Chetan Bhagat 2

Nearly 2 weeks after Chetan Bhagat’s (the author of the –ahem-ahem!!- bestseller “Five Point Someone- What not to do at IIT) latest offering ONE NIGHT @ THE CALL CENTER hit the stores, I laid my hands on one.

As the title clearly suggests, the book records incidents taking place in a sequence, over the span of around 11.5 hours.

The back cover reads, “Welcome to one night @ the call center, another witty, dark novel from award-winning author of the nation bestseller Five Point Someone.”

a) WHICH awards did the author win???
b) The book isn’t all ‘that’ dark. Witty? A li’l bit. But ‘dark’, hmm…….anyone wanna define it?

It took me nearly 4 hours to devour the book. Yeap…in1 sitting, flat!! It didn’t hurt, BECAUSE, this book is kinda fast-moving. (The only other authors, whom I’d like to put in that category, are Shobhaa De n Farrukh Dhondy.)

The author’s pretty straight forward in whatever he wants to say. No beating around the bush!! Not short, but crisp for sure.

He’s actually put down the so-called pre-decided series of event prevalent in society. It just ended up as being corny. Everyone knows what he/she is gonna go through. What someone else has gone through. And what someone else will go through. Writing them down, was probably his way of alerting people who live in their own sweet world!!
Sample this, “ ‘…it’s the girl who always gets to choose. Men propose and women accept the proposal or, as in many cases reject it.’

It’s true. Girls go around rejecting men like it is their birthright. They have no idea how much it hurts us. I read that the reason for this is that the female of the species has to bear their offspring with a lot of effort. Hence they choose their mates carefully. Meanwhile, men dance around, spend cash, make them laugh, write stupid poems, anything to win them over. The only species where courting works in reverse is the sea horse. …I wished I were a sea horse. How hard can it be to carry a couple of eggs in a backpack?”

Well, the narrator is trying to be real. Not bad! But, I’m sure, there r far better reasons why women get to chose, n why it is not the reverse!!!!!!

Apart from the above, there are a few other instances, where the narrator gets real. Really real!

It gives u an insight into the hierarchy at a call center. And a brief idea about what all a call center agent MIGHT have to go through!

I’d recommend this book only if,

* u wanna follow up on what exactly happens??

* U JUST want to read this one, because u read the last one. And wanna be one of those, ‘ well-informed’ ones!!!!

* U think, it might help u, and lastly,

* U wanna do some time pass. As in, getting really bored? Okay with the idea of reading something, it might relax u? well the, GO AHEAD and grab a copy!

city of love

This is fun for those who have lived in or around Bombay ....

Bombay has no bombs and is a harbour not a bay.
Churchgate has neither a church nor a gate. It is a railway station.
There is no darkness in Andheri.
Lalbaug is neither red nor a garden.
No king ever stayed at Kings Circle.
Nor did Queen Victoria stay at Victoria Terminus.
Nor is there any princess at Princess street.
Lower Parel is at the same level as Parel.
There are no marines or sailors at Marine Lines.
The Mahalaxmi temple is at Haji Ali not at Mahalaxmi.
There are no pigs traded at Dukar bazaar.
Teen bati is a junction of 3 roads, not three lamps.
Trams used to terminate at Kings circle not Dadar Terminus.
Breach Candy is not a sweetmeat market.
Safed Pool has the dirtiest and blackest water.
You cannot buy coal at Kolsa Galli.
There are no Iron smiths at Lohar chawl.
There are no pot makers at Kumbhar wada.
Lokhandwala complex is not an Iron and steel market.
Null bazaar does not sell taps.
You will not find ladyfingers at Bhendi Bazaar.
Kalachowki does not have a black Police station.
Hanging Gardens are not suspended.
Mirchi Gully does not sell chillies.
Figs do not grow in Anjir Wadi,
Sitafals do not grow in Sitafal Wadi,
Jackfruits do not grow at Fanaswadi
But it is true that you may get fleeced at Chor (Chira) Bazaar!!!

