Mr. Bravo

                                               

                                A normal rainy evening in Mumbai, Krishna was on his way back from office with two of his colleagues. Stuck in traffic thrice within a stretch of 5 km.

“Romantic! My ass, rains in Mumbai are bloody pain” Krishna in frustration.
“ This city is never ready for monsoon… don’t know why the hell I pay so much money on taxes” colleague adds. “ hey by the way Krishna, u are off to Hong Kong, Disney-land next week for a vacation right!”
“ Its not happening this time mate, project meeting is scheduled for next week. I don’t want to give another chance to that ass licker Sharma for scoring brownie points.”
“ Oh man! You are going to have an epic at home” another colleague teases…
“ Not really! My wife understands, son will be disappointed but he will be ok within couple of days” Krishna replies.
Conversation interrupts as traffic moves by few centimeters till it halts again. Krishna on a driving seat looks out of the car window… A stray dog standing on a side staring right into his eyes, moment freezes for few seconds and every sound around mutes down… it was just that dog and Krishna as if they are going to start a conversation… Then sudden honking “ Krishna move, where are u lost!” colleague blurts out… The car finally moves…

Dinner table at home-

“You always do this, last year you did the same… Just say we will never go!” Kshitij, Krishna’s 8 year old son shouts in disappointment.

“Kshitij, I am sorry, I promise we will go next year”

“ You promised if I came first in my class we will go to Disneyland, you never keep your promise”

“ behave yourself” scolds Krishna

Vidhi, Krishna’s wife interrupts and takes Kshitij to another room.

After dinner Krishna was in his bedroom reading as his daily ritual before going to bed when Viddhi arrives.
“has he slept” he asks
“ Yes finally after crying for almost an hour” she replys
“Are you too angry with me?”
“Honestly, a bit”
“come on, you know whatever I am doing is for you and Kshitij”
“I don’t think so Krishna”
“What do you mean”
“You are doing all this for that ass licker Sharma” Vidhi in a loud voice.
She switches off her side of lights and sleeps as he looks on in surprise.

It didn’t go as smooth as Krishna expected it to be, but he thought it will all be fine in few days… With many thoughts of work he falls asleep…



“Ah.. Switch off those lights” he shouts… no one answers, as he slowly opens his eyes and finds sun directly shining at him… “Holy shit” he cries as he wakes up. It was some strange jungle place with just trees around.
 “ Ww...where am I, Honey Vidhi you cant be doing this to me just for a vacation” only thing he could think of.

"Wassup dude!" Havey voice from the back, shocks only to see the same dog he saw last night on road. “Who is it” Krishna shouts,
“Its me Mr. Bravo, don’t you know me… we just met yesterday!” same voice from the dog.
“WWHAT?”
“Listen I’ve had enough this morning… who is it hiding there” Krishna in frustration.
“Why are you searching for something that doesn’t exist and believe in something right before your eyes?” Dog says.

Krishna now terribly spooked just runs…as fast as he can. Only finds that he is lost… he sits and starts crying in frustration.
Dog appears again… Krishna gets up “ No no no don’t come close to me… who are you? Wwwhat do you want?”
“ I told you my name is Bravo, don’t be scared of me of all the things here… I am here to help.” says the dog.
“This cant be true, Dog… I mean dog? How can u talk and where am I? what is this place? Why am I here?” Says Krishna
“Relax! And take a deep breath… You are going to thank that this happened to you all your life.” says Bravo

“Last night, Kshitij was so disappointed that he prayed god to make you so rich that you don’t have to go to office again, so you are being sent here.”
Krishna in surprise “ All this… God! Where is God? Are you the God? How he listened to my son when he never listened to me?”
Mr. Bravo says “No, I am not God, and god listens to these young people with innocent and pure heart. Now you can go on asking questions and I will go on replying, or lets get to the point.”

“Ok” Krishna relaxed for the first time this morning.

“This place is called Treasure land. You can win lots of treasure here but as anywhere you will have to compete for it. Let me show you”
Mr. Bravo takes Krishna to a cliff, which showed a magnificent sight of flying cars. Krishna couldn’t believe his eyes as he felt he was living his sons story book. The sight was grand, scenic and organized. There were mountains, huge trees and fresh air.

“This, Krishna is a treasure land and you will have to win this race to get that.” the dog pointed.
“Freakin crazy!” Krishna shouted. Those were pots filled with gold coins.
“Do you know how much is that worth on earth, I mean our land?”

