Of Alzheimers...and love...

Watched Ajay Devgan's directorial debut 'U,Me aur Hum' last weekend...While ajay does a commendable effort as a director (which u can notice only if u manage to survive the never-ending and extremely trite 1st hour :)) and delivers a sensitive and heart-warming movie about love and obstacles in life,what really got me thinking was the basic premise of the story...

In the movie,the protagonist's wife suffers frm Alzheimers disease, which leads to potentially dangerous and unnerving situations for her hubby as wel as her young baby,not to mention herself...and the protagonist,being a psychiatrist himself, finally gives in to the professional voice within his mind and admits her to a care centre under excellent care of his senior doctor and staff,in a bid to avoid damage to her as well as him and the baby...However,a few months later,he wakes up to the reality and admits to himself and his frnds tht it was a selfish thot aftr al to take her away frm her home and her newborn under the pretext of makin life better for her when in fact,it was actually to make life better for him...so finally,he gets her back home an lives wit her thru thick and thin...marking a successful marriage despite the monumental obstacle...

now,what really got me thnkin was if its actually possible to send someone you love so dearly to a care centre an detach his/her life frm urs completely and also,on the othr hand,is it really practical to keep the person wit u whn u know it cud, and probably wil, worsen his/her condition?Hmmm...gues thrs no simple answer to tht one...i thnk i'd personally find it tough to detach some1 so close to me frm my life...i wud rather keep the person wit me and care for him/her...but then again,sayin so is much easier than doing it...the real dilemma is,which one of these acts is more selfish?-keeping the person wit u bcoz u want to b wit him thru everything even while knowing it cud b fatal for tht person OR sending him to a better equipped place for the purpose bcoz u cant bear to c him/her in so much pain...
:O

The IPL saga...

With every newspaper,website,news channel,ad,mail,sms,magazine,booklet,leaflet trying to bask in the 'glory' of the IPL,none can blame me for trying to eat a piece of the historic cake :D The question isnt whether IPL is worth talkin or not-that, it definitely is, as evident by the recent "breaking news" like 'Bachchan has a cold', 'Khali is back', 'Mauja ki Mauja'(the most ridiculous of the lot definitely! :P ) blah blah blah.. on the country's 'leading' news channels (the leading probably refers to thr undisputed lead in banality and an utter disregard for viewer sensibilities)-the big question is if IPL will change the face of the game....will it do to all competitive cricket what Kerry Packer's Pajama cricket in the '70s did to the erstwhile gentleman's game...

Hmmm...if we take a look at why the IPL was born in the first place,we can see that its more of a reaction to the rebellious ICL rather than a novel concept in itself.That it was later purported to be an Indian and cricketing equivalent of the EPL was an obvious after-thought and a laughable one at that...EPL has been goin on for decades an hs a worldwide fan following tht few events/sports/sitcoms/movies can rarely boast of...its probably the most watched tournament worldwide and clearly IPL has a long way to go to even match 0.01% of it...

coming back to yesterday,the first match promised to be an evenly matched contest between intellect and raw power,a battle of minds,a war between old warhorses,a game of strategy and executional perfection and last but not the least,a tussle between the evergreen Dr.(?) Vijay Mallya and the 'self-proclaimed' King (ugh :) Khan....In the end,it turned out to be a heavily lopsided contest with the Kolkata tigers having the Royal Challegers for lunch,dinner and drinks!
Brendon McCullum took it upon himself to entertain the spectators and his was an innings tht wil be remembered for days to come...or wil it?Really,thr lies the answer to the question...how many wil consider it a marvellous knock 10 or even 5 yrs down the line...probably not many...it cud wel b remembered as just another entertaining knock...or as is more likely,it'll get lost in the pages of IPL record books a la Bhuvan's feat in Lagaan - 'ek aisi kahani jo itihaas ke panno mein shayad kahin kho gayi'...
The 2nd match today betn the Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings was a much much better contest and altho Chennai won quite convincingly in the end,it wont b an overstatement to say tht the match almost went down to the wire...the 3rd match between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils is turning out to be a damp squib as i write this...

after 3 matches,one thing is definitely evident-this is, and also isnt, cricket as we all have known,played,discussed and enjoyed sinc we can remember...altho the basic essence is the same,its different(like the ketchup) and not necessarily 'good' / 'bad' different...thrs lot more fun and the focus is on entertainment but how long wil ppl be distracted by cheerleaders and bands if the main ingredient isnt upto the mark? probably 1 or 2 seasons but beyond tht,if the IPL seeks to make a lasting impression,it'll have to ensure good competitive cricket...an thts possibl only if the players r inclined to consider thr team as thr own...jus like when they r playing for thr country...how many players wil b able to do this, only time can tel...

but goin by wat v hv seen in last 2days,its sure tht,post IPL,its gonna be back to business for every1 as usual...the one-dayers wil be welcome an so wil b the tests...an as for the game of cricket,it'll continue to be the unpredictable,at times unnerving,at times effervescent game tht it hs been for over a century :)

ah...those days...

hmm if u thot m gonna flood u al now wit incidents frm my childhood,dont worry...relax :) by the title,wat m really referring to is the situation back when v were kids i.e. the glorious (for some nervous :P) nineties...life was slower...a lot slower...an much more peaceful...when playing games meant playing cricket,football or even idiotic games like 'admit kida','lapachupi','lagopath shivashivi','tiprya'(ya i played tht too courtesy the only frnd my age in our neighborhood who was a girl!!)...when the movies were (overtly!) dramatic, the songs were either excessively mushy(remember ashiqui or the like) or extremely repelling ('sarkailo khatiya' etc...basically al govinda songs :))...when tv meant jus dd1 til '93-'94...when aftr the advent of cable tv,every1 wud get excited abt watchin philips top 10,close-up antakshari or zee horror show....when video games were for the elite...when mario and contra were the games ppl adored!!!(they seriously rocked)...for the lucky few who hd PCs,doom and dave were like heaven...when competitive exams like 4th std scholarship werent cut-throat competitive...when school was just a reason to meet frnds an b wit them half the day...when study just happened as a result of being in school for so long...when no one cared abt thr clothes an cellphones getting wet b4 stepping out into the rain...when monsoon strictly arrived in june :P....when the month december brought wit it sports and gathering...and sometimes trips...when birthdays were celebrated in classrooms wit songs and chocolates...and at home wit balloons,cakes,frills and a gang of frnds...when picnics were gr8 fun...when 'branded clothes' wasnt a known phrase...when 'mall' wasnt part of the dictionary...when multiplex would hv sounded like a complex word even to our parents...when buying vegetables frm the market was a frequent activity...when the bhajiwala wud know u by ur name...when relatives wud stil pull ur cheeks much to ur outward chagrin and inward delight...when u wud hv a crush on every 2nd cute girl and were allowed to!...when u thot guys in colgs r very old an mature(in retrospect 'ha ha'!)...when u wrongly(and perhaps unintentionally) looked down on poverty without knowing wat it was like...when the first pop album was looked upon wit disdain by parents and wit secret excitement by u...when thr was only 1 radio channel(ugh..the not so 'vividh' or 'vivid' vividh bharati)...when 'internet' wasnt even a word...and when blogs hdnt been conceived...
ah....the days....to b back thr again...wat wudnt i giv to be back in tht time zone...

P.S. thanks to mario bros,who i chanced to stumble upon on wikipedia couple of days ago ....which triggered this thot process an ultimately this blog...wanna play super mario bros. again :)