Saturday, April 13, 2013

A journey to end.......


Yes, my blog is very much alive and back with a bang (well, hopefully :P)!

Like a lakh other people, I enrolled for engineering four years back. But the catch is that I never had any interest in it. I still don’t! I aspired to go into arts, become a journalist or something. Whoever knows me well would vouch that engineering was never my cup of tea. But with destiny (read: average grades and parental pressure), I stepped into K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering in Computers Branch. I detested it, often struggled and always cursed it. But now, with only one month of college ahead of me and almost four years of memories, experiences and lessons in my chest, I will leave engineering with wet eyes.

What was it that caused this sentiment? Where do I begin writing? What do I convey which will make it different than the others?

I knew the answers, but never could do justice in acknowledging it.

My strange sentiment with engineering is definitely not with the curriculum or subjects or practicals, but with some special people whom I was destined to cross roads with.

Thinking about it, I wonder if my years in engineering could have been manageable without them. I wonder if my low times could ever transform into joy if I didn’t have their strength and presence.

Prior to engineering, things were always straight and clear. But these four years made me realise a new facet of life! That the joy of achievement means most only when you share it with someone and the pain of failure lessens only when you see someone standing with you. It taught me that life can be unfair to you, but certain people can always make an illusion that it never was.

My every little achievement—articles, blog posts, poems, grades, speeches, presentations, wickets scrapped in cricket, carom strikes, bowling score and every little recognition, wouldn’t have been special if I didn’t have them acknowledging it.

My every little failure— rejection from job interviews, failed relationships, betrayal, back-bitings and every little rough point, would have been disastrous if I didn’t have them supporting and comforting me.

In four years, they have become my own!

But there is also a fact- As college goes through, and life flows with it, we become so engrossed in chasing fun, grades, projects, parties, jobs and PG examinations that we lose sight of the little things that matter a lot. We forget to acknowledge them. We forget to give them their due. We take them for granted.

So here’s something for you to do. Close your eyes for a minute and look for those people who made your journey a little special for you. You will stumble to realise that your journey was even better than what you imagined it as!

My post is not to bade goodbye to engineering, there is another month left for it. It is a gentle reminder to everyone that there is only one month left! Make time for such people, make them feel what they made you feel and thank them. Do it all before the journey ends. Because, no matter what, these days will never return. And who knows, you’ll get a friend for a lifetime.

Personally, I would take this opportunity and thank my set of people. Your presence, your continuous backing, your every acknowledgement and your friendship made my engineering a super journey. It made me laugh, cry, learn, grow, evolve, carve, enrich, nurture and above all give out my best in everything.

And to do justice, there will always be one or few special-er people who deserve special-er acknowledgement, without whom my journey of engineering would be incomplete. You define me. You make me what I am now. Every day of the last four years were unique with you and I would dearly miss that afterward. If you are reading this, with my whole heart, I extend a 'Thank you'.


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

American tv shows v/s Indian soap operas












v/s



*Television on*

Star Plus- Saath Nibhana Saathiya. (Two sisters- one naïve, one pure evil. Save!)

Life OK-Devo ke Dev Mahadev. (Mythology of Lord Shiva, the best Shiva across shows!)

Zee Tv- Pavitra Rishta. (Love and separation across generations. Someone stop it!)

Colors- Balika Vadhu. (Ideal bahu between two husbands. Gawd!)

Sony-Badde Achhe Lagte Hain. (Peehu missing? Who’ll run the show now?)

Every television in an Indian household definitely remotes through these channels.

Then there exists a set of Indian audience (most cosmopolitan people, majorly youths) that revel in the below.

Star World-How I met your mother. (Aren’t they AWESOME?)

Zee café- Big Bang Theory. (Sheldon, Bazinga! Penny, hawt! The gang, funny!)

Prime Big CBS- Dexter. (The cute guy solving highly crafted and brilliant crimes.)

Love Big CBS- Sex and the city. (Who doesn’t love Carrie?)

BBC Entertainment- Sherlock. (You, your voice…. Adrenaline rush!)

Since years, the debate ‘American shows v/s Indian soaps’ has always picked up steam wherein people would end up backing American counterparts because of its hard-hitting reality and its absolute creative and brainy scripts! I remember chatting about this with my friend graduating in medical studies. With backdrop in medical field, we discussed about American shows (Grey’s anatomy, Scrubs) vis-à-vis Indian ones (Sanjeevani, Kuch toh log kahenge). We compared how the American shows demonstrated real cases and operations, the mindset and workload of doctors and their life with near perfection rather than the absolute drama, clichéd love and never -working of doctors in Indian ones. In American shows, importance and innovation is put in every aspect, whereas in Indian ones, every soap opera roams around the same story-line i.e. two protagonists meet, fall in love and entry of several elements sabotaging their relationship. If TRPs trip, there’s sudden death or accident or worse, Leap!

 This monotonous nature is one of the prime reasons why American shows win. The others?  Let’s go through them generically.

1>     Comedy:  There are many shows and specialized channels for comedy. Still everything rolls to slapstick and not-so-funny! Nothing can even reach one millionth of how hilarious Friends, Big Bang Theory and Community are! The ones which are above the rest were Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai, Dekh Bhai Dekh and first editions of Hum Paanch, Khichdi and Office Office.

2>     Crime investigations:  With CID completing almost fourteen years, its cases have long ago started to lose lustre. All shows within this genre (Adaalat, Arjun) did well in initial stages but lost the plot later. In another light, if you come to see the brilliance of every case and its corresponding intelligence and technicality of shows like Sherlock, Dexter and Homeland, you will swear not to watch the Indian ones again!

3>     Reality shows: Firstly, most reality shows are copied from their American respective. But all of them look fake and staged for TRPs. And if you view every dance, singing, game or cookery reality show in USA, they are ounces above ours. Theirs is more highlighting talent, ours is more masala mockery.

4>     Love Stories: The basic factor in most Indian soap operas today. They brag about how much Aditya and Pankhuri love each other and how many sacrifices Manav and Archana have made! In American counterparts for the same, they have proved how perfect Monica and Chandler are together and how Marge completes Homer Simpson. Theirs is more modern and western, ours is more traditional and fairy tale!

So, why do these soap operas run? Because of the Indian blood in our veins! A majority of audience, predominantly females (with high EQ) do find Indian shows entertaining because:

1>     We are trained to never watch adult stuff, swears and abuses wherein voice has to be beeped and subtitles become a mix of &,* and # and scenes with violence ever! Lest of all, enjoy it! It’s just natural to feel awkward with such content with family!

2>     We are emotional. The Indian shows do strike some chord. We love fairy tales. We hope to see Suraj being with Sandhya as she pursues her ambition. We cheered Pratigya as she fought through every obstacle. Because though, American shows portray reality and practicality, Indian shows satiate the emotion and sentiment factor! It’s our own as it enacts us! There is atleast a miniscule of belonging with it!

So, American or Indian shows? I really don’t have one answer.  Let’s just say Indian shows are for my television time with family and American shows are fed in my laptop for watching alone or gala-time with friends!