Give me a chance

Some movies are just better than others right? And I suppose we don't get those movies very often, and so when one does come, they spread like wild fire. Anyway so when this movie 3 idiots released all my friends went quite gaga. I didn't see the movie. I am not being picky or snobbish. I just have a hyper active 1 year old and a job and bad time management skills. I don't watch a movie unless I can rent or buy the vcd. Bu I heard the song. Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me a chance, i wanna grow up once again.

The lyrics of the song, were quite to the point. Of a lost innocence, of a child's wonder which never gets to venture out of board prescribed syllabus. The actual lyric I think is,
Likh likh kar pada hatheli par
Alpha, beta, gamma ka chaala
Concentrated H2SO4 ne poora
Poora bachpan jalaa daala
The song is an instant hit in my current circle. Now this circle comprises of the creme de la creme of the society, as far as pay checks go. Most of my friends are engineers of one kind or other, since both my husband and myself are ourselves from that trade. But I also have friends who are in management, doctors, lawyers, or in short, all the other hated occupations that the song depicts. And they all loved the song. Unanimously they loved it. They sighed and sobbed, about THEIR childhood lost, THEIR innocence getting trapped in the heavy books and grueling schedules of exams.

Somehow it irritates the hell out of me. Don't get me wrong. I am not a promoter of the dreaded rat race. Frankly I grew up competing. Not because of the “kitabon ka bojha” on my shoulder neither did my father ever bribed me with any kind of car. Probably because both my parents worked, they never had time to obsess with what direction my studies should take.
I still recall the mothers of other children in my class, who would come deliberately one hour earlier than when the school ends and sit with each other exchanging notes on whose daughter scored how much in social studies, which reference the “first girl” was studying for her history projects, how come the “first mom” (first girls mother) didn't share the information till its too late to add to the other girls project too. There was a lot of competition going on even outside our classroom, as all of them vied for that “first mom” slot. And every time I was going out of school I thanked god, my mother was not sitting their on the steps, armed with all that information, on all the reference books I should be studying. After all knowledge is power and god knows we never want our parents to have even more power on us.
Like I said, luckily my mother is a teacher, whose flatly refused to help me study, (not that I begged for it). Her reason was that she was doing the same thing whole day for 8 hours, she just cant come back home and do the same again. And one has to understand. I dread the day, when I come back home and my little one says “ ma my geography teacher says, the concept behind my project was good, but the quality simply doesn't cut the line. We have to do more testplanning, specing and coverage to qualify for a beta release!!!!”

Anyway, I had a good childhood. I had hobby's outside studies. My parents, with their limited income, did best to provide me with all that interested me. Books, music lessons, swimming classes, drawing classes. They quite toiled to get ends meet, AND take us to each of these classes after they finish their whole days work. And not only that, I think their greatest achievement was, to let us leave them when we didn't want them anymore, after all the effort they put in. On the other hand, I am seeing parents of my circle, some of whom have recently told me the whole idea of not sending my child to school till she is at least 4 years old, is ridiculous. Thats because all schools accept children at the age of 3 in kindergarten after rigorous interview schedule. And to prepare your child of that interview you must train her for a year. So 2 is definitely the limit ... no the upper limit when you can send your child to school. When I was quite appalled with the ideas, of both a child HAVE to be in school at the age of 2 and the interviewing of a 3 year old child to measure her talent. I was hit back with two clear answers. One, its not only your child that gets interviewed, but its mostly you!!! And that makes it acceptable! that means if I am not educated enough, if I am not earning enough, then my child is simply not upto the mark of the standards of these school! Are we creating a whole new caste system in our country? And so comes the other reply, Well there are government schools, if you dont want your education to be a matter of discussion, you can always go there. If thats the best you can do for you child .........

Funnily enough the people giving me these obvious explanations are the same people who were so moved by the song! When I tried reasoning with them, I studied in a bengali medium government school, I turned out okey. They happily replied but ours was a different time, rat race was much slower. The rats run faster now ....

