Sunday, March 25, 2007

HAPPYNESS yes it's with a "Y"

This is not a movie review of the "pursuit of my happyness" because almost everyone has heard about how well the movie is,but its a blatant admission of a relationship that i wasn't able to build with my father .This movie taught me what a father son relationship should be like , not what i had with my dad.

In the movie the protagonist played by will smith does every thing to protect his son ,he teaches him what life is all about ,i can still can weirdly remember the lines that he said to his son "they say you cannot do this because they were not able to do it themselves." My father also tried to give me some "gyaan" on what life is all about but then i never listened to him because i thought i could do better than him,though i do realize now that his achievements far outweigh mine because the resources that i was provided with by my father were not with him.

The reason for the the so called rift with my father was the "JEE" exam .Though he knew that i could clear the exam but he was always apprehensive because of the sheer competition ,during 2002 one had a 1 in 45 chance to clear the exam for the coveted seat at iit's ,but i had that stubbornness thats it's got to be IIT nad nothing else ,so i did not fill any other forms (except my ug college form that too after a long fight).As destiny went i wasn't able to make it to iit ,so had the choice whether to drop a year and prepare again or to join another college .i was always against the former but after a long argument with my father i had to join another college ,but contrary to his thinking i studied for JEE during my first year ,which he never liked .There was a feeling inside me to prove my father wrong ( now i realize that i was wrong ) ,he did not sign on my JEE application form so i had to forge his signature which i admit here.I did not attend even 15 days of my college in my second semester which always let to a lot of arguments between us.i did not clear jee gain and flunked my second semester in the college (failed in all papers because of short attendance) ,this did shatter him completely because this was never expected from me ,i was indifferent to the feelings of my family.He did not talk to me for a month after this debacle so did not i ( well i was freaked out ) but the differences rose more when i decided to give jee in my second year also (now i was reallllly mad) so we had no interaction for that one year, though i attended my college regularly.

This film has taught me that a father always cares about his son ,which he always did but i never bothered to appreciate it .i could not talk straight with him during those crucial years which are important, i was a bit selfish always wanting to prove him wrong ,be better than him and show him i am more capable than him .Now i realize that i missed the happyness in my life for those four years just because i was stubborn wanting to prove things which i realize are not important any more ,you do not have to show other people that you are good ,because whats more important is to be good son ,which i have not been.

After the film i did call up my dad and said i was sorry,though i accept it cannot cover all the disappointments that i have given him during his life ,in spite of all his best efforts but this is the least that i could have done .I am aware that i cannot bring back the time i have lost with my father but from now onwards i would be more frank with him,talk openly to sort out my differences ,i will try to be a GOOD SON!!!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Arre!!! Bhai It's just a game

So India lost to Bangladesh in their first world cup match and everyone has started saying the "the dream is over", "call back this team", "sehwag should be thrown out" and lots of blaaah blaaah ,and they have all started with their favourite passtime of bashing indian players,burning their effigies ,tearing their posters to vent out their anger after the defeat to so called minnows of world cricket ,Bangladesh (but are they really minnows??? one should ask themselves)

Agreed that India played miserably ,seemed low on confidence ,seemed afraid,lacked the team spirit and our fame batsmen were more like tigers in the cages than in a jungle ,but then why are we blaming our team only ,no one is looking at how well bangladesh have played ,they bowled and batted out of their skins,were like cheetahs on the filed showed no fear to the so called Indian pace battery (someone forgot how the young kid ,barely 18 stepped and hit zaheer khan out of the park),and to be fair the tag of minnows does not suit them now.the alarm bells should have really been sounded when they defeated newzeland in the pre world cup warm up game.

Now the reaction of our public has been more disappointing than the loss itself ,in our country where we live ,eat and sleep cricket and where everyone is an expert on cricket (arre ye dravid ko to kaptani chor deni chahiya,sachin mein wo baat nahi rahi ,sehwag to shaadi ke baad nikamma ho gaya hain) are some of the chats one hears on our roads,buses and households.most of our fans do understand that the game is not easy ,and defeats are part of any sport.

This picture can best sum up the mood of an 11 year old boy, after the disappointment on the Sunday morning after the match because he was let down by his hero's ,but he wont go back to his home and burn his bat and cricket kit ,but he will take his practice kit and run to his practice grounds to bat like sachin ,bowl like kapil and filed like yuvraj ,it was amazing to see young kids back on ground after sleeping in the wee hours and the disappointment of india's loss. it is what our fans do best they play and follow the game hard because they dream of representing one's country on the world stage ,they have the passion and accept defeat (u can't win every day),they rise up from it and achieve their goals (and i can wow for that)


Now come the so called fraction ,which we see on televisions after every defeat ,busy in vandalizing property ,burning cars and posters to vent out their anger.

so what they want to prove??? ,that they are the only one concerned about the cricket in india ,they have taken the responsibility on their shoulders to make players realize that they are not doing the job ,or that they are better than our selectors and administrators and can manage cricket better than them ,in short their only objective is to get into the limelight ,and media does a fantastic job in promoting them because our so called 24 hour news channels want the masala for their daily pro grammes because they have nothing better to show (when was the last time u saw a documentary aon aaj tak and star news ???,please remind me of one)


I agree that players might not preform well on days ,but then is everyone perfect?? is my question to them ,they are humans which are bound to fail ,even the invincible aussies lost five ODI's in a row ,they lost ashes to england but then they were ever more determined to win them back (they plummered the poms in this ashes),so our players are professionals and they know thei job better ,they are not really here to make money as people thing they have the passion ,tell me one individual who will devote his 18 prime years ,sweat and toil for the country that tendulkar has ,agreed he earns money,but why dont we question individuals like us from iit's and iim's who earn great pay packets after the subsidised education which all taxpayers pay for .

The last bit of thing i would want to add is about the so called "cricket experts" that news channels have roped in be it saba karim and company and the 83 world cup team which seams in great demand every world cup ,they might have won the cup but this team has better players than that team if we compare man with man ,just playing well for that one month does not give them the license to bash the team again and again ,players like yashpal sharma before rubbishing current player should look at their records.

so i would like to sum up by saying that we should have faith in our players ,they are as much passionate as we are and they also don't like loosing and playing badly and we should treat cricket as a game and not anything else and remember that everyone of us can fail ,and this hoopla over the world cup has raised our expectations too much ,i think none of us would like to see pictures of the policemen standing in front of cricketers house to protect their family ,if they can sacrifice nad play for us then we should also pay our regards bu not vandalizing their homes ,what's the fault of their families??

so we must remember CRICKET IS A GAME