The Lunch...err..The Lifebox

A week earlier, around 10 in the evening, my friend Ashishbhai called me and asked if I was interested in the 10:30 pm show of “The Lunchbox” at CityGold Cinema, Ashram Road. I was totally drained out after all day work followed by some workout in the late evening. I just came out of shower and was heading to serve my starving tummy some dinner the moment he called. I was about to refuse the offer but the next moment I realized that this movie was starred by legendary , Irrfan Khan.

And the next thing I could just say, “10 min, Ashishbhai. I’ll be downstairs. You can pick me up”. Yes, I left my dinner too.

We reached CityGold, purchased two tickets, took our seats and watched this 100 minute flick. While leaving the theatre, I heard people passing several remarks. “Irfan was good”, “New chick, Nimrat did an outstanding work”.......”Man, end was not good. They left the movie so open ended”.

This last comment didn’t actually make a lot of sense to me. Contrary to this, I felt that the writer/director actually conveyed what he wanted to. Some people speculated about the sequel of this movie but I opined that even if sequel wasn’t planned, this movie had already done its job. The movie left behind few very important messages which I think I want to share.

In our life, what are we exactly looking for? We want someone with whom we can share things, no matter, good or bad. To whom our things, our doings really matter. Be it a marriage or a relationship between a girlfriend or boyfriend, we try to find that one person, who at least is there to notice me, notice my things in a special manner. To that someone, whatever I do is not just an ordinary doing but something special or something noticeable. Also, it is equally important that this someone makes gestures to let me know that I and my things really matter to him/her as we are human and we are required to be communicated. Marriage or relationship is a kind of commitment in which each partner says, “Whatever you do, will not go unnoticed. I am there and I will notice whatever you do. I would never ignore you. You will never be left alone, whatsoever.”

Turns out, this kind of commitment is beyond all materialistic commitments/pleasures which can be offered to anybody by anyone.

In one scene, Irrfan Khan tells Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the answer of a question, “My wife has passed away ......but... I have a girlfriend.” While saying this, the body language of Irrfan revealed that how delighted he was with this fact that he had someone. Though Irfan had never met her, never seen her, they just exchanged few letters. But he knew, there is someone who is there to listen to him and understand him and that elevated the confidence in him.

I realized that this feeling of knowing that someone is there for you is actually mightier than that of the physical presence of the person with you.

Though there were several other instances such as dialogues of Nimrat’s mom at her father’s funeral and then some gestures by Nawazuddin Siddiqui etc. etc. which again conveyed lots of beautiful, thought provoking ideas but things I discussed caught my attention comparatively more.

Itna To Chalta Hai

Few days back, I came across a facebook post.  The post said- At a countryside school in UP, when a teacher scolded few boys for passing lewd comments on girls, one boy among them said, “Sir, Itna to chalta hai.”

This post, rather the last statement triggered a series of questions in my mind. Candidly, it would be more appropriate to say that this post actually brought those questions  alive in front of me which were lying dormant somewhere in my mind. These questions must have been getting accumulated since I was a kid, I guess.

So when this guy says, “Sir, Itna toh chalta hai.” The first and foremost question comes in my mind "Who decides it ? I mean who decides the degree to what extent this can be done or this is allowed ?"

Not only in this case but when I go little back in time to my childhood, I can picture my classroom where everybody was deeply into taking exam. Suddenly, there was some noise at the back bench. Turned out the invigilator had caught some guy red handed copying other guy’s answer-sheet.  The guy who was caught red handed argued “Sir, Itna cheating to chalta hi hai.” Though, I was busy in writing answers but couldn’t help and the same question, momentarily, appeared in front of me, “Who decides the degree that how much cheating is allowed in the exam and how that degree is determined?”

Another incident I could recall when I was in the 6^th standard. My friend Aniket had hit another kid. Wounded kid’s father came and complained to Aniket’s father about that. I was there at Aniket’s home when this happened. Infront of victim’s father, Aniket’s father pretended to be apologetic. Once they leave, Aniket’s father says, “Bachche hain, itna to chalta hai.”
“Really? ” the same question rushed through my mind, “Who decides the degree that how much misbehave is allowed and how that degree is determined? ”

I grew up and went college to pursue higher studies.  In the very beginning of the freshmen year, some first yearites were annoyed with the ragging in the hostel and decided to file a complaint against seniors. Later a meeting was called where final year students came and tried to convince first yearites saying, “Hum log kahan zyaada ragging karte hain, doosre colleges mein toh bahut hota hai. Itna to chalta hai.”

