala…hahaha…hahahah”

Betaal would slip neatly off King Vikram’s shoulder and fly making his way to his permanent residence (read: some tree where he would hand up side down).

"..I shouldn't have been alive..." - Energee

I know , the moment you see the above picture its going to take you back some years * flash back , pictures flickering in front of your eyes* and within no time you would end up vividly recollecting your encounter with country’s most under rated milk based drink – ENERGEE!!!

Now, if you have a close look , it is served in a 200 ml nice curvaceous glass bottle * mind you not to compare with the curves of latest 7 UP 500 ml bottle. Mallika Sherawat is a recent phenomenon. Energee has been in existence since four decades * but you will probably find yourself buying two or three bottles, its too addictive!!! Pineapple , Coffee , Pista/Elaichi and Strawberry are the flavors available. Manufactured by Aarey, Energee is distributed in company owned Aarey booths most of which are located outside the railway stations. These booths have a very unique iconography, unique more due to the standardized format than the aesthetics and appeal. Now days, you will find most of the Aarey booths almost faded due to assaults of weather and never repainted. They come as a multi utility unit spread across the footpaths of Mumbai with facilities such as public phone for mobile users frequently having zero balance in their card , Aarey Lassi which itself is another topic of discussion and obviously ENERGEE which serves as your mid meal and is also a fantastic thirst quencher.

If you have a look at the logo, it’s still the same and has remained unchanged for decades together just like the shape of the bottle. It has a Blue Bold rectangular strip running with an angle slightly upwards with ENERGEE written on it which eventually takes the color of the flavor due to its transparency. The rectangle strip is supported by another 2 small red stripes at the edges. The branding team (if at all there was any) at Aarey needs a pat on their back for coming up with an innovative way of writing simple ‘Energy’ as ‘Energee’ and using those double ‘E’s’ to give that extra punch of energy.

Energee has been with us for decades and that too with no advertising efforts or campaigns to promote the brand which may be the reason why everyone seems to take this brand for granted, thus depriving it of the much deserved credit. We at times fall to the trap of consumerism and keep talking enthusiastically about Pepsi and Coke when in reality they are nothing but a proven example of surviving and making business out of a bad product with an effective marketing and advertising strategies. I was deeply hurt when I tried to source a picture and logo on the internet and to my surprise didn’t not find a single picture * not exaggerating 1 percent* .Hence the reason for not so great 2 pictures above * I promise to click close up shots of Energee bottle and logo so that we all can enjoy* Leave alone the pictures, there is not even a single page on internet which provides information about the facts and figures about Energee drink.

The more I think about Energee, the more I get impressed about its existence. I guess we all , lovers of energee drink, owe million thanks to Aarey for not just coming up with such a wonderful product but also for manufacturing it , keep it alive and making it available for such a long time in spite of the stiff competition from all corners.

P.S. Energee brand was captured quoting the following:

“ …..had your support and love not been there for me…I shouldn’t have been alive…..”

...and just like that ....I saw Forrest Gump

There is no way I am going to comment, criticize or judge this movie. So let's move on. Rather, how about me sharing with you my unique perception/imagery about Forrest Gump.

I realized, after surfing the net to know more about the movie, it was released way back in 1994.So I deeply regret staying away from this movie for "no particular reason”. Or may be I and Gump have already some traits common just like the way he kept running for "no particular reason”. Now knowing this makes me happy rather than regret.

It was some years back ( no, not in 1994 ) , may be couple of years back I heard about Forrest Gump and registered in my mind that its one of those brilliant English movies. But it didn't excite me and make me run and get hold of a copy and watch it. I have grown up watching Bollywood movies and English movies were encountered by mere accident (when majority of friends wanted to and watch English movie). I had this sea of appreciation for the way Hollywood movies were directed and executed; their creativity and novel ideas excited me every time I got to know about their singular plots. Yet, it failed to generate enough interest to hook me to English movies.

Firstly, though the movies are brilliant in their own respect, I felt English movies are too short. The Credits are flashed on screen in less than 90 minutes. How can they do this? Karan Johar takes more than that time to get Amitabh Bacchan make his entry in his mega 4 hour film. Even if we discount the time factor, this Americans (at least for me) should get back to school and take lessons in "phonetics". This reason would top the list for me being not being a follower of Hollywood but a Fanatic of "Mithun Da" and "Rajnikanth". Now that I am discussing "phonetics” I must also include how great a Fan I am of "Dharam paapajee". Of the available 90 minutes, 30% of the movie has loud background music (most of the time WAR and the likes) where you (at least me) end up wondering, what the hell these whites are murmuring? Well you cant blame me for this since I have seen movies with dialogues from Dharam papajee like “Basanti , in kutto ke saamne mat naachna” which are loud enough to get registered subconsciously in the head of a sleeping person in the theatre.