“Well, thats for you to evaluate”- Mr. Bravo replied.
“I am ready to race, But I don’t know how to fly these things.” Krishna said.
“You know, You drive it everyday” bravo said.
They went and filled the contestant form and soon Krishna’s number was announced.
It was Krishna‘s own car, white color i20…“wow, now that’s unbelievable”
Krishna and Mr. Bravo both sat in the car, Krishna on the driving seat.
“You sure this will fly” Krishna while starting the car.
Bravo just nodded.
As he started, car just jumped from ground and took its position among the racing lanes around 200 mts above the ground.
“ Don’t you want to meet your fellow contestant” Bravo asked.
“Well no, I am coooooll… Holy crap!!” Krishna shouts as he sees towards his right.
It was Krishna’s old rival that ass licker Sharma! And as expected blood ran on to his face.
“What’s he doing here?? His son prayed the same for him?” race signals to start as he turns towards bravo for an answer.
Without bothering too much, Krishna starts his race. Starts with a jerk but soon settles down. Now with all his focus and energy drives on with a single motive to win the race from that ass licker Sharma.
He had to save himself from giant rocks flying around, go through giant tree tunnels which were thankfully well lit. And then he realized his fuel got over, as per Mr. Bravo’s advise he waited at a pit-stop close by for refueling. Finally came that usual moment when it was just the hero(Krishna) and Villain(Sharma) racing for victory, way ahead of everyone else. Krishna just by few millimeter WON THE RACE!!!!!
Krishna had beaten that old rival Ass-licker Sharma:-D
Victorious Krishna accepted pot filled with gold coins. “So now Krishna since you have won, you would like to go back home to your family.” Bravo asks.
“Of course my dear friend Mr. Bravo” Krishna all thrilled. Then he notices “ hey wait a second where is Sharma going”
“How does that matter to you, u won and now you leave” Says Bravo.
“No no no Mr. Bravo, tell me where is he going, I want to know”
“ He is going for another treasure hunt, since he lost.” Bravo
“Really where, what treasure hunt? I want to know” Krishna said.
“well ok, lets see where is he going Krishna”
They follow him and find out that he is going for a tree climbing competition. These tree’s are no ordinary ones, they are huge and have fruits of gold and silver. Each contestant has to climb and go on plucking these fruits. Each time they pluck, the fruit would disappear and will automatically land on to the respective bags allotted.
“wow! it’s a great stuff, just like a video games. Fruits of gold and silver… this is crazy!!! Hey Mr. Bravo, I am liking this place and want to stay here for some more time. Can we please fill contestant form for this one”
Bravo gave a look as if he expected this…
“Ohk” Mr. Bravo sighed.

Krishna’s turn arrives, this time again he is competing with Sharma and others. Climbing starts, Krishna hurries this time too. With full focus and strength he starts climbing and plucking the fruits. He was carefully trying to grab more of gold fruits than silver ones, material value u see! They finally reaches the end, however with much of Krishna’s disappointment Sharma wins this time!
“No no no, this cant happen. Now who’s ass did he lick this time” gutted Krishna
“C’mon, you have to accept defeat some times Krishna. You cant win all the time. Any ways guess you have plucked enough fruits to be really wealthy, now I think you must return to your family.” adds Mr. Bravo.
“ No Mr. Bravo, not yet. I can take this defeat so easily. And look that Sharma is moving for another treasure hunt, we must follow him.”
“But Krishna”
“I have decided Mr. Bravo” adds Krishna even before bravo could finish.

Next treasure hunt was running, just racing by foot. You just had to run till you finish.
Winner would be awarded this time….it was a surprise!
The race starts, Krishna totally humiliated with last defeat was totally determined to win over Sharma. The race starts, this time Krishna feeling a bit tiered. He again puts all his force and starts racing towards the victory and Mr. Bravo racing with him.
All of sudden Krishna starts feeling really tiered, his legs starts aching, “You still have an option of quitting and leaving for home Krishna” says Bravo. “No” Krishna shouts.
He keeps running… further ahead he starts going out of breath, feeling totally drained as he looks down and sees his thin legs had developed wrinkles.
“What’s happening to me” Krishna asks.
“You are getting old Krishna” Bravo tells him.
“what!” Krishna collapses.
“This cant happen, I cant get old so soon”
“Life is short, don’t you watch movies?” says Mr.Bravo

