Motivation

After a series of blog posts, I had decided that I would write about Motivation - What really motivates me? But never got the motivation to complete the post :)

Sawai Ekankika’ 2013

So this year I completed a hat trick of watching the finals of Sawai. Like the previous 2 occasions, this too was a great experience. Most of the plays were good and the overall performance level was better than that of the 2012 finals. Most of the plays were based social issues like parenting, cynicism among the middle class, etc. Unlike the previous finals, not a single one was of romantic/love genre. Here is the list of finalists-

1. Nat S. M. R. T.
   We missed this one as we were late. But Viraj's father told us, this was similar to the play "Natasamrat" but a modern version.
2. Emotional Atyachar
   This was a story of an employee in an e-CRM firm which is hired by clients so that someone can communicate with their family. These clients are too "busy" with their work that they don't have time to speak with their wife/kids/parents. The agent/employee E26 slowly starts getting emotionally attached with his clients' families. Finally, when he is about to quit, he gets a new client whose identity forces him for a suicide.
3. Rishta Wahi, Soch Naee
   A story of relationship between father and son. Both of them usually don't get along well. But a new game between them changes their thinking about each other. Pretty funny with lot of punch lines. It was directed by Advait Dadarkar.
4. Pranimatra
   Here, a Tiger is trying to protect a Fawn after killing the mother Deer. Honestly, this play had those moments where I felt really sleepy. However, to give credit to the actors, their imitation of the animals they were portraying was commendable.
5. Bandh Nylonche
   This was another play with the parenting issue being handled. In the future, some agency has specialized in providing relatives which are Robots. A couple hires its services for getting grand parents to take care of their daughter. However, one day the girl's real grand parents come to know about it. The play basically discusses the fact that people have become so much mechanical and emotionless that there is hardly any difference between us and Robots. Bhagyashree Shankpal of Balak Palak fame ("Chiu") played the character of the daughter.
6. Anesthesia
   The most hard hitting performance of the night came from Aaroh Velankar. He had won the Best Actor award 2 years ago for "HTTP 404: Page Not Found". Last year, it was "Serial Killers". This year his play talked about how we are using "Entertainment" as an anesthesia against all the torture, pain we are getting due to the problems in our society, state and country. Again the dialogues were great and some of the scenes were incredible, including the mob scene where everyone dances on the tunes of "Deva Shri Ganesha" while Shivaji Maharaj is shouting and another scene where everyone is watching the inspector die and once he dies everyone press some button and walk away and you realize they were all watching it on TV.
7. Ekut Samuha
   Well, here it is the boring one. Actually, I saw this at Mrugajal competition and it won the best prize. But then I felt it wasn’t that good. It is about a family of three where each one is unique in its own respect. Many of the scenes were farfetched especially the “delivery” scene. The play was humorous at some points, but still lacked the consistency.

I am still unaware of the results. My guess is that Anesthesia might have won the best prize.

Memories - 5 Years ago...

Lonavala 2008 Trip

From Left - Kiran, Aditya, Susmit, Vishwanath, Nikhil, Viraj, Harshad, Vishwajeet, Myself and Vikram

Lonavala 2008 Trip

Sawai Ekankika Finals

So it is time for the big night of the year! Sawai Ekankika Finals will start in some time now. It will be interesting to see this year's performances and stories. I will update on the same during the weekend.

Mumbai Marathon’ 13

I still don’t remember why I decided to participate in the race. I had completed the Half Marathon in 2009, but that was pretty slow with more than 4 hours taken. This time I was running with the intent of completing the race within 3 hours. I had even contacted my friend, Sankalp, who had participated in various Marathon competitions in US. I asked him for a plan to prepare for the race. However, like many things in my life, I never prepared for the ultimate race because of my usual laziness (Big Mistake!!!). 

On the race day, I arrived at the venue with my friend, Nikhil S. I started the race at 5:51AM, around 10 min after the gun time. During the initial few kilometers, I had some trouble with breathing, so I started having doubts whether I would be able to complete the race. But, then after I got used to the walking/running, I did not have any trouble with it. Main issue then was that of legs. By the time I reached Pedder Road, I was not able to run for more than 6-7 seconds, it was basically brisk walking now. Some serious pain had developed on the side of my right calf. Meanwhile, I saw many of SEBIites (with the fluorescent colored jersey, it wasn’t hard spot them), most of whom were way ahead of me. I somehow managed to pass the Marine Drive road and entered the final 2 Kms. Slowly once I reached within 100 m distance, I told myself, lets finish this off in style. I sprinted to the finish at my top speed in the whole race. But how idiotic was that decision!! Sankalp had specifically told me, it’s a Marathon and not a sprint. But no!! I wanted to show off na! Once I crossed the finish line, I was barely able to walk, with excruciating pain in the right calf area. I somehow managed to make it to the medical camp first, where I got some ice to apply to my right leg. After a few minutes, I met Sankalp and Siddhesh in the Azad Maidan. I can’t forget the way I walked up and down the stairs at Dadar station, it took like an eternity!

