Nature: Up and Down

 

The Innocence and Sadness of Being Salman Khan

 

Most Hindi movie channels on TV show dubbed language films from the Southern states, filled all through with mindless violence, which make no sense. And then a few other TV channels show old Hindi movies which again makes little sense. I don’t know what will it take for the TV channels to realize that people would like to watch films of the current time, made in the same language, because otherwise how would one ‘connect’ with a film? But these TV channels are run part of bigger organizations and each need to have a movie channel, a news channel, a general entertainment channel, and so on. Therefore, there is little focus on quality, and customers are left to fend for themselves – meaning, keep browsing channels till a tolerable show can be found.

I happened to land on a movie channel which was showing an old movie of Salman Khan from the year 1990, meaning Salman Khan was 25 at that time. I watch him on the Bigg Boss show these days and hence am aware of how he is now. I was shocked to find how he was at the age of 25 in this old movie. 

In this old movie from 1990, his name was “Sajan”. In the film, he spoke so innocently, with such softness, that it is difficult to believe he was the same person that he is now. He was young, thin, with sensitive eyes and a soft voice. Nothing in the texture of his voice matched his current voice. No facial expression, nothing from his personality from that time matches his current self, as seen in Bigg Boss show on TV. Is this what ageing is – it makes the same person so “different”?

In the film, Salman Khan’s character falls in love with a girl, who again was young. I read now that it was her first film. Like Salman Khan, her expressions were also so pure in the film. There was not an iota of artificialness of acting. Salman Khan talked to her in the film in such a gentle manner. In the first scene when he sees her, he just stares at her for several minutes, as if the world had stopped. There is so much innocence in his face, which is remarkable.

At the same time, when I look at him in the reality show on TV now a day, he appears mostly bitter all the time. When he has to congratulate any participant, he gives an expression which is borderline hatred, and rest a mix of apathy, indifference, and bitterness. There is clear artificialness in his behaviour now. His bitterness seems like just an outward expression of sadness he feels inside. Otherwise, what else could explain it?

I am of course not in a position to judge his life situations or his journey, but I am just wondering based on what I see on screen and read in newspapers. It was a disaster that he did not marry. Looking at how he treated the actress in this film from 1990, it is clear that he was a good person and would have made a good ‘family man’. I am inclined to put lot of blame on his family for not getting him married at the right age, due to which he came to the situation where he did not want to marry at all. At the same time, from media reports, it seems he decided not to marry because the women he loved declined to marry him. Due to such things, I detest this whole business of falling in love. Falling in love is good only if the two get married. The one-sided love, or rejection in love, can harm a person’s psychology, like perhaps it did to Salman Khan.

I am still in shock to see no resemblance between Salman Khan of 1990 with his current self. His innocence replaced by sadness expressed in bitterness, I don’t know if it was worth it all for him. But I know, in the end, only we are the best judges of our lives, and no one else can take into account all the things we underwent, in order to be able to judge us. Therefore, I would definitely give him a benefit of doubt. And I shall keep wondering about the complexities of human life.

- Rahul

Threat of the Internet: Smartphone Zombies and Need for Digital Minimalism

 

Recently, actor Akshay Kumar shared an incident where his little daughter came across an objectionable content while playing an online game. The news was covered extensively in the media as a case for cyber awareness and cybercrime. But everyone knows that merely “awareness” is not enough, and the situation is only going to be worse with time.

Long ago, when I started using the internet, I came to understand that the internet was an ideal platform for people not accepted by the society. People looking for nudity, selling illegal drugs, defaming religions and insulting gods and revered figures, bullying, all which they could not do in real life, they were able to do so on the internet-based platforms. We come across so much negativity on the internet and we cannot just ignore everything saying, “it is only virtual”. Internet is not safe, and no one is doing enough to make it so.

The primary role of keeping the internet safe is on the internet-based platforms. Unfortunately, all sort of recklessness from these platforms is excused in the name of calling such companies “tech startups”. It is high time government should make it mandatory for all companies running these platforms to be registered and being under regulation for their practices and systems. It will benefit everyone in the tech ecosystem too.

The second role is with the government. They must stop seeing internet as a “virtual” media but need to regulate every aspect of the online world in the same manner as the physical businesses are regulated. Without government playing its role honestly, nothing can be achieved.

If we look at common worker class people like taxi and auto drivers, security guards, labourers, carpenters, etc, they spend most of their idle time at their work watching small videos on their smartphones. They are not even paying attention to what they are watching but are just glued to the screen as if they are worshipping God or meditating. Very often we see pedestrians and people on the roads, totally lost in their smartphone screens, as if they are all in meditation. The situation is only going worse with time.

