“Dude, what’s the craziest thing you’ve done??”

“?!”

“C’mon, u sure must have done something crazy!”

“Me n crazy, Ha! Nay…”

With a smirk and a bit of sympathy for the poor soul, he walked past a confused me smiling impishly at the great oblivion.

Yeah, he’s right. Everyone’s surely done some crazy stuff or the other. Even I have. But then, is there something I would wanna call the “craziest” of the lot….mmmm… There sure is something that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done. It also happens to be the best, dumbest, most satisfying, painful, least planned, the one thing I can never forget all my life. Everyone’s gotta have done something that you cherish the most. There is this urge to shout to the world that “Hey you people, Beat that!” But then it’s not a story that ends with that ‘happily ever after’ tag. And I kinda tend to believe that some stories are cherished more when not told.

And so, as he walks away, I lose myself yet again to that thought and the mystic music in the air…

‘There’s music all around you…All you gotta do is LISTEN….’

I was starting to believe life was coming to a standstill and that’s when it finally happened. I don’t know if it was intentional or just a ‘dikhava’; but anyways, it’s done the trick for me. It let me flush those dreams that kept reappearing every night I went back to bed. I could feel the difference yesterday, when the clock struck 11 and I was already yawning. And I wake up today morning to realize those dreams weren’t there to haunt me anymore. I must confess though that I’m not glad to have lost possession of them, as they were my only connection with my best of times. And I’m sure Raj Kapoor would have smiled at me now and said “Jeena isi ka naam hai!”. It’s now that I find that quote of some sense, “To meet and part is the way of life, But to part and meet is the hope of life”…

Well, finally, out of sheer boredom and joblessness, I turn to this. I still remember my grandpa telling me how his diary was his best mate. It certainly might be a comfortable way of dumping your feelings but well, who has got the time for it! Well, I am not a busy guy but just don’t find time these days to enjoy doing things I love. I love talking, talking for hours on phone or at the Nescafe or be it in class. I talk to any Tom, Dick and Harry I can find. And yes, I love talking to myself! I love talking to the clouds. A lil’ crazy I’m….

I love singing and listening to all kinds of music. I love reading, reading all that I can lay my hands on, but yes, fantasy fiction slightly takes an upper hand in my preferences here. I am totally in love with food and love experimenting on any new dish. I love sleeping, dreaming, waking up late and then showing all kinds of ‘nakhras’ to amma to let me sleep a lil’ more time. I love playing cricket, preferably with people who aren’t that great at the game (how else am I going to get to bat?!). The list just goes on and on….

But today where I stand, I see myself not getting enough of any of these. Blame it on the jam-packed schedule, blame it on the tonnes of work I have taken up (?!), blame it on my priority list, blame it up on the friend circle or just blame it on ME!! Sigh! I miss the good ‘ol days…

The boy’s one hell of a revelation! Even Mr. perfectionist Aamir comes second to him in the movie, as far as performances are concerned. Guess those actors with plunging careers would do good with tips from our new star (Guess a few Khans could do with training sessions with the kid.)

2. The Script

I always was of the opinion that only Hollywood dared to make those unusual, ‘zara-hatke’ kinda movies, but Amol Gupte, the creative director, proves all we skeptics wrong here and goes about spinning the wonderful tale of a gifted dyslexic kid.

3. The Direction

Aamir Khan stepping into the shoes of a director for the 1st time, has produced a commendable debut. Kudos to him for believing in the script and Aamir being Aamir,we dinn expect anything else either!

4.And finally,for the man himself, Aamir Khan!

The most sensible Khan yet again gives a memorable movie, not to mention his superb acting with ease. He’s very convincing as Ram Shankar Nikumbhi, an unconventional Art-teacher, who’s committed himself to a noble cause.

5.Not to forget, the Music.

It’s refreshing, it’s different and surprisingly, in sync with the storyline. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy team shows tremendous promise with such an offering. Music catering to one and all is a huge plus point working in favour of the album, as it’s slowly climbing up the charts. My pick of the lot would be Maa, simply for the absolute feel and sublime delivery.(psst… every dude n dudette around me at the cinema had tears rolling down their cheeks at this point of the movie… )

6.The Credits

Surprising we viewers with a refreshing change and announcing that Bollywood movies have grown off the age of demi-gods, the credits project Darsheel, the child prodigy(as i would wanna call him !) as the star of the movie and not Aamir. Now that did come as a surprise!

7.The Cast of course!

