A few more Whys..

So whenever I tell people that I am working out of Koraput district of Odisha, I usually receive the following 2 reactions:

1)      OMG: how do you survive in such an interior place?

2)      Do you meet Naxalites?

The above 2 reactions ofcourse come after I have explained to people that Koraput is in Odisha and not in Maharastra (mistaken for Kolhapur city).

The irony in the above two statements/inquiries is that there are tens of thousands of people who survive in Koraput, and no one seemed to have realised it till one of the city dwellers travel there… and the 2^nd, the sheer stupidity of people inquiring about Naxalites. As if you expect them to wear their Naxal outfits, shout the Red propaganda and wield their AK47s while roaming the streets… such ridiculous questions had just stopped bothering me when I observed that there is this third question which keeps cropping up in several discussions:

3)      Is Koraput nice? How beautiful is it?

So like any sane person, my usual response would be, “course it is nice… infact it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to… it is serene, calm, pristine and just heavenly….”

Response: WOW, So how developed it tourism there? Why isn’t there any tourism happening?

Sadly, I realise that more than a year back, even I would have asked the same question… and I am yet to figure out the logical thought process behind this particular query…but then it is a bit tragic…

Anything good or great needs to be associated with the potential of how much money it can make… anything beautiful needs to be commercialised and taken advantage of… our own people, fellow citizens whom we call adivasis needs to be showcased and their “culture” needs to be part of “rural tourism”…

Now, don’t be afraid, I am all for commercialisation, for income generation and for development. I believe in making profits out of a business opportunity and I believe that rural tourism is needed… but then I also believe in responsible commercialisation..

I am still wondering why does everything beautiful needs to end up getting destroyed? Why is it that our primitive Tribals need to be showcased to the world as if they are colourful monkeys in a cage? Why our greed and desire cannot know their own limits? Still looking for some answers…

A bit of a surprise....

Koraput is often referred to as the Kashmir of Odisha (One person was audacious to claim it is the Switzerland of Odisha as well). Here, I lead charge of women communities in 2 Blocks of Koraput (Lamtaput and Nandapur) where we are trying to set up a Cashew processing Cooperative for the women. While these two blocks are incredibly beautiful and scenic, you also often feel a sense of desperation considering the remoteness of the place where we work in.

Koraput is extremely rich in mineral deposits which have led to many mining cohorts wanting a piece of that pie. The private capitalists versus the Naxal movement are old stories now and are probably going to continue for decades to come. However, some personal experiences which I had recently are something which I wanted to share.

While visiting one very interior village we walked close to 1.5 hours- 4-5kms in extreme heat and extremely rugged hilly conditions where there were no roads. I realised the extreme levels of hardships which these people face. There was no cellphone network, there was no electricity poles, didnt seem like they had any medical facilities and ofcourse none of the forms of entertainment which we are so used to.

So, naturally I was expecting an extremely under developed village consisting of starving, famine ridden families like the ones you see on National Geographic. But then, when I reached the place the shock which awaited me was different.

The village of Herdaguda is probably the most beautiful village I have ever seen. The entire terrain has been landscaped and terraced and lush green paddy and maize was growing all over. There were 3 tiny streams which run from the three hills surrounding the valley where the tiny village is located. I could see the streams have been cleverly diverted by the farmers so that continuous water supply is available to the farm lands (a technique known as Diverse Based Irrigation- something which these villagers obviously have never heard of but practiced anyways). There was this tiny wooden bridge which led us into the village (a pool being used by the villagers and their cattle everyday). The scenic beauty was splendid and it looked like a truly developed village with amazing social interventions.

I wanted to know which NGO had worked in this village and what kind of Govt schemes had been implemented. I started looking around for the ubiquitous Signboards which we get to see in every village in Odisha declaring the Govt Dept/ NGO which has worked on a project. However, surprisingly I couldn’t find a single such signboard. I asked the villagers in the little broken Odiya language I speak these days about the NGO which has worked in their village. They smiled back at me stating that no NGO or Govt Dept has ever come to their village. SPREAD was the first NGO which has come to them and that too only 4-5 months back. This was a total shocker- here was an example of what collective unity can achieve. The entire community consisting of 34 families have worked tirelessly for 20 odd years to achieve what I was visualising.  An example of collective action and cooperation which we all eulogise so much in the social sector, but are rarely able to achieve.

However, during our course of meeting with the villagers, I realised that all is not as well. Recent denudation of the nearby hills by wood mafia has resulted in soil erosion from the hills. As the soil contains high percentage of bauxite, the soil washing onto the agri fields in the plain lands is destroying the soil fertility and crops/agriculture. The villagers expressed that treating such vast tracts of land was out of their scope. They needed support and we needed to get into action.

This has since led me and one of my colleagues in SPREAD to initiate a project on NRM planning. Although this was already part of the SPREAD developmental agenda, the approach we are now taking is a bit different and trying to assess the demand, supply gap in labour, NREGS budget, Soil/Water conservation and livelihood initiative all within the plan. We are designing a NRM approach for the village which will ensure soil, and water conservation and also provide livelihood to the farmers in terms of NREGA and Forest Plantations and access to patta lands through FRA 2008. While this is not part of my regular deliverable as part of the fellowship, I am happy that I am attempting to make some long terms contributions to the villages in my own way. I think these small efforts on our part are what can lead to long term sustainable change.

Current status update: We have now received in principle sanction from the Govt divisions to take up the NRM project in Herdaguda. Once the entire planning process is completed and budget sanctioned, we hope to get this work initiated in the next few months. So I am hoping to leave this place with one cheerful smile :)

And chasing the dream….

Okay first, let me clarify that the dream I mention in the title is not my own…  The dream is that of the tribal women of Lamtaput and Nandapur Block of Koraput, Odisha- to be their own superior… to create and run a successful cooperative which will enable them to a better livelihood… simple- yet possibly one of the most challenging tasks they have taken up on themselves in the last few decades…

These women folks and villagers are no weaklings, they have waged wars on the Govt/Capitalists for the last 50 odd years to claim their forest lands… something which is rightfully theirs as they have been custodian of these lands since eternity…. And after decades of struggle, the Govt through the Forest Rights Act 2008 have actually promised to grant ownership of these lands… it’s a different story that our Govt has failed to deliver on that promise… like it fails on deliver almost everything it promises, except for newer and fresher corruption schemes they keep running in their maze of ministries….