I believe one thing fuelling the online world is “cheap data”. Telecoms have come up with around Rs 250 per month recharge and give users enough data to waste whole day, along with limitless phone calls which has made all taxi drivers become ‘phone-zombies’. The world is increasingly resembling a scene from some science fiction film, because of such robotic, zombie like people lost in their phones due to cheap data.

I was thinking if there were ways to change this situation. One theoretical idea was to make the telecoms increase the data prices, so that the monthly recharges needed for limitless data increases to a limit which starts pinching people. Higher cost will reduce demand, and people will start spending more time in real life. But, as individual customers, we are not empowered enough to influence the telecoms into raising prices. Government can certainly do that, but I am not sure if they are interested.

At the same time, there is need for public awareness campaigns about “digital minimalism” and for promoting offline alternatives like books, and community events.

Given the present situation in our country, where government is promoting digitization instead of discouraging it, the road towards my ideal world is yet to take shape. Perhaps the developed Western countries can take a lead in encouraging digital minimalism and maximizing real world social interactions, to show the world a way forward.

- Rahul

We can understand from Mridul Tiwari how Youtube is winning and Bollywood is losing

 

This year too, Bigg Boss 19 on Colors TV has an interesting cast. We can notice an increasing trend of bringing in Youtubers and Social Media influencers as participants on TV screen, perhaps in the expectation that each one of them would help promote the TV show on their digital channels, giving the show easy and free publicity. It is not a bad strategy. But where this strategy fails is when most of these social media influencers turn out to be introverts and not much happening, unlike how they appear in their online content. In the current season of Bigg Boss, we can see how Awez Darbar, Mridul Tiwari and Praneet More are not impressing the host Salman who criticizes them every weekend.

I heard in the show that Mridul Tiwari is a very popular Youtuber. But on the TV show, he just plays the “gentleman”, keeps silent amidst chaos, just tries to be friends with everyone, has been more comfortable with a set of people who have taken dominant role themselves leaving him in a hopeless situation where he faces threat of elimination any weekend, just like Awez.

I searched for his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@TheMriDul and found that he has nearly 2 million subscribers! I watched a couple of his videos, including one on Raksha Bandhan and other about Exams, and eureka moment! I loved his content!

I noticed that Mridul’s youtube videos perfectly capture the nerve of common man’s life in India. The content is funny, acting by all actors/actresses in his videos is excellent, camera work, background sound, direction, everything is perfect. Then instantly it came to my mind why Bollywood is missing to earn money these days, ever since they upped their “premium game” by showing mostly Westernized lifestyle and ignoring the real life in India. Mridul’s youtube videos show how Youtube is winning and Bollywood is losing in India.

So far I was skeptical about Youtubers whom I thought were overhyped, but after seeing the content created by Mridul, which are btw of about 30 minutes length each, which is the time of a typical episode of a TV series too, I am tending to change my opinion. All these actors who act in Mridul’s videos are extremely talented and deserve accolades just like regular TV and film artists get. Given the lack of resources they have and still the mind-blowing creativity they unleash, they are as big artists in their own world, as are the best actors, writers and directors in the film industry.

It is high time Bollywood and Indian film industry should stop aping Western films and put their feet on the ground, showing content rooted in the real life of real people in our country. When they do that, there won’t be any complaints about lower footfalls and fading movie businesses. They need to realize the fact that Youtube is the biggest competitor of Bollywood now. 

- Rahul

Travelogue: Bike Trip Around Pune Lonavala

 

Travelogue: Lohagad Fort, Near Pune, Maharashtra

 

Way back, when I was living in Mumbai, I used to go site seeing every weekend. I used to search on the internet which places to visit, and go by local train and buses and visit the places of historical importance. I still have many such memories from those visits in my mind. Once, while I was doing MBA, a group of my classmates went to visit Lohagad Fort. When I came to know about it and saw their pictures, I felt left-out, since I would have loved to visit the fort. I remember from those pictures that it was a long trek and my classmates had gone by local train and had all become tired returning from the one-day trip. Afterwards, I always had the plan to visit this fort at the back of my mind. After about seventeen years, finally I made it today.