“No, where is my wife? I want her here”
As turns to his left he sees a wrinkled old women lying besides her.
“Its me honey, Vidhi” old women says.
“No” Krishna shouts “ You cant be her, my wife is beautiful. Where my son, where is Kshitij? We need to go to Disneyland”
“Time doesn’t wait for anyone Krishna, and it changes everything. You have got old and so is your wife. Your son is a young man now and has moved out. He would be planning his vacation with his own family now.”- Mr. Bravo says.
“I don’t like you dude, I don’t want your treasure… keep it, keep it and give me my life back. I want my beautiful wife, my son back. I want that age back. Please, please! I want it all back.”
“What do you want back” a voice
Krishna gets a jurk, and sees his young beautiful wife in front of him.
“what do you want back?” she asks
Krishna gets up rushes in front of a mirror… “I am back” he shouts
“Where did u go?” Vidhi says
Krishna runs towards her and hugs her. Then he looks at her and says “Honey you are beautiful”
Vidhi with a strange look, “what have I said something wrong” he asks
“No, but its been quiet a while since you’ve said that” she replies
“ Tell Kshitij we are off to Hong Kong next week” he says
“Really? What about that meeting and what about Sharma” she asks.
Krishna smiles with contentment, feeling really thankful for what he has for the first time.
“Let him have his treasures darling, I am cherishing mine” He smiles and kisses his wife.

Happy & Gay!!!

Its been more that 24 hours I watched 'Bombay Talkies' and still cant get-over that passionate kiss shared between two men... The whole experience of watching Karan Johar's short story was  mix of an embarrassment and a shock. May be first of a kind hence unable to accept that someone can actually show something like this on screen... It wasn't just me who thought this way, as i realized half of the people had left the hall after the end of first story...
But is that just the mindset or the fact that most of us don't belong to the category makes us so uncomfortable to the whole idea... so far we have seen rapes, gruesome murders, filthy language, vulgar item numbers on screen but no-one has ever left cinema hall due to them. In-fact these are purposely added by film makers to increase the viewership... two people choosing their partners as per their wish cant get worse than that.
It takes me back to my college days where the concept of homosexuality was first introduced to me... well yes, you can blame my small town upbringing the awareness about such a thing came pretty late. It can be my immaturity or whatever but I automatically use to become distant from the person who was either rumored or was really a gay. "Its not a normal thing, I think its a psychological disorder" my first claims. But it didn't take long to witness few most talented people who were nice human souls ,had a knowledge about the subject, were gays and were of course very NORMAL. 

Its funny how we carry such a stigma for people that do us no harm and call ourselves strong by patiently accepting all the wrongful meant to be stigmatized. After all every one wants to live free, accepted the way they are and just be Happy & Gay:-).

Spring Summer 2013, Mens Trend alert

I know grand-moms will still complain that there were more good looking men during their time and today, men just don't look as good. They have examples of Devanand and Dharmendra to prove that, I am not saying they are wrong but if we talk about people on streets, shopping malls or movie halls our generation men definitely score much higher.
Real task starts when my husband cant decide what to wear for an outing or a party and wants my feedback. Considering my expertise in Men's fashion he almost believes that I can turn him into a model ready to walk on the ramp... Phew!!! the pressure is no less. Entire exposure to international brands, markets flooded with so many designers and the fact that everyone else around is dressed up so nice our today's lion (A.K.A Sher) not only wash their face but wear sunscreen and nice smells too...

Since Autumn is about to exit and Spring Summer is going to begin, I thought of being prepared with early morning dressing blues...

LINEN One of my favorite fabric when it comes to summers. It somehow has the ability to look rugged and classy at the same time. Market is full with all sorts of linen clothing- shirts, trousers, burmudas even light weight summer jackets. You can choose from range of colors  I would suggest bright summer shades like aqua blue, yellow, orange etc. White linen never goes wrong in any form of clothing.




STRIPES, PRINTS AND CHECKS Yes they are all there... Red, green, yellow, orange and ROYAL BLUE being the colors of the season. Monotones have their own space.

COLORED TROUSERS These will be in vogue this Spring summer too. Red,yellow, orange, royal blue team them up with a white or a light grey T-shirt. These also look great with white linen shirt .   Have trendy summer holiday this season or just another  Sunday outing. Classic straight fit is returning with shorter length.

KURTA I find these one of trendiest ensemble for men. It is not only comfortable but covers that beer belly too. A cotton or linen kurta layered with 'Bandi' (short sleeveless jacket) looks every bit crisp and casual... 

FEETOES They say a cool head and warm feet is secret to healthy heart... Really, well we just know about the hot colors that can warm up you feet this season... pick those colorful shoes for your denim bottoms. Stick to neutral color shoes if you have a bright color trouser on. Special fashion elements like black or white shoes with red laces, brown lace ups can also be brought on.

Scarves, Classic shape bag and a hat, you are ready to outshine the summer sun;-)

Self Service

Being selfish is being bad we’ve learned since the childhood… but is that really so? I mean what’s the harm in thinking about oneself…

This is some years back, I had just moved from Bangalore to Gurgaon for my first job soon after college. After hunting for lot of places I settled down for the Paying guest accommodation, it was a convenient location as wasn’t very far from my office and also was quiet reasonable which was very important at that point of time. It was run by this old Haryanvi couple, not that they were very polite but something about them was very true and practical.