Of course despite all this cribbing, I must confess, I liked the whole experience of the Marathon. May be, had I prepared my body well before the competition, it could have been much better. As the pain recedes with time, I might think of Sankalp suggestion of taking part Full Marathon next year along with him and Siddhesh. Well, still long time to go for that decision!

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With Sankalp and Siddhesh

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Gun Time	05:40:04
Start Time	05:51:13
Split@9Km	01:11:02
Split@10Km	01:21:12
Finish@21.097Km	03:11:49
Gross Time	03:22:58

Mumbai Marathon’ 13 - I

First thought after I completed the race -

Fuck, fuck, fuck. Why did I make that sprint to finish line with 100 meters remaining? Ooohhh… This is bad. I am not able to walk with my right leg paining so much. Damn it!

Dork III

This has to be the best of the three Dork books(“DORK: The Incredible Adventures of Robin ‘Einstein' Varghese”, “God Save The Dork” & “Who Let The Dork Out?”). It has been wonderful reading experience for past one week. I am sure people around me (at home, in train, in office bus) might have felt, why this fellow is smiling so much while reading this book :) The BBC journo episode, first meeting with Colonel, Sivaji statue fiasco, Tihar jail’s special room, Gym sessions – all were super comedy entries in Robin “Einstein” Varghese's Diary. It will be worth reading it again some time soon.

Some of my favorite quotes/lines from the book are as follows -

When the going gets tough, the Einstein has already finished going!

Women are the easiest things in the world to handle provided you don’t have any self-respect.

This is not Europe where people say, “You fool me once shame on you, you fool me twice shame on me.” In India, “you fool me once, I fuck you m****.”

The room was so silent you could hear the sound of the tapes winding inside the video cameras.

You should see the amount of oil is his hair, One day America will invade his head just for the oil.

Like Subhas Chandra Bose that peon has never been seen again.

Firangs are always trouble. From Vasco da Gama to Greg Chappell. All fuckers.

Movie Update

I watched three movies recently. Reviews for each are as follows – 

Life of Pi 

This one was suggested by many of my friends. And yes, it was worth it. Based on the Man Booker prize winning book of the same name, the movie is the tale of survival of “Pi” who was stranded in the Pacific Ocean for more than 100 days with a Royal Bengal Tiger. To be honest, the story isn’t as intriguing as the cinematography. The initial sequence of the animals in the Zoo is one of the high points of the movie. In fact, overall this is the best 3D movie I have ever seen. Previous ones like MIB III and The Amazing Spiderman had nothing to do with 3D effects. It seemed as if they were basically filmed in 2D and then converted to 3D just to make more money. This movie, however, was different. Despite the movie being slowly paced especially in the second half, some of shots are so nice that slowness in the story can be forgiven.

Balak Palak (BP)
 

Well, this was one of the most anticipated movie in my friend circle, after we saw the original Ekankika in 2011 at Mrugajal competition. We had a great time watching the play and this movie is no different. In fact, I would say that the movie does a better job at delivering the required message than the play itself. All the 5 teen artists were amazing in their roles of students of the 10th class. Even Kishore Kadam as the Kaka, a character not present in the original ekankika plays a major role in the movie. Sai Tamhankar looks hot as was expected from her, for playing the role of Neha Tai.
Honestly it is not just a humorous movie, but is actually giving a social message needed for parents of this generation. But as my friend Viraj said, do people actually take the message that way or they just watch a movie as a mere comedy, is something even I can’t answer. 

I will certainly recommend this movie to all my friends. Go and watch this well-made Marathi movie in “theatre”. 

Kalapani 

This is a classic, starring Dev Anand and Madhubala. The movie is decent but at lot of places it seemed illogical with the way the character of Karan investigates the people behind his father’s sentence to Kalapani. The best of the part of the movie, however, is its songs. Two of my all-time favourite songs are in this movie. Have you ever noticed in the song “Achchhaji Main Hari”, towards the end when Dev Anand walks towards Madhu Bala, the way she changes her eye’s expressions. Simple amazing!! (If you haven’t just check it out). I don’t think many people know about the following song, my other favourite song, "Hum Bekhudi Mein" -

Source Images - Wikipedia - Life of Pi, Balak Palak, Kalapani

P.S. – Hopefully, I will be spared by Viraj from any comparison with “Avya” in the days to come :)