Neo Imaginations

               I was a school boy when the milestone movie DDLJ released in the year Oct 1995. Born in a family where theatre release did not mean a word and only TV could feed hunger for movies. But TV was 20 years behind the then present era of 1995 when it came to telecasting movies. So DDLJ was more than impossible against the phony lines I M POSSIBLE. I was one of the earliest SRK fans right from his Circus days. So all I could manage was Rs 35/- audio cassette to be played on my BPL stereo.  Then came a time when slam books became a trend in our school. Being a student of Central School aka KV we used to change schools as frequent as our fathers got posted. So we used to circulate our slam books within the classroom as a memoir. The slam book had questions like nick name, favorite actor, favorite movies, songs, idea of a perfect date and such cheesy questions. Some questions were bouncers and everybody used to write the sam...

With Lok Sabha Polls just around the corner, Major Political Parties are leaving no stone unturned to give people a mouthful laugh before they again take them for a five year ride. First came the Youngress Advertisement with Flyover kaha gaya and Metro Kaha gaya hullabaloo. Then came another trump card about rural housing plan and Employment Scheme Advertisement, where people were singing in symphony for the prosperity of food,shelter and modernization in Youngress Raj. Youngress glorified their past so emphatically that even Kalmadi was taken aback. People were happy for Youngress atleast gave a final respite through these funny videos running randomly between Behenji serials and Cricket matches alike. Considerable amount of rocket science was applied to make these ads win people s heart. But all they won was people s laughter and anger. These Ads again reminded the poor Janta what they have been denied all these years.                 ...

Thank you Ambi Pur for giving me an opportunity to share an eternal road trip of my life. Teach India campaign by Times of India Group gave a blissful opportunity to many middle class educated people to realise their dream of teaching the underprivileged. We are born and then brought up by parents with elaborated educational degrees to grab the best jobs of the world. Eventually when we start earning handsome salaries we realise the importance of education and also the hidden reason why our parents sacrificed their happiness and murdered many of our own happiness in dictating and stressing upon the importance of Education. Not even a year at job and you come to a position where you can apply for a car loan with an EMI that is more than twice the monthly salary of a labourer. Then surely education proves it mettle. As I was working with a firm that was located at a remote corner of Rajasthan State I could not get connected with the campaign through the designated NGOs. B...

‘A young executive was nervously biting her nails.’ Unable to decide between work ethics and Jiyo Dil Se attitude she chose the latter. 2 days back:                    It was evening 7 pm on Mira's wrist watch and she has been wanting to walk up to the coffee vending machine for a break. Her day starts at 9 am in the NEOTEL call center where she works as a customer care executive. She just got over from a customer call regarding some billing issue. This was not a usual day to day call that she handles at a flick. It was a call from a person named Ankit Kaushik. Though she recognized his voice from the word 'hello' itself but her job protocol urged her to take details of his name and cellphone number to discharge her service as an executive. She wanted to scream on the phone to say she was Mira but her call sign name Mandy was mandatory as company s policy in answering query. She resolved Ankit's ...

              The board examinations just got over and me being a book worm had nothing to do better. During the examination time, i kept convincing myself to burn nights at the pretext that i would sleep endlessly for days. But sooner the exams got over my lost sleeps too did not knock the door. TV did the best distractions all through the exams but after the tempest, it too had nothing to offer. Completely bored to death i walked to a friend staying nearby, named Nikhil (SRK look alike).  Nikhil was a casual secret smoker. As i reached him that late afternoon, we went to a grocery shop nearby. He bought a cigarette for himself and a chewing gum for me. I had a Rs 10 note in my pocket and with that we both started walking the adjacent railway track behind the grocery shop. It was almost 5 pm and quite shady. I dont remember how long we walked that day because we were so much lost in our own conversations about girls and prospective...

                         Bangalore was just 20 miles away and train stopped at an unknown Railway station near Whitefield area. He an unknown man, who was watching and observing me for quite some time now came to me. Without wasting a second he asked me the time and started the conversation that follows. He : This train will not start in another 15 mins also. Me:  (Just nodded) Guess so! He: Where are you coming from ? Me: New Delhi. He: Very far indeed. Must be really tired. Me: Hmm... He: What is your name ? Are you from Bangalore ? Me: (Lied) I am Peter Parker.  He: Oh ! A Christian. Me too. James  Me: (with a smile ) Good.         ( I know if i had told him my name as Ehsaan, he would have told me he is Qureshi and a Muslim.) He: I was on my way to Mumbai and damn lost my purse. My cell phone also got stolen.       If you do...

                                               It’s a story of a taxi driver whom I met while commuting from Bandra terminus to Kurla Railway Station in Mumbai (I still call it Bombay sometimes). After my train Ranakpur Express left me at Bandra   Terminus I was in a hurry to reach Kurla Railway Station for my onward journey to Bangalore (namma bengaluru) my home.  As I moved to the exit way on the Bandra terminus I saw him in a crowd vying for his customers amongst his peers. Unlike others he wasn’t loud and audacious. He was subtle, content and cheerful. I made my way towards him. We settled for an appropriate fare and he parked my luggage with oblige. On a smooth day it’s half an hour drive with moderate traffic as I know very less of Mumbai.  As we started moving from Bandra terminus he started with a conversation and asked m...