“Really?” I said to myself and asked the same question, “Who’s gonna decide the limit?”

These incidents and many more happened and left me wondering everytime. “Who is the authority to decide the limit. And how does that authority calculates the ‘Allowable Limit’." It has always been a thing of great contemplation for me.

This reminds me of a very interesting incident which was narrated by a reputed MP during a Lok Sabha session in 2011-2012. Incident was like this in the words of this MP:

quote "

Last year, I was on a visit to a village in my constituency. I was busy listening to the grievances of the people there. Suddenly, my eyes set upon a person who seemed familiar. Soon, I could recollect that his name was ‘Madhav’ and I had helped him in the past to get his son a job. 

So, I smiled at him and asked , “How are you doing, Madhav? What’s your problem?”

Madhav replied, “Doing great, Sir. But I am so troubled with all government employees here. Everyone needs bribe for petty things. What to tell you? It has become problem of everyday. Please do something”.

Reacting to this, I ordered my subordinates to take note of that complaint and to take some immediate action.

Then I again turned to Madhav assuring everything would be all right. I further asked him, “Madhav, how is your son doing?”

Madhav smiled and described like this, “Sir, you know everything. He got a job because of you only and then he changed everything. In the last 4 years, we have prospered a lot since when you got my son employed. Now we have a large piece of land, a big house, 2 tractors, a fleet of 5 four-wheelers and thus operating a travel agency.”

I was stunned with the pace of his prosperity and asked Madhav, “Madhav, how did your son do all this in such a short span of time . As I remember, 4 years back, I helped him getting a very ordinary job in a government department.”

Madhav sheepishly replied, “ Huzoor aap to sab jaante hain. Sarkari naukari ki pagaar mein kahan chalta hai, yeh toh upar ki kamayi se hua hai.”

I said, “Madhav, just now you were complaining about the corrupt officials involved in bribery and troubling you on regular basis. Don’t you see what your son is doing?”

Madhav, again with a shameless smile, replied, “Huzoor. Itna toh chalta hi hai.”

" unqoute

This narration was really thought provoking . Again, I had those questions in my mind. "Who decides the limit to which bribe should be taken? And ofcourse, how that limit is determined?"

But this time I had a bigger question too  "Who will prevent if Madhav's son goes beyond that limit?”

(To be continued..)

The Date

Disclaimer: This blog entry is kind of light entertainment for my dear readers. I am nobody to make fun of the shape, size, colour and dress of a person. Hence, any such thing if appears is not meant to hurt anybody’s sentiment at all. It’s just a story inspired by a real incident. Hope you enjoy !

So, friends, I am back with my new post. This time, this interesting incident took place in the mega city, Mumbai.

I have a friend named Priyanka who stays in Mumbai with her roommates. Since the story really demands a full description of her, so, let me do that first. Priyanka is a good looking girl with fair complexion, spotless face and attractive eyes. She is around 5’3”. Her regular workout, recently, made her drop some pounds too which made her more fab than ever.  She has significantly above average IQ. She works with a reputed copany as a business development manager and she, undoubtedly is a hard working employee.

Ok, by now, you must be wondering what her age would be. Since, it’s rude to ask/discuss about a girl’s age, so all I’m gonna say is.. she passed her MBA in 2009. Rest, you may guess.

I believe her description so far must have made her desirable to many of my dear readers. And the important point is that whatever I have described so far is hundred percent true.

So, like any other girl, she is facing the pressure from her parents to get married absolutely asap. Her parents keep sending her profiles/pictures of guys through some reference or through some matrimony sites.

It was the background. Now, the story beginzzzzzzz.....

March 13, 2013

Priyanka came back from work in the evening and was about to change when her phone started ringing in her purse. Firstly, she didn’t notice and by the time she realized, that call turned into a missed call. But she didn’t bother to check her phone. She left her purse on the centre table in the drawing room and moved to her bedroom to change and then came out after 20 mins.  First thing she did, checked her phone.

“11 missed calls from Maa. What happened?” she asked herself with wrinkles on her forehead.

She called back. Her mom picked up the phone at the other end.

“ Maa? Are you alright? I got worried seeing 11 missed calls from you in the last 15-20 mins,” anxiously she asked.

“Yeah, I am alright. What happened to me, sweetie?” her mom replied calmly but Priyanka could sense some excitement in her mom’s voice.

