Truth And Dare?

People lie.

Yes, both ways.

They lie, and they also lie. They lie while lying down. Or, while lying, they lie.

The “lie” I am trying to talk about is not the one you do every night, but the ones you tell someone whenever you feel like it.

Lying is almost commonplace, and people who are thinking about the other “lie” at this point should just stop reading this and go watch their pornos.

Just think about it…

How true are you to yourself and to everyone around you? Does lying come easily to you? Our teachers have often drilled into our brains that the truth is a double-edged sword. Write it and you are granted marks. And you write it. But have you ever considered it?  It might be the sword mentioned before, but a falsehood is almost twice as sharp. Tell someone a fib and it comes back to haunt you. It keeps going around in a vicious circle, eating at your conscience till you scream and say, “F*ck, why do I do this?” If you don’t, you’re probably fibbing right now. See, there you go. Don’t you feel your brain shrinking in size? Admit it.

All of us tend to lie too easily. Ask someone how much he/she studies. There you go, you get a lie in reply. Ask them how much they like something/someone. Again. Ask someone how late they are going to be. Again. It’s almost a habit with us. There are a few genuine people, but it’s getting to be rarer and rarer every day. The truth is almost as uncommon as a rat the size of Scooby Doo.

Personally, the truth gives me a sense of satisfaction. It’s almost as if I’ve accomplished something. A lie always weighs me down. You always get to watch in the movies how truthful the hero can be, and how he realizes that a dosage of truth was all that he required. But how many actually get down to aping the good parts of the movies? Yes, we do the hair, the eyes, the 6-packs, even the nose. But the truth? Haah.

Even in real life, truth can get you places. It can help you in your private life, as well as your work. People always appreciate the truth, however much they themselves lie. It’s almost ironical and hypocritical how that happens. But they do. Your down and dirty, bad-ass liar of a boss will always like you better if you tend to tell the truth. Your friends will love you if you tell something as it is, without mincing your words. The truth is always helpful if you “do” it in good proportions. There is always a time and a place for not telling the truth. And we all agree those times are mostly during crises. A teensy-weensy fib never hurt anyone, did it? When employed rarely, it doesn’t.

So, do try and tell the truth as often as possible,and when someone asks you where you are, please don’t say you are at Andheri and you’re still at Jogeshwari (going southwards).

A Story…

I will tell you a story, not mine, but someone else’s.

I am a thing.

I live, hence I inspire this blog-post.

I like growth, it feeds me.

Even a country’s economic progress aids me.

It can also destroy me, but your science in eliminating me is lost in many greedy ventures.

Hence, when you try and get rid of me, I just smell good.

I can cover large distances with just a single jump.

I have an infectious presence and love to get my point across.

I live at altitudes or lower down, as long as I have my place.

I derive pleasure from hurting people.

Many people have tried to look for me.

Some find me, most don’t.

I love to roam about all day, just eating.

I love poverty, it’s just so … liberating and sexy.

I creep about in the dark places of the world, and sometimes in the golden and red.

Monkeys derive pleasure from me, as well as nutrition.

I am not related in any way to Robin Sharma, Ben Kingsley or Mahatma Gandhi.

I am a louse,and totally drunk with success.

Dark (K)Night?

Now, me and a friend of mine had this huge, heated debate about which is a better film, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption or The Departed. My friend is utterly biased about The Dark Knight and does not even bother to listen to the arguments I state. So, I will do so here, though I will refrain from being negative about the latter two movies, because they are two of my best movies. All negative points about them can be made in the comments area clearly provided for your vocal thoughts.

Reasons Why The Dark Knight Is A Good Movie But Not As Good As TSR or TD:

1. Acting – Besides Heath Ledger as The Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face/Harvey Dent, none of the actors are even convincing. Christian Bale is wooden, a la Arjun Rampal in Rock On, an ornamental piece, in the movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a terrible choice as Rachel Dawes. Michael Caine appears the star compared to Mr. Bale.
2. Storyline – The storyline of the movie, though good, lacks the flow of TD or TSR. There are many illogical parts in the movie, with respect to the actions of the police of Gotham City, and the freedom which The Joker is provided with.
3. Cinematography – Though Gotham City is supposed to be dark and forbidding, with many-a-nemesis of the Batman walking about, Nolan’s Gotham is a sunny, bright city. The scenes done when the Joker and Two-Face are about are brilliant though.
4. Casting – Most of the casting for the movie was very nice, but some choices, especially Rachel Dawes and some others need to have been reconsidered. Eye-candy would not have been a bad option for a movie filled with good-looking actors, but hardly worth a Hollywood movie in which you are assured of atleast one hot chick.
5. Music – The Departed had some very catchy soundtracks, which cannot be said so for The Dark Knight, which had good ones, but not comparable.

But otherwise, The Dark Knight deserves all the plaudits it has been getting. Nolan’s interpretation has been brilliant, and combined with Ledger’s last hurrah, has resulted in an exciting, edgy thriller which keeps you spellbound with the psychology of two of The Batman’s arch-rivals.