My project in SPREAD, Koraput is about setting up a Cashew Processing Cooperative, to be run by women members who are currently part of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Women Federation. So all is well with that…good idea… good objective… cashew is available in abundance in the area… people are motivated… everything is good to look at from the outside… what doesn’t really work for them?

The biggest challenge…. Almost 98% of the women I work with are illiterate…they use thumb impressions and are willing to oblige and put it on any document if I request them to…. All because I work with SPREAD and they trust SPREAD…. Now, that is just a great branding for SPREAD as an NGO… but then I feel extremely uncomfortable with this whole thing…. While this speaks volumes about the credibility of the organization, I think this is a perfect recipe for disaster… there is absolutely no joy in having an entire generation of population totally illiterate…. SPREAD as an NGO work on Rights based approach, mainly on Right to Food, Work and Land. So good thing is they have maintained their focus area and have done an absolute marvelous job with regards to these issues. However, I do not know why a 1000 other NGOs who work in the same region or SPREAD has never decided to work on education (especially adult education). Only recently we have seen some initiative on Rights to Education where we are focusing on delivery of so called “quality education” in Primary schools in the area.

While we remain romantic and continue to claim that “the tribals live their life just fine without formal education”, I refuse to buy that argument… in an age when the tribals are increasingly becoming vulnerable in this greedy Us and Them game, I feel its cardinal sin to keep them away from education, or not make them realize the importance of it. So what if they are all at a “beyond school” age? We simply cant wait for the next generation of “educated” tribals to grow up and then address their issues… that’s gonna take too long…. The need of the hour is to create an environment where we can introduce these people to formal literary programs, to make them aware of Arithmetic, a bit of History, Geography and maybe some Political science and Civics… Given my way, I would like to introduce my SHG women to even simple concepts of Accountancy and Economics (they surely need to understand Debit Credit in their Bank Passbook, and the importance of Opportunity cost)….

I am unsure how we can expect a successful cooperative to be formed which is transparent in its potential dealings worth crores of rupees while our people struggle to calculate 4 times 4 and read a basic loan contract? So if I go by the original six principles of a Cooperative Society, spreading education is one of its major functions, as it deals with the balancing act of being a part-Social and part- Capitalist body. Now traditionally we have interpreted this as educating its members about (a) cooperative propaganda and (b) Cooperative principles and practices. I think it’s time we reinvent this definition- Its time we spread “formal education as a need and requirement to be part of the cooperative” which is engaged in economic activities to create sustainable livelihood… I did try to do a bit of googling to figure out if such models exist, but then I wasn’t successful in tracking one… If you know any, do let me know?

Let me tell you what I have done so far… I have spoken to 2 Self Help Group members, bullied them a bit… coaxed them slightly… and explained to them the importance of them learning a bit of reading and writing… to do a bit of maths and to know a bit about the social and political surroundings which they are part of…. In order to run their Cooperative well and manage their funds… Surprisingly, they have taken my “interference” well so far… and have agreed to take classes in their leisure time in the evenings… (even the grandmother at 65 years was eager to participate). So with that, I spoke to the Village Primary school teacher, the Sarpanch, and have been trying to arrange for these classes to initiate… and hopefully by next week I will get things in place….

But what am I lacking??

I am no educator, I am no MBA and No engineer (which makes me unqualified for anything decent in this world), but am just a graduate, with modest marks in my result sheets, and from a modest college… I have no idea how to run an adult literacy program in Oriya, a language Greek to me and I do not know how to make the lessons more interesting and activity oriented so that the women grasp them and are able to understand the relevance of knowing these things in their daily life… I need to make this sustainable, and if I am successful, I will replicate this approach in the other villages where I am currently working… But desperate that I am, I am also clueless… and I certainly don’t have any budget for the program either…

But as an entrepreneur, I guess I have a thick skin and a shameless attitude… I don’t much care about failures and am willing to beg anyone I meet asking for help, and I will welcome any sorts of freebees I can get… And I am using these qualities here in this blog post once again… I need YOUR help to get this education program arranged, organized, interesting and relevant…. I want an effort from you who are reading this post…

Let me tell you what I Don’t need as well.. I don’t want any false promises if you don’t have the caliber or potential to deliver…. So stay away if you only speak and do little… I don’t need you, there are plenty of others who will love and pet you….

For any advice, assistance, contacts, materials, donations, pledge, volunteering interests do drop me a comment, or email me here…. I am eager to hear from you…. Thanks….

Cracking that Selection Process- Your Dos and Donts (ICICI Fellows Program)

Okay… I have been receiving quite a few queries from aspirants for the ICICI Fellows program through various channels inquiring me on how they should prepare for the psychometric tests, the assessment day or what are the “right responses” to questions in a telephonic or personal interview etc. Some of them even mentioned that my earlier blog post have inspired and motivated them into applying for the program…. So let me clear some of the doubts… and let me try and do it in my own incorrigible way…

Firstly, my earlier blog post wasn’t intended to inspire or motivate aspirants… I am glad it did do it though (atleast that’s what you all claimed on your emails and messages ;) ).. I had meant the post as a satire- exploring the lighter and more humane/humorous side of the fellowship program- to tell you all that there is a fun experience to be had; even when you are working on “serious” projects which can bring “serious” changes to people’s lives…. So thank you for appreciating the post- I hope you would be able to connect with it better once you decide to join the program…. J

Now getting back to why I started writing this note… What I am made to understand- the selection process will be divided into 4 parts from now on… 1) an online written application 2) a telephonic interview 3) a psychometric test 4) an assessment day with GD/PI and Group activities….

The results for the first stage is already out and all who have cleared are now either going through the telephonic interview or having done with it awaiting the psycho test and assessment day… so the questions on what to do in these 2 rounds?

Telephonic interview: Not sure if this is elimination round (will try and check it up for you all), but then two of the queries which you will most likely be asked in this phase is “What do you know about the ICICI Fellows program?” and “Why do you want to join the program?”….