“Then why so many calls?” Priyanka asked the obvious question.

“There is something very exciting, found a suitable match for you on jeevansaathi.com. This guy is in Mumbai. I already talked to him on phone. He seems to be a nice guy. His name is Shubhojit and his id is IM02...,” her mom poured it all in the excitement.

“Oh ok, so you called me 11 times for this stupid thing. You are crazy, Maa. I thought something serious happened,” Priyanka said with a sigh of relief.

“Of course, this is serious. Check his profile, plan and meet him at least once. I believe he is gonna be a perfect match” her mother said.

“Ok Maa, I’ll do that. Right now, I am hanging up. My roommates are waiting for me to go for dinner together. Ok, bye bye...,” she said.

“Listen.. meet him..for sure..”her mom insisted.

“Bye Maa. Good night,” she hung up.

She went for dinner, came back, changed and then in her blue 3/4^th and pink t-shirt, she came to her room and switched her laptop on.

After checking her emails and facebook, she logged on jeevansaathi.com

She went straight to the profile which her mother insisted to see. The description of the guy over there grasped her attention which was like this, - 5’8”, average build, fair, good looking, well educated and manager in a reputed bank.

“Not bad,” Priyanka said to herself. Priyanka was kind of impressed with this description of the guy. Profile didn’t have a picture though. Thinking that she would talk to the guy next day, she shut down her laptop and went to bed.

Next morning, after finishing her regular work at office and stores, she came back. After dinner, she called that guy.

“Hello” the guy replied from other side.

“Hi Shubhojit, I am Priyanka from Mumbai. I guess, my mother talked to you already about me,” Priyanka said.

“Priyanka??”...after an awkward pause, “Yeah yeah, I remember, yeah,”  again the awkward silence after so many yeah yeah.

“Are you busy right now? Should I call sometime later,” Priyanka asked politely.

“No, no, no...it’s fine. Am not busy. Yeah, so, Priyanka, how are you? Heard a lot about you from your mom,” he said nicely.

“I am good. Hope you have heard good things only,” she giggled. Shubhojit giggled too.

“My bad, I didn’t ask, how are you doing, by the way?” Priyanka said.

“I am good, thanks” he replied.

This is how they started and kept chatting over phone for the next 30 minutes. They decided to meet over the weekend. After a warm bye from either side, the line was disconnected. Priyanka went to bed and slept with one pillow under her head and one in her arms.

March 17, 2013

So, the weekend came. Priyanka was excited. In the afternoon, that guy called Priyanka and asked her to meet near Andheri station Mcdonalds at 7pm. Priyanka was hesitant to go as that place remains crowded most of the time but then she thought that place must be convenient for the guy to reach and then from there they would go to some other place together. So she just agreed.

Priyanka was really looking forward to this date after the influencing feedback from her mother. She took a bath for unusually longer duration, pampered herself and got herself ready for the date. She looked stunning in her white top and blue jeans with the required make-up.

At 7:10 pm, Priyanka reached near McDonald at Andheri station. The place was heavily crowded. She looked around for a fair guy with 5’8” height as was mentioned in his profile. Suddenly her phone rang. It was Shubhojit, the guy.

“Hey, Priyanka, I am reaching in 5 mins,” after saying this, he disconnected immediately.

After sometime, Priyanka saw a dark guy in white trouser and blue shirt, who was hardly 5’4”.  That guy was looking at her from a distance and was smiling at her. The next moment, he started approaching her. Priyanka wondered if she had met this guy before. Priyanka was not done wondering about this guy when that guy just came infront of her and stopped at a distance of 2 ft.

“Hi, Priyanka, right? I am Shubhojit,” he said. And excitement was vivid on his face.

Priyanka shook hands but still was confused. Her mind still had the impression of the guy as per the description in his profile ‘  5’8”, average build, fair, good looking, well educated and manager in a reputed bank’. She was wondering why would somebody provide wrong information in his profile.

“You look a lot like your profile picture on that matrimony site,” Shubhojit said and it also took Priyanka out of her thoughts.

“But you don’t look much like the description in your profile,” she said politely.

Shubhojit giggled. Priyanka got little annoyed on his shamelessness. Though she calmed herself down.

“So, where do we sit?” Priyanka asked.

“Well, this McDonald is extremely crowded, no vacant seats. Would you like to wait outside McD or go inside and wait,” Shubhojit replied.

