REVIEW : THIS IS IT… A VIP PASS ONSTAGE!

This is not just a movie. It is not even like attending the real concert, but better than all that. It feels as if you have got a VIP pass from Michael to accompany him on the stage or wherever he goes during his concert rehearsals. THIS IS IT is an incredible piece to see Michael (who literally like monster) devours up the audience with his great showmanship. The movie showcases the most intricate details of how perfect Michael gets when it comes to performances. Apart than being a fan, I would call this as a BIBLE for any performing artist. See THIS IS IT and you will know why Michael’s performances were so legendary.

It is unbelievable to see Michael Jackson (at the age of 50) perform the dance moves, hit the high notes, scanning every small aspect of the whole performance, guiding musicians and dancers and improvising his performance every single time. I was getting difficult for me to watch him dance on the stage and not dance in the theater. I was singing all the time without giving a damn to what anyone else would think. Soon some more fans joined me. Some of the audience who were not fans were also overwhelmed by the whole scene and couldn’t stop their praises when Michael did his trademark moves. The only thing that I missed in the movie was the moonwalk. The movie grips you hard. It seems short in the end making you want for more.

There is one scene that seemed funny to me. While performing a song Michael tells a musician, “Watch me when I do that (cue)”. I wonder if he was joking or the musician was really not watching him. How could anyone present at that venue not watch Michael rehearse even though they might have done that more than ten times before. I miss the aura of Michael when alive that would have captivated the audience far more than what the movie does. Thankfully the movie does not in any way appear to generate hype like earlier of MJ promotions or DVDs did. It appears too realistic to fans as well as non-fans and that’s why it generates more respect for the KING OF POP.

There is a group formed by some of the fans amongst us – THIS IS NOT IT. I understand the sentiments and the reason behind formation of the group. They say that the footage where Michael apparently appears very sick and weak has not been shown in the movie. According to the group, this movie is another money making machine for anyone who is profiting from it. What I would suggest as a fan is for time being forget about that and see what THIS IS IT shows to millions of people around the world regardless they are fans or not. The movie showcases Michael in a positive way and full glory. The movie is better than any Michael Jackson DVD released before, I am sure this one will be released on DVD late this year.

None of us can bring the magic of Michael back, none of us can see him perform live again, but this movie gives us a chance to be with him on the stage and watch him perform as close as we can get. No one who understands craftsmanship and art should miss THIS IS IT.

On the last note I would say that the movie made me believe a very sad doubt I had in my mind. I now believe that Michael was murdered, not just by his doctor but was murdered by someone with a motive. The doctor was just an instrument. I don’t know whether this mystery will ever be solved, but I wish it does. I wish that criminal charges are filed against the doctor by the family. It is very strange to see people forgive a murderer, no criminal charges brought up and so much profit made around to so many people just because 1 great person died.

P.S : I request fans not to pressurize any non-fan unless that person is interested to see Michael. The movie is enjoyable if you know most of the songs featured in it.

Image Used with permission from www.CLUBMJ.com (THE OFFICIAL INDIAN MICHAEL JACKSON FANCLUB Authorized by SONY BMG INDIA & MJJ Management)

Beggars are Choosers

© Photographer: Thefinalmiracle | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Well I felt that just this one latest situation I saw, triggered this blog,

I was just looking around at some books while walking on the road. There were as usual peddlers and beggars around. I ignored them and was quite engaged with the books when suddenly a young couple caught my attention. They reminded me of some of my relatives and friends who have been aggressively active in social service. The term ‘aggressively active’ doesn’t suggest more social activity than a normal social worker would do, but aggressive in their expression of sadness when they see a helpless situation. If they see a handicapped person doing something that everyday person would do, they would give so pathetic or highly emotional that even the handicap person would suddenly realize his handicap and loose all the confidence he had in doing the normal procedure.

Anyway, this couple was watching the poor begging mother holding a kid with ever-running nose. The girl with all her oohs and sobby expression was trying to convince her boyfriend to give the beggars something. When the boy gave a rupee coin the begging lady suddenly snapped back by saying ‘Bas ek rupaya?? Bhikhari samjha hai kya? Mein bacche ke khane ke liye maang rahi hoon’ (Just a rupee? You think I am a beggar? I am asking money to feed my baby’. Though this incident shocked the couple, it didn’t shock me, but it surely triggered many of past experiences directly with beggars or people who are not beggars materially but keep begging.