Now the responses will obviously have to be according to your own areas of interest and your own understanding and aspirations…. There is no right and wrong reason why you would want to join the program, you need to be honest about it…. Just steer clear of responses like “I want to join the program because I really want to be an ICICI Fellow”, or “I want to be associated with the ICICI Brand” or “I don’t really have a plan in life, hence this program will help me figure it out”… none of these responses are categoric enough to explain your thought process, or your commitment to the community you will work / share your life with. It doesn’t really reflect your openness to go through the experiential learning phase which this program is all about…

Being an ICICI Fellow will mean different things to different people- make sure you have your list ready on what it means for you … if you haven’t got one already sit down with a pen and a paper- think with a logical mind and jot down your aspirations and how you think these 15 months can help you achieve them or atleast get you started… make sure you don’t start thinking about “sacrifices” and “glory”- they are by products, not the product in itself…

Also remember- this program doesn’t provide a job with the bank at the end of the 15 months…neither does it assure you a job post completion anywhere else… at best I am hopeful you wouldn’t want a job at the end of the 15months anyways… So steer clear of those responses and ideas if you have had them in your mind…

Psychometric Test: A new introduction to this year’s assessment format is the psychometric test; doing away with the aptitude test which we had gone through. I hope most of you know what a psychometric test is all about… if not, time to ask Google… I did check quite a few website and think this one gives you a bit balanced view of a psycho test (check link)…. Mostly psycho tests are designed to check the way an individual reacts to various scenarios and how he perceives himself and how people perceive him… this is a key component of the leadership program- you need to be able to take a lead in a situation- leaders don’t sit back and claptrap- they take the first step. This test is for the panel to check your ability to handle situations, be a team player and act as a leader…

Ways to score on a Psychometric test: You will hear a lot of criticisms about psycho test- many say that it is quite easy to cheat in such tests. To some extent it is true- yes there are ways to cheat in psycho tests. But I know of foolproof ones as well… most of the advanced versions of psycho tests are actually designed to ensure you don’t cheat… so you will have similar questions asked to you in different manners with similar multiple choices as your most “probable” response to a situation. Through this the psycho test actually checks if you are faking or whether you actually are being genuine… So my recommendation:

1)     DO NOT FAKE and DO NOT TRY TO CHEAT… THE COPS WILL INEVITABLY CATCH YOU J

2)      Try and click the answer which comes to your mind first and instinctively. Do not try and overanalyze a question trying to guess what is the best answer (to be liked by all)… instead be honest and try and click the one which YOU are more likely to do… this way you will pass the trap of those trick repeat questions. reading one question 2-3 times will apart from wasting your time, will also make you run the risk of over analyzing the questions, in which case being honest with your answer may not be possible (though it may be purely unintentional from your side).

Assessment Day Tips: Assessment day is likely to consist of Role Plays, Activities to check your team player (and leadership) abilities, Group Discussions and Personal Interview. Again the most important thing to do during the Assessment Day…. Please BE YOURSELF… you may want to be like a certain Gandhi or a Obama or a Shah Rukh Khan... but on this day most importantly play the role that you play in your normal life…….. And try and brush away those instincts of picking up fights like our Bollywood Khan’s … If you have certain opinion about something- EXPRESS… remember, there is no right or wrong opinion- its only how people perceive it or rather how YOU MAKE people perceive it. The trick in Group activities is to play and support each other- No Blaming if someone goes wrong… just point the mistake and encourage the person to rectify- picking up fights or wanting to bash up those who make a mess should happen outside the interview hall…. Or better be totally avoided :)…

For GD again plenty of websites to check on Google… I don’t want to elongate more here… Just make sure you HAVE an opinion and do not be afraid to VOICE it…infact being heard and being acknowledged is the greatest virtue in GDs… AGAIN- DO NOT SCREAM AND SHOUT LIKE MTV ROADIES- those guys will probably never make it to this fellowship anyways… and stick to your opinion if you have the conviction- flip-flopping should better be left to the spokespersons of our political parties…

Personal Interview- Be prepared- you might be  asked some very personal and awkward questions… be honest in your responses- again- DO NOT FAKE- even if you are the next Aamir Khan… you wouldn’t do yourself any justice. You may get into the program faking, you will hardly benefit from the program once you are in it… also as advised earlier, be very very clear on why you would want to join the program… incoherence for this one may be a cardinal sin….

Lastly, I wanted to end stating that I sincerely believe that there is a leader in each and every single one of us…. There is a confident speaker, a dreamer and a achiever in all of us… some of us realize it…. Some are just too lazy… remember you aren’t gonna compete with the others in the assessment hall… the only competition on that day will be between the best and worst of you… and whichever side wins decides your chances….

I personally believe that the development sector is in no need of hypocrites and people who join it for the reasons of false sentiments and splendor they find in poverty and their enormous sacrifice to join the sector instead of taking up more “lucrative” opportunity… if you feel that way then do yourself and your country a favor… stay away from this program…

So all the best to you all… nothing to worry about…. As long as you are being honest and being yourself.. I guess your chances are brights… if you are the nervous and introvert sort- Dont worry, work up your confidence and be clear with your thought process... that always helps....

 PS: All the opinions expressed above are my own personal opinion... and is not necessarily that of the program. I have expressed the opinion based on my own personal experiences in various interviews and through being part of the program.. So all the best to you all...

some failures... and some positives

“Why, Jon, why?” His mother asked. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat? Jon, you are bone and feathers!”

“I don’t mind being bone and feathers, Mum. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know”

                                                                                        - Jonathan Livingstone Seagull (Richard Bach)

Around 7 months back, I decided to fast track the learning curve of my life… and I decided to do so through a process called experiential learning. Unlike the formal process which you refer to as education and which I find tiresome and ghissa pitta, designed to make a dim-wit out of you, I felt it was time to learn new things by actually doing them, by experimenting with truth the way I have never dared to do it before…

Stupid that I am, I felt that this process of experiential learning will be one of those inflexion points in my life… a journey which will teach me the unknown, groom me to take on bigger roles for that one big vision/dream which has been elusive for the last 26 years..

Now, I can go ahead and narrate the story of what I have done in the last 6 months; what form of time pass it amounted to, how the poor melts my heart and how frustrating it has been most of the times…. But then, this story isn’t about all that. It’s about time I reviewed my last 6-8 months, my learning’s and what is has done for me…

1)      Life is difficult, extremely difficult: When all of a sudden, you limit your spending and try to save every Rupee that you possibly can, life can sometime become unmanageable…. As a fellow working in rural development, and as an entrepreneur, let me tell you that there is absolutely no fun in living on a meager sum of money- never mind that I still earn a > 10X multiple of the official poverty limits set by our esteemed Planning commission….I am learning to simplify.... someday I think I will manage to live without a cellfone, internet and all the other essentials of life..