It worked as some fuel in the fire. Priyanka got more annoyed. She had never thought that the person would ask him to sit in Mcdonalds. According to her, McD can never be a good place to discuss about such important things.

“Really? We are going to sit here?” Priyanka said and this time her irritation was visible.

“Why? What happened?” Shubhojit reacted.

“Don’t you see the crowd?” Priyanka tried to be nice and didn’t tell him the real reason.

“Ok. No problem. Let’s stroll a little. There is a nice restaurant close by,” Shubhojit said.

Priyanka thanked God and was happy that the guy was atleast talking some sense now.

Soon they reached a place which was not exactly a proper restaurant. It was more of those typical food joints where you get stuffs like pavbhaji, pulav,noodles etc. It was not an air conditioned place and humid climate was making it worse.

Needless to say, Priyanka was upset. Though she tried hard to not make it visible. She had never met  a person who was not courageous enough to put his real description on a matrimony site. Moreover,  he really didn’t have an idea that what kind of place should be chosen to sit and talk in order to know each other.

“Miss, where are you lost? What would you like to have?” Shubhojit asked gently.

Priyanka was not in good mood. She replied with a fake smile, “Nothing, I am not feeling hungry. You please go ahead and order for yourself.”

“Ok as you wish,” he grinned. This time Priyanka could behold one of his broken canines clearly.

“One Pavbhaji,” he placed the order and didn’t ask Priyanka if she wanted anything to drink or something.

Rather, after the Pavbhaji arrived, he asked Priyanka to share it in the same plate. This offer from Shubhojit worsened the situation. Still Priyanka responded nicely, "You carry on. I am good."

Priyanka was finding all of this little uncomfortable. But maintaining her decency, she was trying to hide her discomfort. Priyanka started talking to him, reluctantly. Whenever she used to look at his face, he used to smile in a weird manner which Priyanka didn’t like at all and once he winked too. That was really not acceptable to Priyanka. Though she was trying to keep her cool and was talking while the guy was busy in eating his Pavbhaji most of the time.

This wasn’t all. Next thing which happened had really turned Priyanka off.

Shubhojit asked for the bill at the joint. It was 88 rupees. Shubhojit gave 100 rupees to the waiter. Waiter came back with 12 rupees change. Shubhojit took 10 rupees and gave only 2 rupees to the waiter.

“Don’t you think those 2 rupees are more than enough for the waiter,”it was sarcastic delivery from Priyanka. But Shubhojit didn’t bother. He again smiled and continued with what he was doing.

Now, Priyanka was really furious. She was cursing herself for going out with Shubhojit. She was done with that so called “date”.

She texted her friend Deepika, “Deepika, pls gimme a call in next 5 mins. I’ll pretend that the call is from my place and something serious happened. Actually I am with a guy who is really intolerable. Rest, I will explain.. u just call me. ”

In the next 5 min, her phone rang. She pretended as planned and after disconnecting the phone, she turned to Shubhojit.

“Shubhojit, something happened at my place. I really need to rush. I will see you later. Ok,” Priyanka acted well.

“Ok Sure. Hope you have enjoyed our first date. Will call you ,” Shubhojit said.

“Yeah. I really enjoyed a lot,” said Priyanka and left that place in no time.

She was in extremely bad mood and on the way to her home she was thinking about Shubhojit. “A guy who has fake profile, no sense how to treat a girl. Once I refused, he never offer me anything again. Just 2 rupees tip to waiter. On the top of that he even wasn’t bothered with what happened  at my place. He even didn’t bother to ask. I don’t see any possibility in him.” Such thoughts were going through her mind.  

She reached home and told everything to Deepika in detail.

Deepika asked,“Did you check if he was really working as a manager in a reputed bank?” After this, both of them burst into laughter.

Next evening, her phone rang. It was Shubhojit. Priyanka picked up.

“Hi Shubojit,” Priyanka said.

“Hi Priyanka. You told me that you liked our last meeting. So, I was thinking why not meet tomorrow again. I will again take you to a nice place,” he said with excitement.

“Shubhojit, you are a nice guy. So nice that you deserve a girl better than me. So, it’s better that we don’t meet again. Wish you all luck,” she said very calmly and hung up.

“Son of a bitch,” Priyanka said in loud voice after hanging up. Deepika was just behind Priyanka and heard her conversation and also the last phrase.

Both of them laughed like crazy.