For the first beggars, we have always read many stories in newspapers of how the begging industry is really huge. They earn quite a good amount and are organized quite well, mostly by the mafia / underworld. When maintained by the underworld, the cut or the commission of these beggars is not very high. When it’s a large family of beggars doing their own job, the profits can be something you can’t imagine. I came to know about these people closely once when I was distributing clothes after a charity concert and another time when photographing them.

After the charity concert, I went to give clothes to these families and they were very happy. When I passed the road some days later and saw them in torn clothes again!! I went up to a man and asked, “What happened to the clothes? Did you sell them for something else?” He smiled and said “No Sir, we have it right in here but we wear them on a cold night. If I wear them during business time no one will give us any money.” Wow! A lesson learnt. It was a simple logic that I had failed to understand. They don’t have any other work to do, and if their profession is begging how can they afford to wear good clothes and beg?? That isn’t the begging uniform, there has to be a dress code of torn and dirty clothes, sick children with sad faces and stuffy noses and mind you… they all act well! While photographing them and especially talking to them about model-release n’ things, they were more open about how they operate and what kind of help they look for. I didn’t find their lie in the public eye wrong or ghastly. I think many businesses do that. Big brands that manufacturing their material in India, selling it in outside countries and we buying them as better quality clothes from any of the countries. Its business as usual… nothing personal! 

And now coming to the people who are not beggars in the real sense (or let me put it as professional sense), but are always seen begging! I guess we come across these kind of beggars everyday and in every form I might say. These beggars usually are doing their begging with endless expectations and an incrementing demands in quality. The weapons they use are ‘their relation with you’, ‘their earlier help to you’, ‘their small investments for you expecting big returns’, but the best of all is ‘public tantrums’. You cannot really specifically target a person in this class. We also fall in this class of people many times till you are not understanding your dependence on anyone or anything around. I am badly dependent on my computer so I am always begging that there is no power cut. There is begging done. Though neither computer nor electricity is a person, not even an animal we do share a bond as if we both were organisms based on the same kind of system. So what if computers are silicon based and me a carbon based?

When two people are related and both are strong and independent there is not much of expectation or handicap in such a relation. But if any one person in a relation gets dependent on another person for any kind of handicap, that dependency never ends. Its like the person becomes a walking stick and that relation becoming the grip of that stick. As time passes by the relation grows stronger, the handicap person holds the grip tighter but walks faster all the time slowly starting to think that it’s the stick that needs him instead of him needing the stick. Expectations never drop because that is normal human nature. If the stick breaks for some reason, the handicap person sticks it again (considering that he doesn’t have access to another sticks at the time) and expects the same strength. In the other situation, like a virus he starts looking for some another stick that can replace his old one.

We face many such people all the time who use us and maybe throw us like sticks. But what has it to do with the beggar episode? Everyone would sure remember a time when you helped someone for quite much time to get out of a huge problem or just push them up to their goals. When they reach their goal they either forget you or come back with a new problem. They start taking you for granted to solve their problems which is fine enough. You actually upgrade them to a better person with new confidence and strength, but they use the same to put you down. With their new built confidence and abilities they slowly start showing you how they are better than you, and how you fail to support them properly. Eventually a time comes when they start showing themselves better and strong and you as weak in public. There is no way you can avoid them or confront the truth to them because of your relation and true ability. This is not a case like teacher and student, because a student is aware that he she is a student. Eventually you reach a beggar’s point (as I call it), when the handicap person gets arrogant and strong enough to decline your help because he feels that you are incapable of helping a strong person like him.

So eventually BEGGARS ARE CHOOSERS!!!! But I also know that a crab is crab. It never walks straight but will always think that it is walking straight. It is very right for a crab to walk like that, it is not supposed to walk straight like we do, but identifying a crab is important. Identifying the leech or the virus kind of behavior is important. This will always save us from helping wrong people and making a fool of ourselves. There are ignorant people around. Their ignorance becomes arrogance with time, but since they are based on a foundation of ignorance, their achievements and arrogance collapse with time. The control of time is not in our hands but the utilization of time is. We don’t have the control over relations that just end up happening by themselves but we do have a way of controlling how they proceed. It is always good to be smart, intelligent and having our eyes wide open to understand our own capabilities and handicaps. More important than avoiding these kind of beggars around, we should avoid being one of them. Dependency is handicap in material world just as relationship attachments are handicap in spiritual world. Maybe its very difficult to avoid them in normal life, but for sure we can be grateful and non-ignorant not disrespecting the people who gave us those alms that we needed… who laid the foundations we stand upon today.