2)      Be Open: I remember that on 8^th August,2011  Rahul Nainwal (founder,  ivolunteer) mentioned during the induction program (of ICICI Fellows program): “trust the system”… while I smiled at it then and I still smile at the thought today, the reason for the smile has changed. I think I have learnt to trust the system …. I needed to mature as a person, and I think I am slowly doing that. I don’t say the system is good or great- like all other system, it isn’t perfect and has tremendous scope of improvement- but then, I think I have benefited from it quite a lot.

 I however, say this with a disclaimer: the learning is entirely upto you as an individual, you need to be smart enough to make mistakes, stupid enough to be honest about it, and greedy enough to focus on your individual development…. Your mentor, your coach and the rest of the junta will fail to help you if you fail to help yourself… owning up to my faults is perhaps my greatest learning in the last 7-8 months… I am finally confident enough to say that I am at fault when I am at fault…

3)      Social Work/ Developmental Work: I hear lots of people say “I want to join the social sector coz I want to help…. “, the only 2 words I have for you is “Go Away” (apologies for not using expletives…), The “I wanna Help…” model doesn’t work in social sector… we have had this attitude for too long which has resulted in too little… we ass-u-me too many things about rural needs… I realized this when I went for my first field project… Oh boy….. Was I an idiot? I totally made an Ass of myself with all the assumptions I made… but on hindsight I guess starting off foolishly wasn’t exactly bad…

4)      Connect: I am a decent communicator… I speak pretty okayishly… but I suck at connecting with people… and if it happens to be in a different language and with a village community- I am a disaster…. Well- I am still lost when it comes to connecting… need to figure out how to connect better… anyone? Any tips? Suggestions? Coaching? Well being a total failure in terms of connecting with communities isn’t a great sign….especially if you aspire to be a leader someday…. Need to sort this out asap….

5)      Problems Vs Opportunities: I am always told that I crib a lot… the only response I have always had for such accusation is a single word: “So?”…. I crib because I care...because I want, desire and aspire for better stuff… and why is that bad? I have a serious issue with our Indian mentality of “adjust kar le”... my question is “kaab taak?” While I continue to remain a critic of everything around me and continue to complain, I think the maturity I have gained over the last 7-8 months is to view these problems as opportunities…now I know that solutions are available, that solutions can be created and I am ready to take the accountability and role to solve them…. I say that with arrogance and humility….

6)      Patience: Of all the miracles I have been part of in the past few months, I guess the greatest is in my ability to be more patient these days. Rural development sounds neat, but I hope the systems were more efficient. Work in this sector seldom move at the speed and pace I have been used to. I can now sit and count till 100 without getting frustrated (I have tried it)…

I can think of many more positives to be honest… but then I wouldn’t want to pen it all down. As my learning curve continues to be on the rise, I have just promised to keep experimenting…. There has been days when I thought that I would like to quit…that I should have stayed back in the corporate environment, that this rural lifestyle it a pain…. But those days got outnumbered mostly… I wasn’t really successful to a great extent in the last six months…. Too many failures…too many mistakes… too less responsibility and too many days of joblessness... But then there were days- quite a few of them which made all the above possible… which helped me be more confident and which is helping me be someone more than who I thought I really was…. I guess had I not taken this step, I would have always been guilty of not doing all the good I could do in my lifetime….

Review of a Movie Theater

Well it was my first official Holiday in 2012 and I was clueless how to spend it… Woke up at 9:55 am…very late by my rural lifestyle standards and wondered what should I be doing for the entire day? To be honest, villages leave you with very little option to do anything fun or entertaining… except maybe take a stroll down the village lanes, overlooking dry fields and cud chewing cows... but fortunately, today I am in Ahmednagar, a Tier 2 city, which boasts of a Dominos Pizza outlet, a Big Bazaar and even a Honda showroom, … unfortunately, the lone multiplex it boasts off, is a place I would avoid desperately…

Of course, for the last 3-4 years, my life has been synchronized to waking up, switching on my laptop, looking at that disgusting Windows Logo and my abysmal desktop and logging onto Work Email, Gmail, Facebook and Reuters or any random news website…all in that order. Today was no different…except that I woke up to this Movie Review on Reuters –an article they had shared on Facebook… “Ek main aur ekk tu” by no means was a movie on my Watchlist… I didn’t even know what it was until I read the review on Reuters which sang paeans about how it wasn’t a Hollywood copy etc etc… a bit more googling and every review shouted “gr8 stuff”… of course I expected crap (past experiences says, whenever everyone says it’s a good movie, expect bulls**t)…but then, I also had to form my own opinion…and it gave me a sense of purpose (!) rather than staring at an otherwise uneventful Sunday…

So inquiring with Satish the chaiwala, I found that there was a cinema hall nearby, which had been recently renovated and plays Hindi movies. So post lunch I started walking down the market yard towards the theatre… a lazy, hot and dusty Sunday afternoon walk… one surprising information I gathered while inquiring my way to “Subham Plaza” was that it has actually been renamed as “Subham Plaza Multiplex”… interesting!... now they have 2 multiplexes in Ahmednagar!!! 

So reaching the theater at 2 o’clock, I was taken by surprise,!  Yes there were posters of Agneepath and EMAET, but there wasn’t a single soul around the entire hall- the ticket counter was open, but no one was there in the counter…. An extremely shabby, unshaven tramp shouted from the 2-wheeler parking lot- 

Tramp: “What do you want?”

Me: Watch a movie…isn’t there anyone at the counter?

Tramp: Which movie? Agneepath show 3p.m and 9p.m, some other movie is playing from 12 p.m. and 6p.m…

Me: How do I get the tickets to that other movie?

Tramp: come after 30mins…maybe the ticket counter guy will come by then

Me: So you mean to say, tickets will only be available 30mins prior to the next show?

Tramp: Looks at me, chuckles and offers no answer…

Me: You know the ticket counter guy?

Tramp: Of course! I am the ticket collector here…..

Ooops………… I didn’t realize it, but the extremely dirty grey clothes he was wearing was actually the uniform of the Ticket Collector… his unshaven beard, unruly hair and the smear of dirt on his face made him look like a tramp…and he looked visibly drunk, considering that it was already 2 o’clock in the afternoon…

So a brief walk along the streets, a nice pista faludaa and a smoke later, I arrived at the “multiplex” once again to buy the tickets… and thankfully a sober man grinned at me asking whether I wanted Balcony (Rs.50), Stall (Rs.40) or Rear Stall (Rs30)…. I asked for a Balcony seat for the 6 p.m show and he immediately responded it’s all booked, and that I could get a Rear Stall seat… or else, I can ask that guy there (pointing at the ticket collector)- who might be able to offer me a Balcony seat for Rs. 60……… WOW!!!!             