Dada Ji as he was popularly known among the girls in the PG was an ex-police officer and was in his early 70’s. He owned two double storied houses standing adjacent to each other, entire thing converted into a paying guest except the first floor of one of  the houses where couple use to live. Comfortable place with all the basic facilities.

Dada Ji was very particular about rent, late by a day and u’ll start getting calls. To avoid that, once back from my office in the evening I went to hand over the rent to him. Dadi Ji was sitting on a sofa having her shoulders and neck massaged from a full time maid they had. Dadi ji had a round face and strong round body; her normal conversation would sound as if she is fighting with someone but never felt offensive also I never heard anybody talking anything bad about her.

“sit down”, Dadi Ji to me.

“go make two cups of tea”, Dadi ji to her maid in a straight Haryanvi accent.

As soon as I settled down she got a call on her mobile phone,

“Yes Shalini”- in her authoritative voice.

“You won’t be able to come! no why?.... ok,Akshat’s exams are going to start”

“No problem, Jayender and Suneeta will be here anyways”

“They know how to manage their time”

“Blah blah blah….”

“We have been thinking about property distribution from few days”

“blah blah blah… see if you can make it your father and I will be happy”

 Finally the phone call ended. Dadi Ji smiled at me and said it was her younger daughter-in-law, they live in sector 15. “Sector 15 isn't very far, why are they living saperately” I said spontaneously and regretted as soon as i heard my own words. She gave her usual naughty grin and said “you know I have a straight tongue not everyone is comfortable with it and also I believe everyone has a right to live their life their way”

“They can live in the next house, you all can have your privacy”- I said.

“Can’t ask them for rent” she winked.

What a selfish straight forward budiya I thought.

We have given them good education and have made them capable; now let them take care of themselves.

That was a nice tea… she appreciated the fact that these days girls move out of their comfort zone to stand on their own feet. “ but you girls don’t take care of yourself… you are all so pale and thin”. The content and glow on Dadi’s face had definitely put me in complex. “It is your Dadaji’s birthday this Saturday and like every year the entire family that is both my sons, their wives and four grandchildren will be together to celebrate it.” I wondered as the daughter-in-law had her doubts.

In few days Dada Ji celebrated his birthday with both his son’s and their families… well Dadi was quite sure already that Akshat’s exam will not be able to spoil her fun!

In my 18 months stay there,couple was always very helpful. No one ever hated them nor pitied them; everyone gave them the respect they deserved.

When last met them to say good bye they said “stay happy wherever you live”. The stay wasn’t very long but taught me the biggest lesson of my life, also mentioned the board i saw in one of the restaurant this morning- “Self Service is the god’s service”.

All Is Fair In Love!

                          ‘Happiness’ probably the most important word in life and the chase starts as soon as we get into this world. Running behind the toys then turn into chase for good education, struggle for good grades… so much of thought, efforts and discussions on the career choice. Getting a good job, promotion,then appraisals…And of course getting a good companion, A well-educated, well settled, compatible, preferably from so and so profession… So much all for the sake of this thing called Happiness!

Came across this cheerful girl today who is a trained beautician… she was looking for some work, I was planning to go to parlour anyways… something made me to give her a try and call her home. As I started talking to her she told me she and her husband are from Punjab and have recently started living here. They don’t have any permanent job and are struggling to cope up… What made you people leave Punjab, I asked. “Actually didi our families were not happy with our relationship”, she did not say anything after that but there was no need for me to ask anything further.

Was quite glad with her work and was willing to recommend her to other women too… offered her some tea along with some snacks… “I will have only have tea didi, I am fasting today”. “Fasting for what?” I asked her, “Me and my husband fast twice a week, no occasion”. I asked her if she wanted some fruits which she politely refused in a concern that her husband is also hungry and she will not eat without him. “What will you eat in the evening” I asked, “some biscuits to break the fast” she replied. All this cannot be for god I realised… they were actually struggling. It is almost impossible to believe in love like this among today’s practical generation. We spend so much of thought while choosing a life partner like compatibility, financial status, sense of humour, Astro-match, profession… who really cares for love these days… by the end of it love isn’t enough right!

As she was leaving she gave a very warm smile… there was a young boy waiting for her, that was her husband. “It’s a new place for us, he is a bit concerned and doesn’t let me go alone anywhere” she said. They greeted me, held each other’s hand and walked by… they were hungry but they were together, in love & HAPPY!