THINGS TO PROVE YOU'RE A BOMBAYITE.1. You say "town " and expect everyone to know that this means south of Churchgate.
2. You speak in a dialect of Hindi called 'Bambaiya Hindi',which only Bombayites can understand.
3. Your door has more than three locks, or you have more than one door.
4. Rs 500 worth of groceries fit in one paper bag.
5. Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life.
6. You spend more time each month traveling than you spend awake at home.
7. You call a 10' x 10' clustered room a Hall.
8. You're paying Rs 10,000 for a 1room flat, the size of walk-in closet and you think it's a "steal."
9. You have the following sets of friend: schoolfriends, college friends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends,a species unique only in Bombay.
10. Cabbies and bus conductors think you are from Mars if you call the roads by their Indian name, they are more familiar with Warden Road, Peddar Road, Altamount Road.
11. Stock market quotes are the only other thing besides cricket which you follow passionately.
12. The first thing that you read in the Times of India is the "Bombay Times" supplement.
13. You take fashion seriously. You're suspicious of strangers who are actually nice to you.
14. Hookers, beggars and the homeless are invisible.
15. You compare Bombay to New York's Manhattan instead of any other cities of India.
16. The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
17. You insist on calling CST as VT, and Sahar and Santacruz airports instead of Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport
18. You consider eye contact an act of overt aggression.
19. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes.
20. Being truly alone makes you nervous.
21. You love wading throughv knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it ''romantic'.
22. Only in Bombay, you would get Chinese Dosa and Jain pizza , Jain Chicken.
23. You call traffic policemen as 'Pandus" and expect out-of-towners to understand that.
24. ''Lochya, lafda, Chutya, item, kalti, zol'' are some of the common words used with some specific meaning which you will not find in any dictionaryPS :- ‘BOMBAY’ is actaully the portugese for ‘GOOD BAY’. ‘Bom’ means good.

working fun

MUMMMMEEEE!!!!!
Housekeeping is one S-E-R-I-O-U-S business. It took me full 30 hrs to realise that!!!!!!
Well, my mom’s out of town for 2 weeks, n 30 hrs down the line, I have made truce with the fact that this ‘business’, or so I’d like to call, requires big time management skills, intelligence and god knows what!! Housewives, hats off to u! Thank god, at least I won’t be one of them!!!!!
But then, who’s cribbing?? I’ve been gorging on exotic fruits ever since she left. And, never on earth, she’d let me make ‘Caribbean fruit salad’ for my lunch!! Mmmm ……I’m loving it, or rather, living it!!!!

Confession

NINE weeks after the much-acclaimed film of Nagesh Kukunoor “IQBAL” was released, I managed to catch it at one of the rare A Grade single-screen theatres in my city. There were a few incidents mired around the aforementioned event. But, I’ll stick to the movie, as these so-called incidents, are worth overlooking at!

I haven’t watched any of Kukunoor’s movies before. But, of course, I have heard/read as lot about him. Also heard a li’l bit of him (giving some sound bytes before “IQBAL’s release) and I must say, he speaks good Hindi. No airs about it!!

*As everyone raved, I must say, it was a really nice film. One, which can be safely slotted into the ‘intellectual’ category. I had an instinct long before the movie released that this is a film worth watching, considering the fact that I prefer only intellectually stimulating ones, once in a blue moon that I watch any!

*Elahe Heptoolah, if I’m not mistaken is the director’s lovely wife. Well, she apart from being the Exec. Producer of this film, also shares one of the other credits, I don’t recollect which!

*Shweta Prasad (as everyone including yours truly observed) is a real prodigy. I’ll not be surprised if Nasseruddin Shah picks her up to essay a character in any of his future productions, plays to be specific.

*Also, I have never seen Girish Karnad in action before. Yes, that includes not being an audience to any of his plays, previous films and any other artistic expression, whatsoever. And on the basis of all that what I had read about this man, I know, I have missed out on a lot: (.
I fervently hope, that he is around, when I’m in a position to watch him live. I’ve just read his one of his plays (Tughlaq) and heard a production of something, which had to do with the Kid Krishna.