But then English Movies are supposed to be very realistic. Now for some reason Director sympathizes with me and the war scene gets over. But the English actors refuse to co operate with me and for the remaining dialogues in the movie they whisper in each others ear. I feel all the Hollywood actors have set of dentures which they fear would fall off the moment they open their mouth to speak loud and clear.

Also, I wondered about the name of the movie which is the root for all that I typed above and made you read till here – FORREST GUMP. I would like to make one more confession about the name of this movie. Till I actually watched this movie I thought all my friends who recommended me this movie on chat or otherwise always made a “typo” by typing an extra ‘r’ in ‘Forrest’. But this time again, not my fault. I have gone to school where I was taught about Forest as Forest and that too with single ‘r’ and which meant ‘Jungle’. So I had these vague pictures of ‘Forest Gump’ (mind you for me it was forest) as in a movie which would or may revolve in the backdrop of Forest i.e. our Jungle. It’s ok. Happens!!! Another aspect to this Forest was, What would have happen in the forest that made this movie so popular or rather Can something exciting really happen in forest ? I couldn’t think of any plot in the forest which would make any movie popular. (Unfortunately I could think of only one movie – Jungle .Yes, the Urmila Fardeen RGV directed).I am sure after the link of ‘Forest Gump’ to Urmila – Fardeen ‘Jungle’ you would like me to take a new direction and dump ‘Jungle’ in that very ‘Jungle’.

This movie had just 2 words – ‘Forest’ and ‘Gump’ and they had already started taxing my brain coupled with stretching my imagination as well. Even before I could understand why ‘Forest’? I suddenly realized that there is another word in this movie ‘Gump’ and unfortunately I have no clue about it. And worst part, I didn’t recollect learning it in school as well. So this time I was little disappointed not to know whether my friends made “typo” in ‘Gump’ as well. So as the last resort , I optimistically hit the Oxford dictionary with a feeling of establishing some link and unraveling the mystery of ‘Forest Gump’ thinking I know what Forest is and once I know what Gump means , it wouldn’t be long till I figure out what the movie is all about. But then the Oxford publication for some reason made their only mistake and since then I kept playing Hide and seek with ‘Forest Gump’ mystery.

Sometime back when I was on a trip with my MBA friends, we were on the beach at 2-30 am enjoying the moonlight, 2 of my friends started discussing this movie – Forest Gump. Now it reinforced my feeling that it was a truly inspirational movie. Firstly, because we all were deeply engrossed in our emotional and philosophical stories. Secondly, they were mentioning something about a guy and how he kept running and running. At his point, my imaginations came forward and start working overtime. As I mentioned earlier, I already had some idea about it being a forest movie. Now with this new input my movie was getting some more soul. It was becoming larger than life. Now I had someone running in my movie. But this was little different. Someone was running in the Forest, now how can some one just keep running in forest?. I would not mind that and still accept it but then tell me, how can someone run in the forest and become inspirational for so many?? My Imagination couldn’t take it any further, so I had no choice but to change the topic. And fortunately I succeeded.

For couple of years I had my version of ‘Forest Gump’ – a movie in the background of forest and someone running and running. I am not sure if it would have been injustice to the movie to carry off such images. I would rather term it as sheer ignorance on my part and missing out the ‘whole point altogether’ for the very existence of the movie. ‘The whole point altogether which you and me have imbibed after watching the film knowingly or unknowingly in our very own little day to day acts’.

I still believe I would have been a very happy man to remain in my version of ‘Forest Gump’ and taking pride to find the ‘typo’ my friends kept repeating. But then it had to change some day, not as a compulsory act but just to make me realize what a magnificent lesson I missed for 12 years which I just tried to learn by looking at the title of the book and not bother to go deeper.

“Indeed Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get”

Key Board Check

Mike Check 1234....

sorry

Keyboard check 1234...abcd..

check check.....

Mike...oppsss!!! (old habits refuse to leave) ...its Keyboard check..i better get this in my head...

K-k-k-keyboard check.....( dont worry this blog has nothing to do with Shah rukh or Ekta Kapoor)