Morning Encounter with Mamu!

While riding to the office in the morning, the cop at Hinjewadi chowk politely gestured me to take my bike aside. I obliged without any second thoughts. For the first time, my heart didn’t pound as it used to on my encounter with cops, the reason- I had all my documents in place. He then asked for my license. I pulled out my wallet and showed him my license which he scanned and asked me for the originals. I said, “Sir, ye original hi hai”. He checked it again to his satisfaction.

He then said that my number plate is not as per the standard and it should have been on a white background. I currently have a silver fibre number plate with letters written in plain bold font. Hmm… So this time it wasn’t the documents that the cop was checking for. He then said, “Iski parchi kategi”. I humbly said that I wasn’t aware of such kind of rule. I requested him to issue me a warning instead but in vain. He said Rs. 100 fine was mandatory. Hmm.. not much but this wasn’t that big an issue. Besides the letters on my number plate were in bold and quite legible. It was then that I decided to use my convincing skills. I politely said, “Sir, I commute through this road every day. You may very well get hold of me again tomorrow if I don’t change my number plate. So please issue me a warning and let me go.” Nope… didn’t work fully. I had utilized a Panchatantra fable of cow and tiger in real life. It had done 80% damage. For the rest 20%, I used the recession Ram-Ban - “Sir, at Rs. 100, I can get a new number plate made. And if I still don’t, you may fine me tomorrow”. It worked!! He let me go with a warning, and I left with the promise to change my number plate with the conventional one.

Issued in public interest: All those reading and having fancy number plates, please replace them soon to avoid such encounters.

Amitabh Bachchan's folly- Paa

It started with Black(Alzheimer's), Taare Zameen Par(dyslexia) and now Paa(progeosis). Why are the Bollywood directors getting so obsessed with the lesser known diseases? Some of these diseases, even a medical doctor won't know of. While Black was an intricately woven masterpiece, Taare Zameen Par was perfection redefined by Amir Khan in his directorial debut. It was each of ours childhood story retold. But Bachchan's new movie- Paa was a disaster. I felt like leaving the hall even before the interval. However, to save others from the torture, I decided to stay back and complete the movie. Everything but Bachchan's wonderful makeup and acting skills failed to appeal me. In fact, the only USP of the movie seemed to be the fact that it was AB, the same man who had played numerous Vijay's and the unforgettable Don. Paa's music directed by the famous Illayaraja seemed quite conventional and forgettable. The direction was average.

In the first half, it seemed as if the director utilized the platform to realize his childhood fantasy of showcasing the dirty world of Indian politics too, along with progeosis. The movie seemed to drift away from the purpose. The objective of the movie seemed blurred. Unlike TZP, Paa failed to gather any sympathy for the protagonist. Probably, the director got confused on whether the objective of the movie was to promote safe sex or to show Auro's plight. The movie did have some witty one-liners that managed to draw a few laughs. But the movie was miserably long and predictable. Maybe I had too high expectations for it. Who wouldn't? After all it is an AB's movie. AB is undoubtedly the greatest actors that Bollywood can ever get. But his greatness is somewhat subdued by some of his silly choices such as Alladin and RGV ki Aag. He is already a legend and must now become a bit choosy before signing a movie.