So eventually you should know by now that it was not just one experience that makes me believe now - Beggars are choosers!

Ignorant Indian PR & Media

Mind you! Though this blog has Michael Jackson reference, its not about Michael Jackson.

Since I was young I was facing a lot of retaliation about being in music career. One basic reason in India – Is it a career? And then there were a lot of explanations being fired whenever there was a chance to take a shot. Each time someone heard the story of some veteran or classic Indian artist, we heard about how they were in a bad financial state and struggling hard to live a decent life. My dad many times kind of highlighted these stories. Though he was extremely right about them, it was not a reason to avoid this career for I knew there were artists in the west who made a decent living for their estate/family even after they died. So what were the Indian artists lacking?

The most important thing was the business of the entertainment industry. Producers or production houses are out here to make money and profit for themselves, so its wrong to say that they are the only exploiters. The exploited are generally people who are ignorant about the music business. Artists who generally perished in a bad state when away from their hay-days were generally artists who were only dedicated to art. Was that wrong or right is a greatly debatable question but in today’s age it won’t be possible to be an artist like that unless you have a rich godfather or family in the form of producers behind you.

Many people are aware of how Michael Jackson earns from the beatles songs, but no one was ever aware about how it happened. A video of Paul McCartney of the Beatles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPAP3-6wae4 ) explains it all. The Beatles were dedicated to the art and ignorant about the music business when this happened. Same happened with our Indian legends. As explained in one of my earlier blogs, Michael Jackson became one of the highest selling artists of all the time not only because he was immensely talented but because he was an equally shrewd businessman. Coming back to India and especially sometime around the year 2000, things changed in our film / entertainment industry.

I would agree that the first person to really use not just the term PR in our industry would be the legendary BigB (Amitabh Bachchan, mentioning for those who are out of India), but then there is someone else who really refined it. It was Shahrukh Khan who actually used PR most efficiently all the way to his glory. Over the years Indian Entertainment Industry grew, grew really well to global standards. It was time for celebration with high budget productions with higher budgeted marketing / PR expenditures. But things started going overboard. Newspapers became more of advertising columns than news itself. News bought by politicians, political parties, industries and our dear celebrities.

Affairs became too boring for people so celebrities had to jump to controversial PR (again pioneered or most efficiently used by MJ). After that before every film launch, there are to be a controversy surrounding the film or its stars. All started to become a routine for people. A layman started understanding that this is all – PROMOTIONS. The people who are most influenced by this PR / Marketing of films are people related to the entertainment, media and advertising industry more than a common man. The poor results of failing PR(s) started showing lately. Promos, opening acts, events for launches, celebrity presence and freebies also became boring. Leading and prestigious newspapers since 3-4 years have now started dedicating two pages everyday for getting pervert readers. One page dedicated to news having huge photos of sportspeople in skimpy dresses and another page for celebrities who could bare their existing / non-existing assets to the max or wear the least. The spaces for these articles and photos are also bought by the PR / Advertising agencies of these celebrities or corporations (for events & product launches). They are well placed after deciding whether to put the article as a news or just a byte.

Media is suddenly jumping to some important news and then ignoring it at the same speed leaving the reader no clue of what is happening. Swine Flu doesn’t become important as a pandemic here, it is important because political parties and governments can hide easily what is not to be known by the common man. It is easy to divert attention any kind of reader to the fear of death away from the corruption that might be deadlier. This is PR for governments and political parties.

