I live on a lane where most buildings were over 40 years old. Mine was one of the oldest. But recently, things began to change. Slowly, all around, little two-storied buildings were being razed to the ground and tall, stoic towers were taking their place.

I woke up one morning to a large, crushing sound. I huge orange machine stood on the road below, pointing its ominous looking weapon at one of the buildings. A couple of days ago, all the residents of the building had packed all their things in cars and tempos- suitcases big and small, cartons of all sizes and shifted to rented accommodations. Luggage in their hands and dreams of a new home in their eyes, they had all trudged along, leaving behind this skeletal building. Saptarishi now stood alone and without its inhabitants- decrepit.

There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with the building- atleast not in a broad sense. Its roof didn’t leak and white ants hadn’t crawled all over its surface. But Saptarishi was, in its own way, battling a war every one of us wages, only to lose. It was ageing.

The residents, not wanting to put the building or themselves through the ageing process, found a suitable builder and left behind this building that used to be their home. The demolition machine charged at the building and Saptarishi stood silently, taking it on. It thrust upon the walls and tore through the beams. Slowly, the building began to crumble. Bit by bit. First some parapets broke. The concrete fell off first, exposing the bricks underneath. Chunks of cements and metal crashed on the ground with a loud thud. Passersby stopped to witness this spectacle, it was like watching death, work its way through what was once living- reducing it to its basic elements and leaving a pile of dust.

The machine found its rhythm and began working at different parts of a structure. The operator, sitting in a small cubicle atop the machine looked deceptively insignificant as he moved around this giant and aimed it at strategic places. Just then, maybe intentionally, maybe not, the machine struck a beam that, as onlookers came to understand, was important to the building. In one stroke, the beam fell taking with it the entire upper floor. In an avalanche of dust, cement and chunks of mortar, the building came down with a thundering crash.

It was in that moment that the building lived for one last time. It was the sound of death and a resignation to the ways of the world, and of this city we call home. In that final breath, it took in all it could from this street that it had silently stood on for so many years. For once and for all, it broke the silence, it screamed in pain and then succumbed to the death that was destined to it. For that one thundering crash, every one on the street, and those peeping from their windows, the workmen, the contractor, the demolishers, even the machine that was gnawing at the beams, stood aside. Some in shock and surprise, others in awe, and a few, who had known and seen this collection of brick and mortar as a living, breathing home, we saw its demise, with a wistful mourning.

Some would say we learn fear. As a child, we’re told stories of monsters and demons. Told not to talk to strangers and never open the door to anyone. But what we’re taught are things to be afraid of and not fear itself. Fear is more primal than that. It is a part of our very being. To be alive is to be fearful. It is almost limiting, necessary to maintain a world order of sorts. If we weren’t afraid, we wouldn’t stop. We wouldn’t restrain anything. In some way, by its very limiting nature, fear fuels us on.

We study, learn to live, earn a living, to deal with the fear of death. We marry, reproduce, to deal with a fear of another kind- the fear of being lost in the world and leave without a trace. But if it were so negative, so undesirable, why would we revel in it so? A crude example would be watching a horror movie. You know it will scare you, make you feel unpleasant. But you still pay money to experience that feeling. One of the truths probably lies in the adrenaline rush that fear gives. Fear makes us feel a little more alive by creating the sense of mortality. Even if all fear is not mortal in nature, it reaches the same place in our hearts. But all this is the good stuff. Why fear is good for us.

But what if it becomes something frustrating? What if it makes us unable to live? Fear can stop us from succeeding, from achieving. It can make us hurt people we love. Fear can destroy. And in that beautiful paradox that is fear, we constantly negotiate the victories and defeats of everyday life and ultimately create our own existence.

1. It is an obnoxious mix of Spy Kids, Iron Man, Speed, Wolverine, Kill Bill, Matrix, Batman and a couple dozen more superhero flicks.
2. It is at once offensive to women, South Indians, African Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Fat people, gay people and Rajnikanth (it’s like SRK set out with a checklist of people to piss off!)
3. The film has no identifiable plot. It is a series of random scenes strung together to create a pretty juvenile story.
4. Every 3 and a half minutes later, the film breaks into a ‘science class’ of sorts where some character (with coolio animation and all) tries to explain to you how to decipher the rest of the film. Yes, they actually tell you! There’ll be demos and long lectures about sciency jazz thats way too complicated to understand anyway. And you had better pay attention because there are some crazy permutations and combinations by which Ra.One and G.One (don’t get me started on that one!) can kill each other. Without all this crucial information, the whole movie is as messed up as the noodles + curd  combo (yech!) that SRK wolfs down all the time.
5. And let’s not even get started on the ‘logic’ of the film. For example, this apparent supervillian, who’s smarter than all mankind, while on his quest to find his nemesis, Lucifer, actually goes around asking (!) every person he meets if their name is Lucifer. Now this coming from a guy who can apparently read/alter other people’s thoughts, scan all the people of an entire city sitting on some high-rise building and is also some kind of shape-shifter to boot.
6. The dialogues are, to say the least, cringe-worthy. Yes, they’re cheesy, they rhyme and they sound like they’re ripped off from a 90s B-grade Bollywood flick.
7. If you tolerate all of the above and manage to sit through the film, the ending (spoiler alert!), you’re bound to be thoroughly disappointed. There’s hardly a climax where you almost want the supervillian not to die just so that there can be some more action and you have one last chance to get your money’s worth. But all it takes is one lame gunshot for this apparently invincible supervillian to explode into a gazillion little cubes!