Obviously, I decided Rear stall was fine enough with me and booked a ticket for the 6p.m. show… Here let me mention the ticket counter had altogether 4 counters (which were probably all functional in the theater's heydays)… the ticket counter queues had Iron Grill railings (which was possibly painted Green when Adam and Eve were still walking the planet) and iron meshwork, which gave it an appearance of a cage… on these meshwork, stuck all over the place were Black and White posters printed in Hindi and Marathi of libido medicines that lets you perform till apocalypse.. the cage-like dark pink ticket counter, once-upon-a-time green railings which also serves as the entrance to the theatre gives you an eerie feeling even before you have entered the hall.

A brief research on the theater tells me that it was named Subham Talkie prior to the “renovation” and now, having been renamed as “Subham Plaza” is being marketed as a “Multiplex” (although the theatre still has a single screen), simply by the virtue that it plays more than one movie a day (Agneepath and EMAET in alternate shows)… I was impressed… this is innovation, almost at its best…and the renovation means that the hall has a new signboard while the rest of the theater still struggles to keep intact its plaster coating, its color (which you can barely glimpse from the peeling off layers and pan stains) and leaking roofs…

I came back to my guest room, and again went to the theatre at 5:45 p.m… the hall continued to look desolate, although there was a small lamp glowing on the flex signboard reading “Subham Plaza Multiplex”… I entered the hall with ease considering there was barely 10-15 people in the theatre and then sat in the Rear Stall… surprisingly, the Rear stall consisted of only 2 rows and I was sitting in the first row… the only thing separating me from the front stall was Iron Grills (once again) which also served as a footstand for many… thanks for the extra comfort at 10 Rupess extra…

The hall did not have a wooden door- which u normally find in theatres, but had the remnants of curtain which was crying out in its modesty… the thick coating of dust on the curtain was evident as the color was unrecognizable… the hall occupancy was around 20-30 people at the most and the ticket collector (who was definitely drunk by now) was somehow managing to stand and use his torchlight to guide people to their seats.. Of course the female gender did not exist in the entire theatre… (bad luck- no pretty girls for my eyes to feast on L)..

The one thing which strikes you is the stench of Desi Daru whenever you enter any local cinema hall… Subham Plaza was no exception… the guy sitting next to me was carrying a pet bottle of a Local Jeera Soft drink (I think)…. I dint venture into inquiring whether the Jeera drink (yucks!) had been adulterated… but the reek confirmed it anyways…

The Hall boasted of an AC system, although I was sweating profusely inside, the environment was kinda damp, dark and depressing…and the strong heady smell of the daru was making me feel nauseous… The screen lit on and some ads started…now I am not used to watching political party ads in Movie theatre…this was an exception. Some National, International and local brand later the movie started…

I won’t get into the movie details- it’s not worth the effort, but honestly the sound quality of the theatre was possibly the only decent thing… the loudspeakers kept blasting with the mesmerizing voice of Kareena Kapoor as she decided to make a fool of herself on Christmas eve with a complete stranger (read Looser)… the film went on well… and as usual it started getting terribly boring after some point of time (As with any other Dharma production)… I looked around to check what the others were doing (as there were no doors, there was a bit of light from the outside entering through the threadbare curtain…)

Surprisingly of the 30 odd people, a majority was sipping something or the other… looks like Soft drink makes for a killing business in these theatres! One thick bearded uncle had already fallen asleep in the front aisle and 2 kids were playing games on their Chinese mobile phones…. Nice… I found it difficult to believe people actually spend Rs. 30 to booze inside a theatre… but then, I need to inquire about this psychology sometime later….

The Half Time came too soon, in a 1.5 hr movie I wasn’t expecting a half time to be honest… but then they need to sell their Vada Pavs… So one lonely hawker walked inside shouting Vada Pav and Popcorn(!), he even had some cream biscuits in his tray…. I walked out wanting to check out the Food Court I had seen while entering the hall…. Surprisingly the Food court was open, a guy dressed on faded Red T-shirt even asked me what I wanted to have- I looked at my options: Vada Pav, Cream Biscuits and something which looked like Samosa… they even had Soft Drinks and the Large Hand written Menu Read: (replicating the spelling as on the Menu Board)

1)      Soft Dinks (300 ml) – 10/-

2)      Samoosa- 15/-

3)      Kapi – 20/- (Hot)

4)      Tea- 8/-

5)      Biscute- MRP

6)      Popcon – 8/-

I asked if he had “Kapi”- he looked at me with dead eyes and said No, Tea? No… “Soft Dinks?”… We have “Papsi”…. Ok gimme one… he gives me a bottle of “Papsi” which looked duplicate for sure… there were no Logo, no print on the bottle, no Batch No, Mfg Date…and the thought occurred to me that the Pepsi 300ml is actually MRP at Rs. 12…how are these people subsidizing it? I returned the bottle to him thinking I will skip it.. but then he insisted I have it… I passed the temptation (it was actually priced Rs. 20- the counter guy said it was a typo)..

I checked out the restroom which had a huge queue, WTH, there were barely 30-40 people in the theatre? Then I realized that of the 3 urinals, 2 were blocked with you-know-wat and only one was available for use…anyways, that apart, I rushed back to watch the second half…..

Movie goes on and on… expectedly Hero falls in love… some attempted comedy scene with Granny and a shoddy song called Auntyji later, Kareena turns the philosopher… at a time when we are desperately struggling to get out of the mindset of being mediocre, she preaches the Gospel that “Average is good..its Cool..”

Hero happy, goes and blasts Papa, Mumma in front of horny business partners wife and then story ends…fortunately the last 3-4 mins is different, with a twist and saves the money… I look around and everyone in the hall have already slept off... the lights come on… people blink and wake up, stretch and start walking out…some abusing the movie maker-whoever it was….

I walk out of the "multiplex" theater with an experience I would remember for quite some time to come…

Dear God…Why do you exist?

Kuwar: Saheb, (and my infinite efforts to make him stop addressing me as Saheb goes in vain…once again)…Do you know? that in our village in Mohagaon, we have built a huge temple costing around 1.5 lacs purely through shramdaan? We are that rich!

