The Last Cigarette

What do you do when you suffer from a Compulsive Behavior - an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) or an Addiction of some sort.

Let's assume that you are an addict of cigarettes. (For those who do not smoke, think of any other thing that you are addicted to - alcohol, gym, surfing the net, making phone calls, etc. - so that you empathise with the Cigarette smoker). And let's assume that you want to quit that compulsive behavior. What do you do?

There may be many ways and techniques avaible. But here's one that I've found to be effective in many different situations myself (Explained with the example of a cigarette addict):

Carry a cigarette with you always - just one - to allow yourself one last chance to smoke. It gives you the enticement that you are so near to smoking, that you can smoke anytime that you want to. But it also tests your determination in a way that if you smoke the last cigarette, all your determination will go for a toss.

It gives you an option to smoke, and derives from you a commitment that you will not smoke in the future. If you smoke, you smoke for the last time; thereby losing yourself a chance to have your last smoke in the future.

Initially, there will be very strong urges to smoke. But slowly, and steadily, those urges to smoke will become few and far between as you continue seeing that cigarette daily and continue controlling your urges. Gradually, as you become grittier and are able to develop enough self-control, you may not need to carry the cigarette always with you.

I know there are various types & levels of compulsive behaviors, and various types of personalities, so this technique may not be effective in all the cases. So to try it or not is totally up to your discretion.

Dev D

An imdb rating of 9.2 doesn't mean that a movie is going to be great. But it does ensure that the movie is worth a watch so that you can decide it for yourself whether it's good or bad.

And that's what this movie has done to me. A very high imdb rating, a modern interpretation of an old story (which was interesting in its own way - why else would it have 9 movie adaptations?), fair reviews, and finally Abhay Deol - it has all the ingredients for making it interesting.

After having seen Abhay Deol's 'Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye', I, somehow, have pretty high expectations from him. This guy does something to the characters that he plays.

Also, against all the odds, I had liked Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas too. It was possibly because I had very low expectations from that one (I had a BIG mental block against this movie - still I watched it...after 3 years of it being been released!). And having liked that 'Devdas', I'm pretty sure that this contemporary interpretation is going to be a pretty cool one.

Let me go watch it before I write the review!

Sambar Millionaire - II

V is standing near the Kitchen sink with Pressure Cooker in his hand. He is wearing a T-shirt, Boxer shorts and a helmet. What? A helmet? He doesn't seem to be going out anywhere now.

Hovering near him (but still maintaining a safe distance from him) is S - giving him instructions to open the cooker. S, having already seen the cooker fury, didn't have any courage left to open the cooker. So in came V with oodles of confidence. With a little bit of help from the onlookers (read cheerleaders A & R), V did the right thing - Opened the cooker with no casualties!

This brought into view the vegetables (drumsticks, beans, etc.) that were boiled for Sambar. Meanwhile S had already cooked Dal in a pan. Now, again with the help of cheerleaders (A& R), S & V started pouring all the essentials into that pan. S kept reading all the ingredients and recipe from the back of MTR Sambar masala pack. One by one, vegetables, tamarind, salt, etc. went in to the pan. Sambar resembled the color that it should have taken, but it lacked the smell and taste of a Sambar.

S & V took turns and kept on stirring the Sambar. Only after stirring it for about half an hour, did they realize that they had missed out a major ingredient. Since they were reading it out of the pack, it never struck anyone that they have to open that pack and pour out its contents (The Great MTR Sambar masala) into the Sambar.

By the time Sambar was ready, all of them were so hungry that they could not have found any fault with it. Needless to say, the cheerleaders kept on cheering S & V for their initiative and bravery, without which they would not have been having that lunch. They do not remember the taste of Sambar now, but they do remember the scenes pretty vividly.

Sambar Millionaire - I

This is a story set in flat no.4, Vignesh apartments where dwelled 5 (sometimes upto 6) bachelor folks in the pre-tsunami era of Chennai.