But what shocked me today was the ultimate ignorance of Indian media in its business of selling space to celebrities. This was the ultimate proof of how newspapers are not giving news but just fooling you. The global audience was reading yesterday of how Jermaine Jackson’s plan to have a tribute concert in Vienna on the 29th failed because major artists like Akon & Mary Blige are not performing. There will be only B-List (Grade) artists performing in the concert. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ghXtR_-nFJ4974elRs52F6FX6q6gD9AKHAUO1). This morning when the global audience were reading the news that Jermaine Jackson’s Michael Jackson tribute concert has been delayed to 2010, Indian audience were reading about how Jermaine wants to hold tribute concert in India. They also mention that a great Indian singer performing not only in the Indian tribute concert but also in the Vienna concert. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Sonus-ready-for-Jackson-tribute/articleshow/4994378.cms)

I think it should be embarrassing not just for this newspaper but also for the artist who PR agencies spent so much money for the space in the newspaper to get publicity. Maybe it is not the artist to blame, it is his PR agency and the ignorant newspaper that didn’t care to verify the news from the other side. It should be a huge shame for the artist and the newsgroup to see what has happened, but they will shrug it away carelessly as always. Maybe the PR bubble for India is close to burst and then things will settle down to better newsgroups or media where talented artists like these won’t loose their money or respect due to such ignorance. This A-Grade Indian artist will not realize the long-term harm of what happens when one global news agency reports that B-Grade artists are performing in a certain concert and the other reports that he is performing in the same concert.

Great artists generally perish when they start collecting people around them who only say "YES" to their views. I wish that we as Indian artists bring change and show that our cultures, our religions and our traditions have a power to give less importance to ourselves and more to the conscience that surrounds us. Maybe its time to realize that artist is not just about entertainment but a god's channel to pass some message. Let not fame and wealth get us carried away from the art we are passionate for. People who will say YES to everything you say will come and go, but what will remain is the art and not the PR.

Michael Jackson & The Leeches

Why a blog on Michael again??? I can’t help it. Its nothing in appreciation or criticism of the King of Pop. This blog is about the opportunist, cunning and the selfish human mind in seek of profits from the worst possible happenings – DEATH. This is not necessarily a blog meant for people interested in Michael Jackson. This blog is for everyone who like me believe that humans are like viruses, they identify a potential ripe territory, harvest their interests there, exploit and suck the resources, leave their target dead and eventually move to the next one.

Some experts said “Michael Jackson will be richer in his death than when he was alive”. Just a few days after his death it seems to be a true calculation. But the analysis missed something far more important, far more treacherous. Michael Jackson’s death seems to be making other people richer too. As a fan, I got many offers, I saw many projects happening around and I saw the worst and the best people around Michael making profits in their best interests… all even after Michael has died.

We all are aware about the so-called wrong advisors, friends, some family members whom he hated and a lot more people Michael avoided all the time. His lonely life was a result of such people who were nothing but leeches that sucked on his fame, money and power in the entertainment industry. There were singers that came up naming him as inspiration and there were many who claimed to be his friends and confides. Many times Michael himself made vague statements about these so-called friends of how they were a torment for him.

When Michael was alive his advisors mostly were people who brought him deals and had a huge cut for themselves for securing the deal. There were many friends and family members who conveniently showed up for support during his ordeals and some conveniently who went into disappearance. Some even went ahead supporting allegations pounding Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson’s own will itself shows whom he cared for the most. His mother, his children and his love for so many helpless children around the world which is proved by the 20% of his estate earnings going to multiple charities worldwide.

There are numerous international celebrities, especially singers cashing on this opportunity right now. Artists who had never even mentioned Michael Jackson when he was alive (let forget support for him during his trial) have come up with tribute events. Some have gone to the stretch of performing Michael Jackson numbers in their own concerts and also releasing tribute songs!! A recent report in the international press also mentioned about Michael Jackson impersonators and artists cashing on the opportunity of Michael’s death quoting “Its hayday for Michael Jackson impersonators”. And this question eventually came to me from the press. I promptly told them what I was doing. I was not charging any money for my performances for tribute events but I was charging for any private parties or other commercial concerts, so were the other impersonators I know. Yes there has been an increasing demand for Michael Jackson performances.

There was another shocking group that I found on the internet. It send me many mails and invitations, recommending me to forward about the same to the fans registered on CLUBMJ. The mail stated that this group of fans had started a donation drive for Michael’s children. They were collecting money from Michael Jackson fans to help Michael’s children’s future since Michael had left them in a heavy debt. There were more groups urging fans to buy more n’ more Michael Jackson albums to secure the future of Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket.