Said a visibly excited and proud Kuwar Babale… one of my trainees while sitting next to me in the auto-rickshaw and returning from the fabrication workshop … hearing his Jogdande (another trainee) also got excited and stated:

Jogdande: Even in my village we have built a temple worth 75 thousand… the entire construction was done through Shramdaan and the interiors of the temple was funded by the Gram Panchayat…

The other 3 trainees nodded their head acknowledging this amazing feat… I could see that twinkle in Jogdande’s eyes… it was his turn to show off his village’s marvels to his “Saheb” (shamefully I must admit I have to live with this tag)….

Unfortunately for them, the Saheb (me) was not at all impressed with this statistics or reality… he just managed to heave another *sigh* (something which comes very naturally to him nowadays)…

All of a sudden I realized, that some facts and observations which have been making me feel uncomfortable all through the last 6 months were actually right…. Let me just point out a few instances:

1)      Who is the richest man in the village (any village): You might think of Sarpanch, Rich farmer, people with the max land, politician…. Most of the times these answers are incorrect…. God and the Temple just happen to be the richest person (!) in a village- check it out yourself, 90% chances you will find that i am right.

2)      What causes most amount of conflict in the villages (possibly also in Cities)? Unfortunately it is God again … your creed often makes you shun others… intolerance is probably preached by God (or his disciples/devotes) more often than anyone else…

Err… what perplexes me is someone or something which you will possibly never feel or experience wields so much power that your behavior often borders around stupidity… I must mention here that I am not an atheist… at best I can be called agnostic… or maybe even a believer in some instances (read school exams :))… just that I do not really understand humanity to that great extent…

Villages which can barely afford to feed their population, will willingly build that marble tiled temple or mosque or church… but ask them to unite for a developmental work, they sight poverty, lack of time, lack of interest, lack of benefit –all kinds of reasons to avoid it… I am always being told by the Field Staffs that community mobilization is the biggest challenge they face… why wouldn’t they? Its not religion which they promote… and somehow I feel although most religion has been pro-development, they been always been interpreted and implemented as anti-development…

The 5 richest temples in India have an annual earning estimated at around Rs 1,500 crore… This is hard cash… the donations received in kinds as in Gold, Silver, and Diamond etc are not included… And here we aren’t even considering the Gold Coated shrines and pillars and doors which a majority of these temples have…..temples like Tirupati and Shirdi have their own mechanized automated money collecting system… the Hundi’s fill up so fast that the clamor of all those coins and rustle of those rupee notes can make you go temporarily deaf……shamefully we even bribe our Gods and claim that we want to be a corruption free nation….

One of my first memories in my Rural NGO stint was a visit to the village Karjule Pathar… we were installing a Solar Street Light, which had been subsidized by some donor in some other part of the world… and guess where the villagers insisted that we put it up? In front of the temple… people may fall and get hurt in the dark and perilous village roads… but our God who is responsible to take care of all of us shouldn’t be left in darkness… Same story was repeated in another village called Pimpaldhari… the solar light was installed in the temple at the top of the hill while the villagers residing at the bottom of the hill remained in darkness… and this is not what the NGO wanted- this was the need and demand of the village… whats wrong with us?

I am told that all this is to show our respect and devotion to God… to the supreme power… but I feel somewhat unconvinced about all this… I am sure God is more that capable of taking care of himself… since he is the creator, he would obviously love all his creations, just like a mother is devoted to her baby… so cant we for once change our mentality and be there to serve and help each other? I am sure if God exists, he will sport a Happydent smile if and when he sees this happen… 

PS: this post is a reflection of my own thoughts and do not aim to disrespect any persons religious or personal views/belief /creed.... Figures quoted have been bases reports on Newspapers like TOI, Hindi and Reuters

The utter nonsense movie review- Agneepath

"Naam: Vijay Chauhan

Vijay Deenanath Chauhan... Pura Naam

Baap kaa Naam: Deenanath Chauhan

Gaon: Mandawa..."

Let me start by saying that i haven’t watched the original Agneepath...so I aint gonna compare this "reconstruction" effort with the original one...However, having actually spent money on my ticket this time and watching it in a theatre... i feel quite disappointed...

A movie which had d potential to be a cult remake of our times gets spoiled with some sloppy dialogues and ending... perhaps some of it has to do with the that Karan Johar touch i guess...

The first half of the movie is crisply edited. The film starts with Vijay-the-angry and talented kid-getting into a fight- Masterji’s  (his father) usual hindi-filmy-style-gyaan etc. It moves on to showcases the false maligning of Vijay’s dad (Masterji) ; his brutal killing and public hanging by the local Gunda- Kancha Cheema. There is a hint that Cheema has an old rivalry with the Masterji,. But nothing is clear, Masterji the eternal Gandhi-wadi is of course against Cheema’s plans to convert the village to a drug producing SEZ. 

Surprisingly, the Masterji, who has an impeccable reputation in the village, gets labeled as a rapist within minutes by the entire village, which supports and relishes Cheema’s brutal antics on the Masterji.  It also shows the birth of the ‘actual’ Vijay Deenanath Chauhan- one who will later comes to rule the Mumbai underworld… though the story never shows how the child takes an oath to seek revenge etc- a Hindi film usual funda which gets edited out or something..or possibly slips the directors mind…

Things to watch out in the first half: 

1)      Rauf Lala’s (read Rishi Kapoor’s) acting...he is always a pleasure to watch-even as the underworld don selling almost anything- from girls, to mutton to cocaine.. If u talk about diversifying your business- surely u need to learn it from him…

2)      Kancha’S grotesqueness- he manages to not age at all in the 15 years span... BTW- Sanju Baba- cool tattoos…liked it… J

3)      Some forgettable romantic songs: absolutely no idea what they were doing in the movie- romantic songs should be banned from revenge dramas… the flex banner showing VDC, his sister and mother is total No-No senti…. *Please Gwad*

4)      Priyanka Chopra-  not sure why she signed the movie, except her cleavage very little of her was on display in the entire movie…however IMHAO she surely makes every Indian wish that all “desi girls” wore saree all d time.. Hotness Quotient- SUPER HOT…

5)      Rest of the first half- forget it…nothing worth remembering…

Second Half:

Highlight- starts with super dud performance by Katrina Kaif in Cheekni Chameli… OK SHE IS BEAUTIFUL…but she can’t dance… and any idea why she is doing item numbers? Anyone?