Lohagad fort, as its name indicates is a very strong fort made of stones and it is in a very good condition. It is about 5-6 kms from the Malavli railway station, but this whole area is hilly and hence it takes lots of efforts to walk even a little distance. There is a parking at the base of the fort and I went up to that point by my bike to make it easy for me. But I found even the road leading up to the Lohagad fort parking very narrow with really steep turns and it felt very dangerous. We need to go on first gear most of the journey and need to honk at every turn to avoid any accidents. To be safer, I went on a week-day instead of the weekend when the rusk to such places is more, and seeing the dangerous terrain, I felt it was a good decision. Even the trek leading up to the fort from the parking is steep and strenuous since the steps have good height and can’t be compared with normal steps we have in our buildings. The weather is wonderful in the rainy season, but it makes the whole area wet and there is water constantly flowing on the stone steps, making those dangerous. Luckily, govt has made stone steps really rough and it was not slippery with the shoes I had and hence I never faced any problem. There are chairs and sitting area at short distances, where we can catch our breath while climbing. I would recommend the trekking for only young people and the elderly and those who are not 100% fit should not try to go.

Government has done good job in getting mobile tower at this place and hence telephone and internet connectivity is good. I saw many people making video calls to their family members from up the fort, showing the area proudly.

At the base of the fort, there are many monkeys by the side of the road and those are really harmless and hence no one needs to be scared. But somehow, don’t know because of the season, I saw so many baby monkeys all around and it felt the baby monkeys had outnumbered the adult monkeys. I also curiously saw a dog climbing up the stairs all the way to the top till the fort and after reaching the top, I saw that there were 3-4 more dogs and all were resting besides the Nandi ji in front of Shiva Temple. Yes, there is a temple of Mahadev (Shiv ji) in the fort, perhaps remade by the govt at the original place of the ancient temple.

While trekking on my way up, I was amazed seeing the names of the major doors of the fort:

- Ganesh Darwaja

- Narayan Darwaja

- Hanuman Darwaja

- Maha Darwaja

You can search to read about the historical importance of this fort. It is mentioned that the  fort was initially built by a Rajput dynasty in 10^th century who were descendants of Lav (younger son of Bhagwan Shri Ram). Later, the fort was under control of many kingdoms. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj used to keep his treasure at this fort. And Nana Phadnavis lived in this fort for some time and made several structures in the fort.   

There is also a beautiful well in the fort and I never imagined that there could be a well filled with pure water at the top of a mountain like this. It felt dream-like.

In the rainy season, this whole area is beaming with natural beauty and is a place to remember. I could feel pure calmness and peace at the fort.

Seventeen years late at it, but this is how I shall aways remember Lohagad fort at Lonavala.

- Rahul

Social media for non-influencers

 

I just read a blog post where author reflected about role of social media in our lives. It would be difficult to ascertain what all the time spent on social media would have turned out to be, and it seems everyone overrates the role of social media in our life. So, what if we came across 1 or 5 or 10 great guys on social media. By all probability, if we were not there on social media but went out spending the same time in society, we still would have met 10 other wonderful people. Although this could be true for many of us but not for all of us, due to various reasons.

I started on social media many years ago, as it evolved in India. I joined Orkut when it was the most popular social media platform and I was very popular there. Afterwards, I was on Facebook for many years and shared my writings, and poems as I had many likeminded people there. And later, on Twitter. I also spent huge time on social media, as it was designed to engage us and waste our time. Social media is designed to be additive and everyone ends up spending more time there than planned. By now, all its secrets are out, including how it causes dopamine cycle in our body. But during the initial days, nothing was very clear. Now I spend very less time on social media, but I often come across many people who are still spending a lot of time there.

By the end of her article, the author asked not to make social media part of our life, but just use it as a connection tool. It is very good idea. The author also reflects how our life would have been without social media. She thinks most of us won’t be missing much. It makes sense.

Everyone has their own set of experiences in life and social media experiences are also part of the same. In a few decades from now, perhaps social media would be seen very differently. It is possible that future generations would really wonder and laugh at the previous generations for how seriously they took social media in their lives, how much of personal information they shared, and how little they cared about privacy and confidentiality. The way artificial intelligence and other tools are evolving, which are sweeping the internet to make use of the data into useful information, the internet has become a den of thieves and frauds. Our future generations are very lucky that by their time, we already know about pros and cons of the internet and the related etiquettes. The first generation of users are always the guinea pigs for any new technology or business and bears the maximum brunt.

All said and done, I think it would be fair to say that after social media came, first we reaped its benefits and then paid the price. By now, we are aware of how dangerous it is, and why it is possible to not be on social media and still lead a life.

- Rahul

Movie Review: Emergency (2025)

 

I watched the film ‘Emergency’ (2025) recently on TV. This is the famous film made by Kangana Ranaut based on the life of late PM Indira Gandhi, and had faced legal issues before its release due to some scenes including the assassination scene.