The entire cast of the movie has done a splendid job, especially Tisca Chopra as the ever-consoling mother and Vipin Sharma as the disillusioned father have portrayed some wonderful characters in the movie.

8.The Animation

Agreed that it ain’t an animation movie, but the animation in the movie looked so professional and totally brilliant, so definitely worth a mention.

9.The Promos

Well,this ain’t part of the movie but yet, it’s these promos that made sure I wasn’t going to watch even this one from the LAN. Hey people, you gotta watch this in a theater if u love true cinema,definitely worth it!

10. And finally, it’s once in a blue moon that we get to treat ourselves to a good movie and very rarely you hear every single soul coming out of the theater unanimously commenting on the movie, to be touchy.

So don’t think too much, just walk into the nearest theater with your family, and i assure you are gonna love it………

Getting up at 6 was a daunting task when having to get ready for school but once here, getting up without Amma (mom) having to shout “Naveee” a zillion times was no big deal.And how could I afford wasting my time hugging on to the pillow, when there was so much to do and so less time! Breakfast-Cricket-Lunch-Cricket-Dinner – that was the POA (plan-of-action) on a normal day. I still cherish those wonderful memories atop our special ‘maavu’ (mango tree). It was all together a different feeling climbing as high as we could and ‘chumma’ idle away time, yapping on and on. I still miss Rajamama’s ice-cream treats on catch for the winning team, but somehow at the end of the day, every kid was seen feasting on cassatas. I must say, we play fair!

Those days, life was all about arbitly roaming around the fields, visiting every single relative, chasing dogs around and in turn getting chased by the pack(!), pleading Achamma (grandma) to let us swim in the pond every other day, chumma idling away time siting at the porch and listening to Achamma’s stories and the more vivid ways of unrestrained merry-making. Life was at peace with itself and I am sure ‘uparwallah’ was indeed jealous of this blissful state of existence.

And He did get back at us, in his very own funny mean way. That one blow struck was more than adequate to disrupt the entire system, to unleash havoc, to wreck that golden band of peaceful existence. That one accident changed all our lives for ever. Life was never the same anymore. I still remember the first hols since the disaster. I come scuttling into tharavaadu, only to be shocked at the absence of Achamma waiting for me at the door. I walk into a hall of terrible silence and absolute dismay. There was no playful Achu, no loud music, no singing Nithya chechi, not even the ‘model’; there was no one… Achamma tells me nobody’s got time. I still sit at the porch the entire day, waiting for my lot to come. 2 days, 4 and a week went by, but there came none. I try hard to come to terms with this ‘transformed’ way of life. Waking up in itself became a nightmare. I walk to our maavu, the lone one to have stayed back to give me company. I see, she is equally depressed at the state of affairs . In search of solace, i climb into her arms. As I hug her tight, tears roll down my cheek.

That was the time my affair with her took away most of my time. I started to love those long hours spent gazing at the sky and it’s in this period that I found a new friend. It mite sound lunatic, but yes, I started to love talking to the clouds. I was the ‘talkative’ one in the family and only Neelu could pose some threat to me in this department. I would talk about anything and everything to him and pleasantly, he was always there for me. He tried his best to raise my spirits and to amuse me with his all-new-look-a-day, and must say he did succeed in his attempt to spray some life into the withering soul.

To this day, I keep wondering why life had to take such a dramatic turn and why, but why we had to be guinea pigs for His amusement. As I bid goodbye to Achamma, leaving for home after the hols, I myself was not sure when I was going to be back at tharavadu. Life did pose a lot of questions at me at this juncture of my life and they stay unanswered to this day.

Nobody any longer stays at tharavaadu. Waking up from the induced nostalgia, as I slowly glide past the gate, I see the pond all dried up, withered leaves lying scattered all around the house and the heaven abode giving any passer-by that haunted look. It pains and suddenly it all starts feeling very heavy from within. I slowly walk to the lone friend, who had the heart to stay in those difficult times. I see her smiling at her old friend and I run into her open arms. A smile touches my lips as I see her blooming, my gaze falls on her offspring. The world suddenly felt more bright. Subsistence is not merely about pushing yourself across the day. Hold onto everything you believe in. You don’t give up on the ones you love, come what may. I wake up from my slumber to realize, there is joy in every single moment. I feel the rejuvenated soul in me. And, as I slowly walked away, I had made up my mind. I for sure am coming back and next time, there’s going to be everyone. The good old days are bound to return, and hey guys, I miss you all……