The second half rambles on, tears flow, raw emotions get displayed… and more tears and sobs *sigh*… then comes the blood and sweat…  

Some half baked action sequences display the lack of planning by the Don, the Police, the Home Ministry the wannabe Mumbai-Ka-Don Kancha and the new Don VDC….  And believe me- looking at the second half, you would be amazed, how a guy with such superlative brain to overthrow the most powerful Don (Rauf Lala) from Mumbai displays such immaturity to step into Mandawa- wants to fight the entire village alone, leaves his mother and sister unprotected, gets married when he shouldn’t … Guess, VDC needs to watch more Marlon Brando movies and read a few Mario Puzo books…..

If I was the Don, I would leave the job of revenge etc to my team of most trusted lieutenants, right? VDC just defies rationale, logic, planning and anything close to sanity…

Ofcourse violent action sequences follows, and the Hindi film Hero resurfaces- multiple stabs… gun shots, skull cracking hits fail to not only kill him, but he manages to utter the bachpan-mein-papa-ka-sikhaya-hua -poetry  to gain strength to seek the revenge… shamefully old Kancha more than manhandles him thoughout the fight…

I was quite disappointed by the end of the movie… Hindi film heroes never learn…. They never show rationale… and they seldom ever can keep emotions away from anything they do… the “mere shaadi ke fund” wala dialogue was the death knell for the entire movie… I couldn’t believe such exceptional acting talents of Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra and most importantly Hritik Roshan gets wasted in an attempted movie remake should have been so much more than such a 3 hr disappointment…

I recommend you watch the movie- but only for Hritik's acting...

Ratings:

1)      Hritik- 10/5 (kudos to ur acting)

2)      SanjuBaba- 7/5 (awesum makeup and tattoo- liked d yellow teeth also-was it tobacco?)

3)      Priyanka Chopra- 100/10 (for looking beautiful throughout and not disturbing much)

4)      Chikni Chameli- 1/5(u look better in normal roles-item songs-leave it to Malaika and Yana Gupta)

5)      Rishi Kapoor- 5/5 ( awesum marketing skills- run some of our PSUs for us plz)

6)      Story- 1.5/5 ( tips to scriptwriter- learn to play Chess-wud help)

7)      Direction- err… rating withheld

PS: Watched this movie 1^st Day Matinee Show.. apologies for not writing a review immediately, incase u have spent money on it- jus be happy that it wasn’t RA.One….

And that flirty feeling called Happyness…

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

- Abraham Linclon

Few Weeks Ago

Q: What will you do if you set up your own business and run into a loss?

Ans: Sir, I am hard-working, I have never ever seen money, a loss is okay…I will work harder, save some more money and restart my business…

….

Q: Do you also do agriculture? How much land do you have?

Ans: *looks down…blinks for a moment..* looks away towards the wall and says in a low voice… “Around 1 acre... we are tribals... we don’t own any land, I cultivate illegally by clearing some forest land, if there is water…sometimes we lose our entire crop as this is prohibited and forest officers drive us away…”

…

Sukhlaal demonstrating his creations to Marcella
D'souza, Executive Director, WOTR

Q: Why do you want to learn welding and fabrication work?

Sir, there is a person in my village doing welding work and earns decent money, I want to learn to support my family…

Q: Why welding? Why not anything else?

Ans: Sir, Teach me any skills…I don’t mind.. I just want to do a good job out of it and sustain myself and my family. I want to become successful…

The soft spoken Sukhlal had cracked the interview…I somehow liked the guy’s no frills and honest responses. I had done a bit of background check on him prior to the interview, from few of our staffs members (Sukhlal worked as a daily labor in Watershed Development projects)…and was surprised to hear positive feedback about his work commitment. I was however hesitant about his lack of confidence while speaking… he rarely ever looked up: looking down, being soft spoken, giving you an obscene amount of respect- these are some of the characteristics which I always seemed to find amongst the poorest of the poor section of the village communities… 

Sukhlal was desperately struggling under the burden of poverty… needed some kind of a livelihood to survive, to maintain a family of an ailing mother, a young wife and a younger sister…

Once I had completed my interview session with all the applicants, I called the four selected candidates inside the cabin to announce the good news... That they will get an opportunity to train and work with us for a while… that we aim to add skills and provide them designs, technology etc of newer agricultural tools for the village markets…

While I was speaking to the group I realized, Sukhlaal was trying desperately to hold back tears… and then it dawned on me that those bloodshot eyes, and locked jaws were actually a level of determination and desperation which I have never experienced before… I felt a bit ashamed of myself for some unknown reason… 

Post the session, I softly put my arms around his shoulder, and pressed it lightly, as if to assure that all is well…. How was I to know, what would be the impact of this gesture?  Sukhlal for some inexplicable reason broke down into tears…

I am bad with all these tear business; I don’t quite like to see people cry...Especially an adult older than me…. With tears rolling down his eyes, he explained that he has traveled for 8 hrs and 300 odd kms to attend this interview, that he had borrowed money for the bus ticket and did not have enough money to go back home. He mentioned he had no idea how he would pay the highly subsidized course fee for the training, as it was still higher than his 2 months wages…but he kept on assuring me that given the chance, he will do good… 

I am sure these incidences are common to all of us involved in the social sector , but for me it was the first time I was experiencing this… I assured him that we will work something out, that he just needs to report for the training program and made a mental note to check whether some funding was available to provide a scholarship for him…fortunately, I had already arranged for the fares to be reimbursed…. 

I looked at the watch, it was 5:55pm, i packed, put on my jacket and decided to leave the office… all of a sudden the thought occurred to me, that of the 9 candidates I had interviewed, only one had a jacket… 3 of them had come bare foot and they all stayed 5-8 hrs away from Aurangabad…. With limited bus service, I had no clue how they would return home that night and what plans they had to tackle the wintery chill… I breathed a sigh and walked out of the room… head held down….