I found the movie surprisingly good. As compared to most of the other biopics on political figures, I found this one extremely well made. Although, the film tries to capture historical events which are numerous and hence it becomes a challenge to tell the “story” and keep it about the protagonist and not get lost in the historical events. Due to these challenges, I could feel that the pace of the film was slightly faster than could have been. But I know it was near impossible to depict the enigmatic life of late Indira Gandhi ji in a single film and Kangana Ranaut has done it so well!

I remember all the controversies and press reports at the time this movie was being released. I have anyway almost stopped going to the theatres for watching movies and hence I had totally skipped this one at the time it was released. Now I realise what I had missed. But better be late than never and I am happy that I caught it on TV now.

It is very rare to lead a life which late Indira Gandhi had led. Those days, our country was poor and not strong. It is really incredible how our great Prime Ministers of those decades led our country so well. Despite “Emergency” being the theme of this film, which is considered a blot on the face of our democracy, the film does capture many more important events from the history of our country which I have read about and hence was able to relate well. Though I was not aware that Indira Gandhi was arrested by the Janata Party led Govt at the centre and later released due to public pressure. There are many more aspects shown in the film which I have read in newspapers and magazine articles, and the film has very honestly shown those without malice or political colouring. For example, the depiction of Sanjay Gandhi and his role prior to and during the Emergency of 1975. Vishak Nair, the actor who played the role of Sanjay Gandhi has given a really remarkable performance. So has Milind Soman in the role of Army Chief Sam Manekshaw. I was expecting this movie to be all about Kangana Ranaut, as the Press often depicts her, but found that the film will be memorable due to many such actors and characters, and not only for her.

It is very rare to remain relevant and enigmatic all through our life. It is also very rare for one’s death to match the enigmatic life one has led. Mahatma Gandhi had a glorious death matching his life, and perhaps the other person would be Indira Gandhi. I was a very small kid when she was killed, and I still remember the morning. I was at my hometown, standing in front of our house, when the news had broken about her death. I remember that my grandfather, father and uncles were all talking about it. Like most noble families those days, I guess my grandfather and his family were her supporters too. I have some visuals of that morning still in my mind. It is said that kids smaller than 5 do not remember much from their childhood. I don’t know how rare it is, but I have vivid memories of that day. It is a shame that this great film was marred into controversy for depicting her assassination which is very sensibly covered.

This film has tried to depict the complex personality and psychology of Indira Gandhi. I have read many articles where journalists and authors have written that it was very difficult to characterise her. She was not a simple person. And this film has attempted a near impossible task of capturing some of the complexities of her mind and her life. The movie makers get full credit for it.

I highly recommend this film for one and all. And I wish our nation is slightly grateful for the great political leaders we have had in the past.

- Rahul

 

 

 

 

Swiped (2025) and the Evilness of Workplace Harassment

 

Watched ‘Swiped’ (2025), a film based on the life of businesswoman Whitney Wolfe. I was not aware what the movie was about before I started watching it and later discovered that an integral part of the movie’s plot was about workplace sexual harassment. The movie genuinely depicts the scenarios of workplace harassment which women face, as well as the working environment in the tech startups. Although, no movie can do 100% proper judgement to all the characters and all the events, so the movie can also be accused of showing a one-sided story from the point of view of the lead character Whitney. But being a biographical film, this comes hardly as a surprise.

When Whitney joins the startup, and she was not a coder or a software engineer or big marketing name; she joins from the scratch. The credit to spot talent in her goes to one of the founders, Sean. And for a while, everything goes in a dream-like fashion. She is happy at work, is appreciated by all, and the company gets its mojo and everything is going great. But then, she starts dating another co-founder named Justin. The movie does not even show a hint that there was anything objectionable in a “workplace romance”. And thereby, it tries to hide a very pertinent truth about the whole scenario about to unfold.

Workplace romance is riddled with dangers, that is why most good companies have a policy against it. It is a recipe of disaster. Whiteney and Justin are dating and in love, and it is not kept a secret. After a while, the real face of Justin starts showing off, as he starts taking credit for her work, starts sidelining her and pushing her away from the media limelight. Perhaps, he was cunningly aware of what was going to happen after the two broke up. The decision to break up was taken by Whiteney after she had had enough of sidelining by Justin. Things go totally downside after they broke up, with Justin showing totally abusive behaviour by harassing and defaming Whitney. I wondered what Whitney was thinking when she went on that road of workplace romance. Men are typically known to be sore losers when it comes to handling rejections from women they like.