It was yet another Chennai (read hot and sultry) sunday morning when the last remaining vestiges of sleeping bodies in a small flat got up from their sleep. As was their practice those days, these bachelors would get ready and start their hunt for lunch (These guys would never wake up in time to have their breakfasts!). But this was bound to be a different day as one of the flatmates had got the enthu (short for enthusiasm) to cook lunch.

In one corner of the hall sat V who was trying to come out of his hangover (from previous night's party) by sitting and studying for CAT. CAT is just another entrance examination in India that attracts takers in the lots of bees, and springs out successful results only by dozens. Then, there was A who was giving exercise to his eyelids by trying to open them. And then, there was R who was reading newspaper with so much vengeance as if the earth would stop its spin if he hadn't read all the words in it by end of the day. (BTW, there is a lot to read in that newspaper 'The Hindu'). All this while, S had been doing the prep work in kitchen for preparing Sambar. G and T were not in town that day.

Suddenly, they heard big noise. An explosion in chennai? Attack by the extremists? Nah...that was not to be, it had come from the kitchen.

A's eyelids sprung open, and he jumped up from the bed. The earth stopped its spin and the newspaper managed to leave R's viewfinder. The explosion made V tick on the wrong answer and he turned around. With all these folks rushing to the kitchen to find out the source of explosion, they couldn't believe what they had seen then.

S, draped only in his bare minimum towel (they could believe it as they were used to seeing S in primitive attire), was covered top to bottom in water and was holding the pressure cooker (with a boiled potato in it). In the sink lay the cooker lid, and all over the floor were present remaining potatoes (each in a different direction) and water. It was SOME sight.

It took them just a minute to figure out that S had luckily survived the incident with no visible damage to his body. And since S was apparently deaf for the next few minutes, A, R and V let out a loud laugh so as to make S listen to their amusement. S stood there grinning from ear to ear.

After cleaning up the entire place, all of them embarked on the next phase of their Sambar Millionaire.

More about that...after the break!

Profound Thoughts - I

“There's one sad truth in life I've found while journeying east and west - The only folks we really wound are those we love the best. We flatter those we scarcely know, We please the fleeting guest, And deal full many a thoughtless blow to those who love us best.” - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"Even the best of friends face conflicts, but that needn't mean the end of the relationship."

Nice Thought

When people die, in their last moments, they do not remember moments from their workplace. But they do remember best times with their close ones!

Shakespeare in Love

I, usually, do not like period based movies. And that too, a fiction that involves real life characters. It may have been true, as the authenticity of history and the knowledge levels of historians are always debatable (After all, those who wrote history may not have been aware of all the facts!)

But it is a very nice perspective that they have brought out through this movie. Needless to say, the story has been very well-treated, and the actors have done justice to their characters. The movie captures your attention right from the beginning till the end. The end scenes are especially worth a mention. The director manages to up the tempo of the movie as it progresses, and you are left to get absorbed in the theatre scenes (even though you can predict what's going to happen next, you still maintain a pin-drop silence to watch the actors enact the scenes).

And the best part of the movie is the way they have dealt with the concept of love. It has refrained from the jingoistic glorification of love (Love conquers all, Love is necessary for world peace, etc.). In fact, it has brought it out in as much practical manner as possible. You will not disrespect the feelings and emotions that has been portrayed as love, even though it borders on the edges of lust. One of the protagonists is married and away from family for an eternity, whereas the other is about to get married according to her parents' wishes. They are divided across the class and age barriers. Still they are able to cherish their love and live the moments in their present.

The cravings that they have towards each other transcends everything, and the two are able to bring out the best in each other. Both are in a symbiotic relationship letting each other achieve their dreams. One gets to showcase her acting potential, and the other gets the inspiration to pen one of the greatest stories.

And as is the fate with any great love story, it all ends up very realistically. It is not a coincidence that most of the greatest love stories of all time have all had tragic endings - with the protagonists either dead, or separated from each other.

Wonder, if that's true in real life too. Dead or alive, it is not everyone who's lucky enough to experience such a great feeling. Love, truly, is an emotion worth dying for.