I am a fan, not a fanatic. I don’t know if this status of mine really appreciable by these fans starting such projects. I don’t understand why they forget a simple thing about Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson earned a lot on the albums we bought, he spent, invested and made good business from that money. He has left maybe a debt but also a huge estate behind for his children. He donated millions of dollars in charity for homeless children and sick children worldwide. These children have been more unfortunate than Michael’s own right now. What Michael’s children are facing right now is the unfortunate death of their father at such a young age, but they are not broke without home, without love. They have thousands of loving fans, Michael’s family and a lot of people around. Why are these fans having charity drives for Michael’s children instead of collecting donations for the charities Michael supported or for Michael’s “HEAL THE WORLD FOUNDATION”?

When I made the Michael Jackson anthem I took contributions from a lot of fans worldwide right from the basics of whether the song should be slow, fast and what should it emote. The song’s success of 1 million downloads was not my credit, it was due to the fans who advised and contributed. The song was free. But now there are celebrities… mainly singers as I mentioned above. These so called supporters have never been around Michael, his thoughts or his fans. They are suddenly performing Michael Jackson numbers in their concert’s adding some spice to their usually routine performances. They have gone ahead making tribute songs which can be bought from I-tunes not only looting Michael Jackson fans but their own fans in the name of one legacy called – Michael Jackson.

The fan-club manager of one of the so called celebrity supporters had lately approached me. She claimed that her idol (the singer) was planning and making a tribute song for Michael Jackson and would love MJ Fan Club’s involvement in the project. I told her that we ourselves were working on a tribute song in sequel to our Michael Jackson anthem, but we would love to support their project as well. When we started working together it started with contribution of lyrics from the fans of the other celebrity who was making this tribute song. I reviewed the first one and found out the lyrics rather childish, poetic and totally absurd not befitting the KING OF POP. I was immediately banned from the project and the whole scenario. No one knows whether the celebrity himself knows of what happened and how, but then as other Michael Jackson fans had pointed out to me our doubts came true. This celebrity was out on a concert tour performing Michael’s songs, soon to release the tribute song and then inviting people close to Michael to his concerts in the name of the tributes. No one has seen this celebrity talk anything much about Michael Jackson in his whole long career and suddenly he seems to be banking on this unfortunate opportunity.

Going ahead I received messages from this celebrity’s fans threatening to sabotage the tribute song of CLUBMJ. This was a total laughable thing. How can they sabotage our song for Michael Jackson??? Funny! Taking another fact into consideration, this celebrity’s fans are not even a minute percentage of total Michael Jackson fans worldwide. There were another debacles with our MJ Tribute song. This time I planned to make this song sound more professional and not a hasty project like the MJ Anthem. I had talked to some of my friends who are well settled in the Indian music industry to help me arrange it. Since the song goes out to fans for free, I don’t have any budget and have to look for reliable people who can volunteer for such work. Such friends of mine backed of saying that due to my on going tussle about the tribute song with the celebrity, it might hamper their status in the industry and also their relations with this celebrity. But the song is happening and will hit out like MJ ANTHEM did. It will break records even that MJ ANTHEM created because fans all over the world are contributing.

I sincerely advise all Michael Jackson fans worldwide to understand what they are doing. Don’t do anything blindly in the name of support. There are thousands of people trying to make money in the name of Michael Jackson using Michael’s death as a tool to get you do things that they want to do. There are fans out there who are holding vigils, there are fans out there who are asking you to donate a dot for a MJ portrait, there are fans like me asking you to drop a line or two for MJ tribute song lyrics, there are fans out there who are holding tribute concerts and need financial help for the event, there are fans out there who are buying MJ albums just to keep them high on the charts, there are fans out there who are going to schools and teaching songs like ‘Heal the World’, there are fans who are creating awareness about MJ’s humanitarian image. Go out and support them. We don’t need fraudsters and outsiders who are exploiting us and Michael’s legacy to their own benefit. If you are attending a MJ tribute event, make sure that it is organized by fans and not by anyone else.

With Michael’s new movie with the footage of THIS IS IT rehearsals coming out there will be more speculation and promotions to come up. This is a time when we all will live the experience that never happened… THIS IS IT concerts. Not just fans but the world will know of what a spectacular show Michael was planning with never seen 3D effects, live animals, pyrotechnics never seen on the stage. This was going to be the biggest concert that ever happened in the entertainment industry, now this concert will happen on the movie screens as BEHIND THE SCENES footage. I think fans should eagerly wait for this movie and the unreleased songs which will be released in future. There is a lot of stuff Michael has left behind apart from his DEBT which is the only thing media seems to be focused on. Stay positive and keep the faith! Stay away from leeches and their projects who are exploiting Michael’s death! Michael was diseased by these people when he lived, he was killed by them now its time that we exterminate these leeches.