Later, the whole story shows how Whiteney fought against the system which is against women as well as anyone who takes a stand against the workplace harassment. It is an inspiring story of how Whiteney goes on standing for what is right. But it is more of an inspiring story because of the fact that Whiteney did not go down fighting and goes on to achieve greater success in her career. And when a tricky situation comes again in the next company she joined, she still stands tall. Hats off to Whitney Wolfe and her inspiring courage.

At the same time, I can’t stop but reflect on the root cause of all the harassment she was subjected to, which was workplace romance to begin with. In one of my previous companies where I witnessed absolutely toxic work culture, workplace romance was not only tolerated but even ‘encouraged’. There was a policy banning it, but the management just went around the policy by changing the official reporting manager of one of the couples, to avoid detection. I knew of many colleagues, who went on to marry other colleagues, only by seeing the encouragement of this practice. I believe it was purely incompetence and a decision not to take a stand, which made the senior management not respect the company policy of not allowing workplace romance.

The truth is that workplace romance and workplace harassment go hand in hand. Male employees, often in superior positions in the company, if faced with rejection by attractive female employees in junior positions, are inclined to harass them until they are forced to resign or go emotionally broken. Whiteney Wolfe was able to come out unscathed, and the movie shows the harassment situations very well. She went through hell and came out safe, but unfortunately not all are strong enough like her. And even if one woman is subjected to harassment at workplace, it is a failure of the whole company’s policies and the senior management who are supposed to uphold the values.

I feel like wishing that may there be more Whitney Wolfes in the world, but I know this would be a wishful thinking. Laws and polices are designed to protect the weakest in the community; and the fact that the strongest ones come out unscathed of the hostile situations does not mean slacking the rules. Multinational companies are seen to be often lacking stricter enforcement of policies and rules because of lack of accountability of the senior management who know their ‘time is ticking’ and would be out of the door in a few years. So, why take stands and try to improve the workplace environment for the employees, and why not spend most of the time just to improve the company’s performance in the stock market, which is most rewarding for them.

Workplace harassment should be taken more seriously by all companies as well as by the lawmakers of every country. And when it comes to harassment as an aftermath of workplace romance, the only way to prevent it is not to go down the lane in the first place. I am of the opinion that everyone should maintain a purely professional relationship at the workplace, for one’s own safety and for the safety of others.

- Rahul

Nature: Flowers of September

 

Travelogue: Patna Airport

 

Travelogue: Ramachandra Shahi Museum, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

This museum was established by the antique collections and efforts of late Ramchandra Shahi from Shahi-Minapur in Muzaffarpur, by his son Dr. Vijay Kumar Shahi in the memory of his father. Ramchandra Shahi was born in year 1912 in the Shahi-Minapur village of Muzaffarpur and he had special interest in collecting antiques and historical objects and he had established a museum there in the memory of his father late Brajbhushan Shahi. The current museum building was constructed by the govt and municipal corporation in 1987 and inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister Bindeshwari Dubey on 23^rd of May, 1987. 

Entry to this museum is free of cost and you just have to make an entry in the visitors register. The museum is in a big hall on the ground floor which is air conditioned. There are 3-4 people available all the time to watch over the historical artefacts and will go with you if you are visiting there. And they will instruct you not to take photographs of any of the items. The pictures of artefacts shown above are taken from public sources on the internet.

- Rahul 

A Beautiful Bicycle Ride

 

Bicycles are special for children, and I am sure we all have some very nice memories associated with bicycles from our childhood. I used to have a small, beautiful, green tricycle when I was very small, a cherry red Avon bicycle with two side supporting wheels later, and I got a proper Hero Hansa bike when I went to the high school. But I shall share my memories later. Recently I saw something which was more than curious.

In the morning, a man was riding his bicycle with only one hand on the handle. With his other hand, he was holding a small kid of one or two, perhaps his son or daughter. The kid was standing on his lap and was enjoying the ride from there very confidently. I could notice that the kid was dark skinned, had been given a bath, wore a new bright red cloth, and his hair was oiled and fixed with a small “Rasna Choti”.

I wondered where the man was taking his kid in this manner. After some time, I saw him returning after having taken a U-turn, meaning it was just a casual stroll to entertain the kid before he went to work. As the man rode the bicycle, occasionally he would turn towards the kid and kissed him on his cheek. The whole scene was so heartwarming that would melt even a stone.

I don’t know if the kid would remember this when he would grow up, since he was very small, and how his relationship with his father would be after growing up. Life is full of ups and downs and we can’t say “happily ever after” for everyone. But I hope the kid would grow up to be a little grateful and loving, the way he received love from his father.

- Rahul