Last time I debated with a friend that I just do not relate to this song, he asked me, don't you ever wish you could grow up again and be different? Make different choices? Be a different person? Don't I? Of course I do. The day my boss is dancing on my head, I wish I was a freelance writer or a freelance photographer or a .... freelance anything. The day my husband is dancing on my head, I wish I never got married... a freelance spinster. But most of the days, when I am feeling moderately logical, I know I have been lucky. In fact I have been extremely lucky. I was born into a family which gave me a start to run in this rat race. Would I have turned out in a different life if given a choice? May be. But my parents didn't chose for me or pushed me into becoming an engineer. If I really was serious about becoming a vet or a zoologist as I used to fantasize, I doubt they would come in my way. Albeit they would be little troubled for the time I would have to struggle in my career. And I would probably be more passionately involved in my career, as I always loved animal more than writing if-else loop (which pretty much sums up the work I do). But seriously if at the end of the day I sit and think about it, I am still a reasonably happy and unreasonably lucky person. Like I said, I have from the very start managed to get to run that race, by the sheer luck of being born in my family.

For example, take the instance of the numerous chotus of the shops we shop from or the 10 year old full time maids. They don't get bogged down by size or weight of any kind of book. Their parents never introduced them to any sort of bribery, unless you count the fact, “if you work full time in that house, you will get at least 2 full meals from the stale food they have from last nights dinner” as a bribery. Now if there was a competition of how much this concentrated sulphuric acid ever burnt anyones childhood, I don't think, our childhood would win that race. Not even close.

Do I sound too morose? too morbid, in retrospect of our shining india? Okey lets forget 90% of our population. Lets pick the children of our “class”. Those who get to go to schools from the age of 2, good a/c schools too, not “government” schools. The ones who get to experience their first expensive watch, mobile and designer cloths before they ever get to experience Hans Andersen's fairy tales. The ones who never by family or friend get pushed into IIT rat race. They would much rather grow up to be models, fashion designer and super hot actors. Are they better of than me, who ran rat races throughout her life? Are they completely living their childhood, in touch with their innocence?

We all are born into some family, at some point of history, in some situation. We get some scopes, chances. Some of us just got more of that than others. Its not fair, neither is it uniform nor just. Many a times I have cooks and maids at my home, who are so good at maths and understanding and picking up at things, that with respec to the amount of education they recieved (never beyond class 5), amazed me. Ashamed me. Same stories of poverty, exploitation of their young age, helpless situation, I have heard so many times. Every time it made me wonder, what did I do to deserve the life I had, and the what did they do to deserve theirs?
At these point any reader (being overly ambitious, I am imagining anyone read up to this point) asks what is your point??? what do you have against the song?
My humble answer is, nothing against the song. Its just a song, but people who are making a song and dance in the same tune .... Frankly, stop whining. if you think the educational system is not good, take a stand against it. If you think your childhood was “burnt by sulphuric acid” then save your child from same experience. Or may be look a little beyond your own doll's house, do you think you can offer the same of that “acid” to the child that grows up on street?

The Tuni Light Zone

The opening sequence of twilight is from book of genesis, the one about the forbidden knowledge and mortality etc.
The cover (girls hand holding an apple), also stresses on the same point. I really didn't understand what connection a teenage love story might have, to any kind of knowledge, good, evil or otherwise. But as I read the book, I understood.

Throughout the book this theme kept playing in my head. The knowledge makes us mortal. So I guess, if we didn't have any knowledge, if we were really really REALLY stupid. The dumbest asses in the whole huge universe, would we be immortal?
cause if that is the case, the writer surely has a shot at ....

Ahem, but I don't really have anything against the writer. I mean, all in all, she just wrote a M&B novel. It was definitely not nice of her to follow it up with 3 more, but people has done worse. In fact, I really admire her for the fact, that she has explained most of the M&B mysteries.