A Brush with Swine Flu

Everyone must have noticed that after 2nd August (mom’s 50th b’day) I had disappeared for about 10 days from chats, forums, blogs, everywhere! That was very unusual on my part since no matter how ill I am, I am on the web. But then I was very ill. After my mom’s birthday I went out with my friends for a work / leisure trip and when I returned on the 5th, I was down with fever @ 103 for around 4 days. The obvious suspect was swine flu, but none of my students, friends or anyone I knew had any. But still, it was swine flu that was eating everyone’s head whenever someone had sore throat, fever, bodyache… and the list goes on.

A confusion that created a hazard in my head for some days that finally I decided to relieve it with a stress reliever so I could atleast sleep and not just lay unconscious in my fever. That made me realize that I have become weak these days. With no aspirations & inspirations to play with my heart, my heart has become inactive…. Inactive enough to make my brain rot or rust in its material world. Believe me, but the 2 weeks were disgusting though they went in a sub-conscious state of mind of which I remember hardly few hours. My immediate defense was shutting down classes for the time-being.

Doctors!! The equally confused people as much as patients are. In times of panic they make you panic for more reasons. First they will test you, tell that since you don’t have this and that you don’t seem to have swine flu, but still take these medicines and if you don’t feel better in 3 days go to a swine flu test center. What the heck!?!?!? This is what happened to me. It seemed like 3 days were gonna test me for more than swine flu. Reading in the papers about the havoc at the centers scared me more. But still due to suggestions of some well-wishers, me and wifey decided to get myself tested at one of they new centers they opened. Finding the hospital wasn’t easy since the building was an old government building near a prestigious software company.

I asked my wife to wait in the car and went inside. I saw this queue for making CASE PAPERS. I looked around to find some people I could find clean, in around 100 I found 8-10 people who seemed hygienic. The rest seemed to be there from slums in a group what we can call a well-bred family. With mucus running down from noses, sneezing and coughing around, children were having a time of their life. Some sitting with sad faces and some with enlightened faces as if they were in some historic scene. Proud parents trying to clean their children, mask them and then keeping their own mouths open while coughing or shouting at them. I couldn’t stay there more. I came back to the car and told my wife that I would get infected with swine flu even if I don’t have any. There is dirt in there and there is no control and discipline over it.

I waited for 2 days. The fever subsided. I had no cough since I was undergoing treatment for eoscinophilia since a week before. So that worried me more. Was it that I was having symptoms which were being suppressed by the earlier medication which was to be continuous for 21 days. My throat problem has been persistent since march, but doctors won’t take a chance, he still wanted me to go to the center after my 3 days trial period. This time I chose a new place close to the house. Though like I would drop in, check and then go home. Since the centers had increased I had high hopes. When I reached there I saw long queues. A man with a microphone was telling that this was just a counseling center, but only those who get suspected here will get a letter for further tests at the advanced test center. So whether you had swine flu or not, you had to go through one of these. I decided to go home, have lunch, some nap and return.

When I returned there were still long queues. A pretty girl that I had noticed when I had come in the earlier part of the day had reached just the door of the doc’s cabin after 4 hours. I knew I was gonna have a hard time. I put up a mask and as an additional precaution put a handkerchief in it. With so many children and people around with flu there was no question that I might get infected with swine-flu or worse. Though being in people was making me feel good somewhat. It has been around 9 years maybe that I haven’t been a part of offices or some process that the society is a part of. Not even in festivals. I was in a nostalgic mood somewhat and with people around that seemed genuine. Somewhat since I have explored around, I have always found the lower class, middle-class people more genuine and convincing that any other. Some moments with them revive some kind of humanity within ourselves. This doesn’t happen with the show-off world that we are generally associated with. Formal gestures…. ‘How r u’s… nothing like that. If they talk they talk sense and for their own reasons. Those reasons might be selfish but still… genuine. They don’t talk to create an impression.