Arjun Rampal is the only good part of the film, but even the 20 odd minutes (think he would be on screen more given that he is the title character!) that you see him are not worth spending all the other time grappling with what is rightly touted as SRK’s most expensive midlife crises. So honestly, save yourself the effort, the money and all that sheer stupidity that is Ra.One.

Bull shit. A relationship has already ended when you’re trying to think up all these answers. Ultimately, at the end of the day, all you are looking for is excuses. Love isn’t some magical dove that flies down and gently settles into your life. Its a very tangible thing. You build it when you trust one another, share things and create everyday together. As pfaffy as that may sound, its basically true. When we’re in relationships, we share a bit of our lives. It maybe done through something as silly as discussing what you had for dinner that night, or something as intimate as your greatest fears. But it is there, created by you.

But if you make it, you also know the big shiny button on it with Self-destruct written on it. And one fine day, for no reason at all, you press it. When it happens, you do all of the above: be attracted to another person, talk about the future and just begin to feel its not working.

But the trouble isn’t that. The trouble is that we don’t have the guts to tell another person that its simply over. We wait and beat around the bush. We fish for reasons and excuses to fight. We start finding each other annoying. And then the gravest of them all- insult. The time when you really know that its over is when one person insults another. Makes them feel that they don’t matter anymore. They might not say it that directly or in so many words, but it will show.

And at that point, when you know there is nothing left in that relationship, just up and leave.

I saw you but from a frosted window pane,

A city came alive

You never let me in,

Into your many lives

I stood looking at all the things you were,

Your beauty mesmerized,

And just when I felt I knew you,

You left me again surprised.

I was but a passerby,

When you pushed past me to get to work,

And when you sat staring at the distant tide,

When you aimlessly walked home

I was but a passerby,

When you cruelly crushed dreams everyday

Of a million hopeful eyes,

And weaved new ones every night

I was but a passerby,

When you stayed awake all night,

In the alleys that breathed a different life,

Of the underbelly of dark, dark lies

In a million ways, in all these days,

I hated you with all my heart

Till now no more hate remains

And I leave now simply because,

I’m no longer just a passerby.

You may not be her first, her last, or her only.
She loved before she may love again.
But if she loves you now, what else matters?
She’s not perfect, you aren’t either,
and the two of you may never be perfect together
but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice,
and admit to being human and making mistakes,
hold onto her and give her the most you can.
She may not be thinking about you
every second of the day, but she will give you a part of
her that she knows you can break her heart.
So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze
and don’t expect more than she can give.
Smile when she maked you happy,
let her know when she makes you mad,
and miss her when she’s not there.

2. No matter what, we always sing!

3. You see a place you’ve never seen before, talk to people you’ve never known, do thing’s you’ve never imagined, and come back with more stories than you can keep count of!

4. The C.O.M. (If you don’t know what that stands for, go for a camp!!!!)

5. On the first camp, the people I knew were 0. So what?

6. There’s never a dull moment! Even when you really really wishing there would be!

7. You’ll see birds you can never remember the names of (& hence get whacked )

8. You’ll possible even see an animal you will never forget for the rest of your life. In my case this was a tiger…

9. After a tiring day, trekking in some beautiful forest in the middle of nowhere, you sleep better than you would, any other day, any other time….

10. And, somewhere, on the banks of a distant river somewhere, or maybe sitting on a hill, overlooking the forest, you find yourself…
I know I did….

MICA Monsters:

The Placement Monster: Live in Fear

The DCP Monster

The 11.59 Submission Monster

The B-School Competition Monster (a.k.a.) the CV Point Monster (He’s friends with the placement monster)

There is something magical about clay. How you can create things and destroy them in an instant. How meaningless lumps become people, animals, things…anything you want! And the feeling of molding clay in your hands-the ultimate stressbuster Just wish I had a better camera!