Anyone who has read even one MB novel, have wondered about the heroes quite odd ... bordering to impossible behaviors. There is at least 3-4 scenes in every MB novel, where hero stands across a long hall (in a beautiful mansion that he owns) diagonally opposite to the place where the heroine is standing. Or on the top of a huge stair case (in another beautiful palace in a country, of which he is the prince) when the heroine is standing at the bottom of the said staircase. and suddenly, with no lapse of time, the guy is right on the girl doing things that would require at least 3 to 5 hands. How the hell is it humanly possible? Now Mrs Stephanie Meyer explained that. TA DAAA. No humanly possible explanation needed, as he is no human, you see? He is a vampire who can move faster than light and so can his hands.

Why are all the heros of MB are rich? They are all vampires, who do not sleep and make money at night and do not eat (that is definitely not the food you can buy), so there is no food expenditure. Add that for 100 yrs or so ... there you are rich!!

Why are they inhumanly handsome ... duh! vampire!

why on earth do they talk and think like complete morons? arre yaar, vampires ... AND they are from past century AND stuck in the body and mind of a moronic (albeit good looking) teenager. So they simply do not own evolved brain.

In fact I almost gave credit to her for something. I thought the vegetarian vampire idea was funny but original. Then i found out, its stolen from “Interview with the vampire”, where brad pitt (the original sparkly sparklerson ) was supposed to be living on rat blood. so .... umm anyway, Stephanie watches vampy movies before writing. which is research in todays world anyway.

I read this interview of the writer Stephani Meyer. Apparently she had a dream which she turned into a chapter in the middle of the book. From there she went on writing to the beginning of the book and then to the end. You can actually make that out from the flow of writing. Anyway that chapter depicts a scene of the heroine and her vampire lover, in a forest, touchy feeling and discussing why ... oh why cant they do more.
I understand at that point of time, the writer was a stay at home mom of young kids. Undoubtedly she would not have any time for romance. I suppose it is healthy thing to have dreams of these kind to get rid of your suppressed libido. So you should have those dreams, but please, oh please! Don't go on writing a book (or god forbid four books) about them.

But anyway, if she wrote one, who cares. Mills and boons churns out hundreds of these every year. What really got me is that many critics actually commented on the book saying, “something for young adults, may be to fill up void left by the absence of new harry potter books”. HARRY POTTER BOOKS!!!! I actually bought this book reading these idiots! The only kind of harry potter book it would replace is the one, where Harmione would be moody self absorbed teenager, who cares nothing about studies, elves or world in general. Whose focal point in life would be how her hair looks with her blue shirt and whether dumbledore returns her undying love for him or not.

I have been a great fan of harry potter books for last 10 yrs or so. Understood they are pop-ed up version of lord of the rings. But it still tell children, that its okey to be children.
Its okey to look and feel odd. Its okey to eat like a pig, to babble like an idiot in front of your crush, not to look the best all the time, not to be “popular”. At the end of the day its just important to be a good person. Show courage to follow what you think is right path. I mean look at the main female characters here, one hand we have bella, who does not study, has no aspiration to become anything in life other than her boyfriends mate. She hardly ever eats! Half the twilight sequence are in canteen where seeing Edward is there or not seeing him there, she decides not to eat. She constantly lies to her father about her plans. She is thrilled that a guy old enough to be her grandfather is stalking her. She doesn't turn a hair when she learns this man comes into her room at night without her permission. The only thing that troubles her about that is whether he has heard him talking in sleep!!!!! I mean woman! Edward is only a vampire, but you have serious problems! On the other hand we have female characters in harry potter, Hermione, Ginny, Luna. All going through same difficult and odd period of teenage. All extremely strong womens in making. In short they are girls I would like my daughter to be like, before you start making jokes, no, I don't really mean i want my daughter to be a wizard . I guess I am just trying to explain, when she reaches the stage of “young adults” why would I give her some books and not others.

So I guess at the end of the day, I have to be very glad, my husband is not a vampire. Or even if he was, he never bit me and turned me into an immortal vampire. Because the RS 350, that I spent to buy this book is going to haunt me till the day I die. I shiver in horror, what it do to me if I didn't die at all.
So kudos to madam eve and that sweet little serpent. Thank god! You guys decided to get healthy and keep the doctors away.