*Another thing that caught my attention was KK’s vocals. Voice, as it is said, matures like old wine……okay wait, I’ll change that analogy. (I believe in preaching what u practice, and I’m a teetotaller!). So, lets juz say, voice matures over a period of time. As I (and most of us) have seen, or rather, heard him from “Tadap tadap” (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam) to “Aawarapan banjarapan” (Jism) to now…”Aashayein”. His other singles like “Pal”, “Yaaron dosti”, etc. obviously added finesse to his repertoire.

* It was mentioned, Salim-Suleiman have done the background score of this film. The first time I heard about them, was when they worked with VIVA (Channel-V Popstars I) for “Jaago Zaraa”. After that, they’ve been consistently doing backgrounds scores for a lot of films and have also done music for a few films. Ek Haseena Thi was one of them?? I specially liked it, when they had a India Today did a spread on them featuring their state-of-the-art studio!!

*Lastly, many of the frames of Iqbal resembled those of Swades!! And that particular scene where Shreyas and Shweta or rather Iqbal and Khatija first enter’s Mohit’s house, it looked like a shorn version of the scene preceding the one in Sarfarosh where a lamb enters Naseer’s maikhaana……or wateva that was!! I’m sure, it wasn’t a maikhaana because, he was doing riyaaz out there!!

*A-N-D….i came across the quote “If u really want something, the universe conspires in your favour to help you achieve it.”, in the Alchemist. Will someone please enlighten me about its origins, considering the fact that it's an oft repeated dialogue in the movie?

Look Who's DYING ?!
Everyday 300 species get extinct.
If the entire population of pollinators gets swiped.......
it'll take ONLY 1 (ONE) year for the TIGERS to dissapear....A-N-D.....
another just 3 (THREE) years for Homo Sapiens to V-A-N-I-S-H.
Other species will follow suit!!..........Is this the world we are GIFTING to our children???

Man is only a strand in the Web of Life
He is not the WEAVER of the web.
If he does ANYthing he does to the Web,
it'll surely affect him:(

slimmer

ASH N FAT!!!!!!!!

Heard the latest one????????

Adi Chopra's engaged a fitness expert to put Ash back in shape for Dhoom-2. Thank god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still can't get over all that flab she has been showing since Cannes 04!!

random comments

• It’s not said for nothing that “public memory is very short”. Well, now who’s talking about the declassification of the infamous tapes in which President Carter (oh my god!! I don’t even know whether it was him or someone else!!) used the choicest of invectives for the ex Indian PM Mrs. I Gandhi.
  
• The recent decision by the Aditya Birla group to merge 3 of its companies, 2 of them being Indian Rayon & Indo- Gulf Fertilisers, seems like a sound move. Though, I have absolutely NO expertise about business moves and the likes………what’s wrong in giving ur comment. There’s nothing I stand to lose!!

roots of words

HP n the VOCAB

I seriously think J K Rowling's vocab is not all that strong as we think it is to be. She probably sits with an Oxford ....or wateva Dictionary for constant referance. One possibly can't be using words like the following for their regular communication!!!!!!!

Sample this.........shufti, prat, merpeople, skulking.......n so on. Now, i'm not sitting with an HP to give u the complete inventory of lost words used by the author!!!!!!!!!!!

Now Reading

I currently have my hands FULL with "The Monk who sold his Ferrari" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "The Zahir". interesting mix there!

Cars in Sarkaar!

Everyone who's seen SARKAR can't help oohing n aahing abt it. But hey.......did someone notice their lovely fleet of cars?? I say, there's a Merc n loads of swanky SUVs. All they need is an Octavia to complete the bevy of beauties!! and that lady playing the charcted of Amrita...is juz soooo gorgeous!! Wot say abt Katrina's mole on the left cheek?!