                                                                                                                                                           

Today:

I visited the training center with my organization lead to check the progress of these guys. I had been away to Mumbai for few days and was going to the training center with low expectation. I was taken by surprise when I reached there… these 11 guys have not only made incredible progress in the last few days, but also looked as happy as a gang of school kids playing football… they proudly displayed to us their creations- stools, farm tools, weeding machines, cutting machines etc…they were making them all and this progress  had taken only in 8 days…

I looked out for Sukhlal and found that he was enthusiastically displaying his shoe rack to my mentor… his posture was erect, voice strong and unwavering… It was an incredible feeling to see these guys hooked onto a dream which I had envisioned 5 months back… to inch towards rural enterprises, to create more job opportunities, to spread more smile…

'Happy'ness is a small word…but it seems to take an incredible effort….

The utter nonsense movie review: Players

For the lack of a better option and blind faith in one of my friends who recommended me this movie, given the fact that I was sick and hence stuck in my office guest house with a pirated copy of this movie…I just managed to play the movie “players” on my laptop today afternoon….

Sunday afternoons should be spent sleeping, but in my case i wasn’t able to manage it, thanks to the incessant bout of coughing and terrible headache… so I sat down to watch a movie which I was told breaks paradigms in terms of style quotient… I am yet to understand which paradigms my friend was referring to…. But I can definitely say  “aab uski kissmat achchi hain ki mein dil kaa achchha hoon” (sorry for being corny) aur else I could have given Mahesh Bhatt his Murder 3 script as well…..

Getting back to the movie review (sic), it starts with an exceptionally lame “grand theft” in a jewelry store; which seems to have absolutely no security features for a store of such grandiose scale, the windows are left open for the convenient entry of a thief and all that. The police for obvious reasons fail to check Bipasha’s bra during interrogation (assuming the cops in whichever country it was, interrogates) for the necklace…  the thieves seem to be a "perfectly in louv" couple who have a pact -not to contact each other 6 months before or after a theft… shucks for their love life…

The scene moves onto 6 months later, where someone is murdered by the Russian mafia in a car accident, that someone had been trying to steal a huge pile of gold from Russia all alone (!), but had realized he can’t do it, hence had shot a video instructing his best friend to complete the task. The video tells Charlie (Junior B) the entire plan of robbery but then Aftab leaves it hidden inside a book which he leaves with his wife, to be delivered post death. Thankfully, once Aftab was hit by the car, he had enough sense to call his sensuous wife and instruct her to deliver the book to Charlie. And the wife of a gangster obviously dosent suspect anything wrong in this “book delivery post death business” and hands it over to Charlie….

After a gobbledygook attempt by the director-duo at some comic relief and humor (!), the scene moves to Victor Dada, who is possibly the most respected criminal ever on cinema…. Not getting into details, Junior B convinces him about his last great robbery as the “non-playing captain” of the team, who will recruit all the best brains/crooks required in pulling off this heist…and yes the Hindustani dil of Victor Dada is on display as he agrees to pull this one off to build that dream school for orphans…WOW! Cool way to convert black money into white… typically, the others members in this “greatest team ever” also have quite a few senti stories which get revealed later…

The plan is not much complicated, the illusionist, the makeup artist, the hacker, the locomotive expert (and part time seductress) and the master of voice modulation and some unknown talent forms the team which can do no wrong. The entire robbery needs to be done in 10 mins. Naturally the Russians hire the most notoriously promiscuous and bar hopping army chief as the man to carry on the job of transporting the gold bullions (for the Govt) from Russia to Romania. Surprisingly the security features in this entire operation is so high that the Govt has advertised its entire security plan on newspapers- openly saying to its Mafia- try me bitch….

But our team of Desis- (remember: the best crooks in the world always come from India) come up with an invincible plan of stealing all that gold. They do their stunts, their illusions and the maverick train rides etc and are then finally required to transport the gold from one train to the other manually. I cant imagine how so much gold can be transported in less than 4 mins?? And I cant imagine how someone can be strong enough to transport so many gold bars at a time…. Hercules- you may be a demi-god.. but Junnior B can beat you any day… anyways gold successfully stolen you feel good and wanna thank gwad the movie has ended…. But then comes that surprise betrayal (sic) another hindi film  classic…

So betrayal, double betrayal, attempt-to-kill, and coming-back-to-life-after-being-shot-to-fire-that-last-2-rounds later you get that much needed intermission. But then it also comes as a shocker- the other half of the movie (read torture) is still there for you to watch…

The least I would like to say about the second half is apparently there are plots, sub-plots and betrayals, repeated all over once again. Sonam Kapoor all of a sudden decides she is her papa’s daughter after all and ends up being a crook wanting to hack almost anything…She even tries to play the seductress unsuccessfully in a sloppy song which I was forced to fast forward… I prefer to look at her pretty face and curly hair in Sawariya (hick) rather than those attempted seduction moves… and all of a sudden before you realized it, the story changes from that of a robbery to one of revenge… shoddy dialogues, Jhonny Lever's buffoonery and 2 firang kids attempting to speak suddh Hindi and display Bharatiya sanskriti doesn’t do enough to sweeten the already sour mood. The movie keeps heading in no particular direction and you start realizing that 2^nd half is a carbon copy rip off of the English movie The Italian Job with a dash of our desi tadka. Bipasha looks like a million bucks, but is evidently a girl who is uncertain about her loyalties (sounds familiar? anyone?)…she even manages to kill herself for a guy she doesn’t louv and considers a looser… yeah-makes sense…*scratches head*…

The movie has innumerable loopholes- more than the number of tears in a Salmaan Khan jeans… no idea how they managed to steal so many bullions in less dan 3.5 mins, no idea how someone manages to buy the most expensive house in d world with ill gotten money without raising any eyebrows, no idea how you manage to create a whole car body out of gold in  a matter of a few hours, no idea why you always need to have chors with a solid 24carat heart, no idea how you can beat an air tight security with just a tanker kinda car in a matter of minutes, no idea why the world best illusionist wanted to use stolen money to create a house where everything is automated- he could have just done so in his illusions or with earnings from magic show  money…. The list is endless… Abbas Mastan actually begs you to believe that you are an idiot for watching this movie… apparently it picks up exactly where SRK left in RA.One and Salmaan in Bodyguard…. 

However, to conclude, I am a bit concerned with this attitude of the Indian filmmakers these days… they are blatantly telling you “I know you are an idiot” and laughing their way to the bank because we agree to them… the only  good part about all this is I end up liking some people just because I get to know I ain’t the only idiot in this world…there are plenty more….

My Verdit: Skip the movie… or skip your sanity while watching it.

PS: you may find the post a bit long and boring...honestly i got bored writing it as well...but trust me, thats wat such movies can do to you...