Shor in The City
This one hour-forty eight minute movie by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK might end up being the second last brilliant thing to happen to me during my stay here in Jamshedpur. It’s my own space here, so I am allowed to brag a little—I had secured a paid internship with the ‘grand’ Tata Steel Ltd. for the summer of 2011 (a company that claims itself to be more than 100 years ‘young’). Also, I must add that the background score is pretty impressive and I am already dying to download the mp3 for ‘Karma is a bitch’, as soon as I get back to Roorkee. There are strong performances by every actor. I know some of the names: Tushaar Kapoor (yes, that’s true), Mahie Gill, the two loafers with Tushaar, the struggling cricketer—Savi, his babe—Sejal, and also that foreign returned character with a mysterious history. I will try not to let out the plot as I go on, but I can’t promise.
Tushaar’s tryst with destiny opens up new insights into life for him, and consequently for his wife, Mahie. The girl is more qualified than him, yet is subjected to the anonymity of the four walls; while the less competent partner in the matrimonial alliance is responsible for winning the bread in the family. Typical patriarchal set up. Justified and digestible. His one good ‘karma’ toward the boy accidentally injured in the bomb explosion probably saves him in the end! And guess what, that was also mere destiny because the innocent looking brat was himself a cheap conster…
Our struggling batsman ends up laying his hands on the required sum to grease the palms of the bloody selector. But probably he used it with better sense (there was ‘Robin’ by his side during this whole bribing enterprise—is there any connotation?) and got back to his practice with the bat. His so-called uncle had used his idea to his convenience for looting the bank but to no success. And just as he was meant to be, he deserted his men in the hour of need. Remember what your grandma would have told you… it’s always the rats that flee a sinking ship! Obviously that pimp deserved to get back to his original status of licking some political fanatic’s ass and provide the ‘dharna pradarashan’. Well, it’s a democracy and anybody can hold the state machinery to ransom to meet their ends! Cheers to that.
Finally, to my favourite character. This suave dude sets up some kind of soft skill business in Mumbai. After initially being harassed by a couple of extortionists he eventually decides to give it to them in their own language. A taste of their own sweet medicine, you’d say. Sheer spine and pure intent. When the din rises to an absolute crescendo, it’s best to join in; otherwise, you’ll be left behind. The only way to catch some solace in a noisy city, while still remaining there, is to join the chorus. What did they say about dressing like the Romans whence you’re in Rome! Destroying the evil with evil means is perhaps the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I can’t think of an appropriate citation here, but we know it’s there somewhere in our scriptures, right!
This mullah was calling out the ‘aazan’ presently. But Mother called me and that saved me from getting distracted. So, back to the issue of ‘karma’. An acquaintance here, Prateek Mathur ,(who takes sheer delight and pride in being addressed merely as ‘Mathur’ and hails from NIT Nagpur) told me that the three stories in the movie weren’t linked at all. Well, I can understand how he missed the link, which in the first place wasn’t meant to be perceptible to those with a shallow pulse. He is one of those guys who go all gung-ho about organizing cultural festivals in college as they earn you the certificates and the chic-hangouts, specifically in that order. There was an opportunity for him to display his brilliant managerial and organizational skills during the cultural night of the internship here too. But he obviously chose to sit out because it wasn’t going to earn him any special certificate to that effect; and neither did it confirm the PPO chances because the HR guys aren’t very crucial in this matter, here. Yes, so what my smart friend missed in the movie was the underlying theme of ‘karma’. All the three protagonists were reeling under the influence of their individual karmas. Incidentally, all the events in the movie are inspired from true stories, as covered in some newspapers. Which brings me to my little story.
I’ve rehearsed it over and over again in my mind but very rarely have I let it out aloud. The reason being, my Mother tells me that whatever lucky charm I’ve been influenced with might just desert me if I talked about it. (‘Nazar lag jayegi’). Perhaps, she’s right; she usually is. But, of late, I’ve grown strength and confidence. And so, I choose to present it. (Obviously hoping that I don’t run out of the charm!)
After a dismal performance in IIT JEE 2008, I was ranked far below my expectations—at least, so I felt (and trust me, that’s the case with even 90% of the students who qualify the prestigious examination) and maybe, in some ways, below my worth too. However, there had been a divine intervention by the Supreme Court on about the 6th of April 2008, for which my mother had been praying and thanked Maa Kali from the bottom of her heart. Two years of ghissai and I had landed myself with Geo-Tech in Roorkee—the five year integrated masters course. Another year of non-strategic ghissai in first year and I ended up securing a branch change to Civil in 2nd year. I was DR2 in my previous course. Sometimes we curse ourselves for having met some people, and sometimes we’re thankful to destiny for making us associate with others. The latter was going through my mind during 3rd sem. It was about my senior from school and then also in college, Abhilash Narayan. I hit my first 9.000 sgpa for that sem. I had caught the then DR-1’s eye, and much to his distaste. He wasn’t subtle in making this evident: ‘No one can ever beat me! Not even you Baridhi’. The caricature on his desk also had a cartoon of me ‘doing study’ and it all going down to the bin, as he was sanguine of retaining his current status as DR-1. But then, we all know the meaning of Nemesis, don’t we? And in this case it was personified by me. This was the beginning of 4th sem, January 2010. Thanks to my more targeted ghissai, I hit a 9.630 in the 4th sem and topped my class for that sem. I aced my batch again in the 5th sem, with a slight difference—this time, it was a perfect 10.000. I believe I have aced again in 6th sem and with yet another decent grade, which might have secured my position in the class; I am not sure yet—will find out once the college reopens. Well, call it luck or ‘karma’?!!? It’s going to be your personal take.
Obviously, there have been other people who were in the same situation as me and perhaps were equally meticulous and hard working as me (or even better). I choose not to name them to avoid hurting their sentiments (yeah, I do give up that sadistic approach sometimes). But what separates me from them? I really don’t know. And yes, obviously enough, my family and some people whom I do still consider as friends (only a handful of them) and some still others have had their role to play; I am very grateful. But there’s one person who deserves a mention…a special one at that. Yet, I’d be doing the least possible good to him by saving him the triviality of being mentioned in this blog.
It’s begun to drizzle outside.
PS: this post was meant to be put up on 5th July, a day before I left Jamshedpur.