Zabriskie Point

Now, I will write two articles to compensate for the slackness I have exhibited. Not that I think anyone is going to actually bother to read them, but it’s just to satisfy my feeling of accomplishment today. I have passed my first Semester in the dreaded(?) Mumbai University exams. Nice feeling, that. The first article will be a superficial analysis of The Dark Knight, and the second will be a theory of my own.

Let me begin with my theory.

The first question, that I put forth to you is, are you an extrovert or an introvert?

And, the second question is, do you dance?

Recent experiments and psychological behaviour have shown me that these two are closely interrelated. As Rowling cleverly interpreted my words, neither can live while the other survives. Of course, this experiment on my behalf has been conducted in North Mumbai. Any differences observed with respect to regional, physical and mental differences have to be excused.

Disclaimer also includes mentally unbalanced people who have sudden tics and/or bursts of energy.

Usually, extroverts have this deeply-imbibed feeling of the necessity to participate in everything. And being good at every social thing you can imagine, they have the necessary skills for its execution. So, they hop a bit, skip a bit, and there you go. Professional dancers in the making. They even shake their hips right. Mind you, this might be their first attempt, yet they show no shyness whatever, and jump  forth into the cavorting crowds with the glee of a springbuck in the spring(?).

So, extroverted behaviour is linked with dancing. One of my friends said he is an outgoing person, but yet he doesn’t dance. Now, is that possible, I ask you? Of course, it IS possible that introverts can also dance, but the other way round is hardly ever possible, let alone feasible.

Mayuresh, go prance around a bit. 😉

With introverts, it is exactly the opposite, though the strict rules binding the class called extroverts does not extend to this class. Talking out of experience, and out of the wet feeling of sweat trickling down your armpits, I assure you that such behaviour cannot be expected out of the shy specie. Hence, social gatherings, weddings, parties, etcetra is not where you will expect to find such people. They will always be around the outer fringes of these cauldrons of mismatches, discussing the weather or the latest EPL derby, or other such nerdy stuff (as all you exceedingly clever EVs will point out). Dragging them out into the open, where the sun glares brightly on them, and the wind blows about them with such ferocity, will only make them seem like a woodcutter atop a mountain, with a red flush in his cheeks. Except that the woodcutter probably yells “Fore” (or was it the golfer) while erstwhile people yell “Bore”.

Conclusion of this long-winded, astrology-column-like theory: Don’t pull me by the arms and legs to dance with you. You might just find an arm, or a leg, however you prefer.

Death and All His Friends – Part 2

Okay, Ashmita, big smile. I finally found the inclination to write the second part of my latest post. So, let me continue with a few more of my classmates.

Mustufa Mukadam (Bhaijaan(?))

Mustufa studied in an all-boys school. And yet he doesn’t lust after girls. Now That is a wonder. Well, anyway, he’s the typical technosexual guy whol loves computer games, his cell phone and anything to do with technology. He also hates attending college, loves watching movies, and is brilliant at CP. For all the uninitiated, that is Computer Programming. Without being too polite, he is crappy at football (and most sports, I think). And loves to criticize and complain. That apart, he specializes in horrible, painful PJs which only I understand. Period.

Pratik Wagh (Prats, Waggy(?), Patrick(?))

Pratik is a guy who I knew since my Bhavan’s days but never knew-knew. You know what I mean. Patrick is a really great guy, is very friendly and has a decent sense of humour. One of the cleverer guys around, and a good dancer, he is the guy who will always buy a glass of juice when in the canteen. Lives on a liquid diet, that guy. Lives very close to college, yet always manages to arrive late.

Saumil Shah (100 Mills, Log Mill, Sau)

Just looking at him, you know you can trust him with anything. He’s one of those typical nice guys you hear about everyday, the ones who help old women cross the street. Not a bad streak in his character. Loves to dance and to hang out with the girls 😛 Big, strong and silent types, clever and very popular amongst the girls. That’s Saumil for you.

Parshva Shah (Parshava, Parshvanath, etc.)

Saumil’s best friend and one of the wackiest people you will find. Thin and blessed with the ability of talking at top-speed, he is bound to remind you of a nervous colt. Very mischievous. Life-blood of our class. A very fun person to be with.

And The Others …

Mayuresh Madbhavi (Mayur, Madbhavi)

Fat. Nerdy. But a very good guy, in whatever way you want. Except that he lies about his studies. Can’t write more for him.

And last, but not the least …

Ashmita Sengupta

Okay. I first got to know her because she has a blog. I can safely claim that she is the only living person in SP whose likes closely resemble mine. Both of us like rock (preferably classic). She  has been trying to make me complete this blogpost for a few days now. Even trying to tempt me with Cheese Pav Bhaaji. But that apart, she is a really nice girl who tries to get credit from people she hardly knows. To the tune of 500 rupees. Can get really boring on the phone. 😛

Okay, I only completed this post because I want to taunt you with the fact that I ate Cheese Pav Bhaaji and could not bear to not tease you about being broke 😛

Gloating…

Yes, I’m not a very humble blogger. Yes, I count how many people visit my blog everyday. I love my blog, and it may be amateurish, but it’s the only thing in my life worth the while. 3505 hits and counting!

Now Reading: H.M.S Ulysses by Alistair Maclean
Now Listening To: Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac
Now Feeling: Lonely.

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