A man in front of me was smiling through his handkerchief mask. His eyes were trying to tell something but he wasn’t sure if he should speak to me. Just to open the conversation I said “It seems like we have to be in the line for quite much time.” He smiled back and asked “Aapko swine flu hua hai??? (Translation – Do you have swine flu??). Oops. No… I don’t think so.. I muttered, I said I guess we are here to test! He was happy that someone educated is in the same process that he was. He started blaming about how government was inefficient in tackling the problem and things that made him seem like he was the right person to be the health minister. Till that time I was looking around at the number of people around which was increasing.

The man on the microphone again made an announcement that this was pre-screening center and not test center. Some female folks came to me asking if they were at the right place. I told them not to worry they were. But I was worried about some factors here. The kids were running around rubbing against my clothes and everyone around. Kids that were dirty and flowing with cold and cough.

The place was congested. The worst part was about the elders spitting their cough around… maybe they were going on the side and doing that but when will Indians understand the unhygienic part of spitting around? The worst part is that the notices sent by government don’t mention anything about spitting. They only tell to cover mouth while coughing and sneezing. Seems like we have to make health ministers sit on two-wheelers and make a trip around pune to understand how much saliva they will bathe in when people infront of them spits. Earlier the system seemed faulty but then what the man infront of me told was right. It wasn’t the hospital or the staff here that was inefficient, it was the rules and interferences by the govt that was making it worse.


After sometime in line I was trying hard to ignore all these things around till a lady approached me. She was from a good house and not at all dirty. She asked me how long should the line take. After initial conversation she told me that she had got her son here but it was actually her daughter who was unwell. She asked me if I could make the case papers for her till she gets her daughter. I said I wouldn’t mind if the officials allow more than 1 paper made by a single person. Someone who had done the papers confirmed that we could. After 2 hours I reached close to the desk for just making a case paper. I head a quarrel at the table. The official was asking the person why was he reading names from a paper chit about the people whom he claimed to be his relatives. I was going to do the same. So quickly I got out the paper that lady had given me and tried to remember the name, age and address of the girl. I reached the table and confidently told their names and made papers for all of us.

Now there was a new queue for the doctor. I was thirsty & hungry but carrying a bottle of glucose water. I was still weak from the fever @ 103. I was worried about the line but suddenly felt better when I heard a strong voice in front of me asking a doctor. “What happened to the doctor inside? Went home?” They started a conversation when I realized that this guy was some local goon or politician. Though he was throwing his power around I was happy that he was standing in the line. Then suddenly the official said “Why whats the problem with the other doctor? There’s no line in there???”. Before he confirmed anything I sped off to the place he tried to look at and found myself lucky. Only 4 people in front of me. But the time the politician realized what happened he was way back in the queue behind me. I was worried for the lady who hadn’t still arrived. I called her on her phone and told her to hurry. I was close to the doctor. She didn’t come till I finished with the doctor. The doctor’s test hardly lasted for 20 seconds. She made me open my mouth and said ‘aaaaaaaaa’, the usual routine. Asked for symptoms. Wrote down some medicines and told me to have them. Come back for tests if you don’t improve she said.

Now a queue for medicines. Oh god.. that was one spiral going like a snake for a long long time. Now I saw a new problem. Some people were with bottles in their hands to carry the tonic/syrup these medical officers were giving. I told a guy behind me that I will be back with a bottle. I ran out asking people around. Everyone seemed confused. One man pointed at a bungalow infront of the hospital but since there was no shop there I thought that the person was out of his mind. I went to a fruit stall near by and asked where I could get a bottle. He pointed at a tacky shop selling bangles. After enquiry the owner handed me a bottle for Rs. 5. A bottle containing rose water for fragrance purpose. He said throw this water out and fill it with syrup. That bottle was very dusty, I asked what about the big bottle, he said 10. I said cool, give me that one but get rid of the water here itself. That stupid jerk opened the lid with his mouth. Oops… yuck!!!! Now what. I didn’t say anything. I rushed back to the hospital and wasn’t finding a single tap of water, a sink .. nothing. Think of it, there is a water pumping station next to the hospital.

I saw a policeman sitting on the chair maintaining the chaos. I asked him where I could find a tap of water. He looked at me as if I was an alien. He said “Water tap??? What for??” I explained him my situation but he had no idea. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was the lady who was back with her daughter. She said I have been looking for you. I explained her the problem which made her realize that she needed a bottle too. I asked her to get her daughter checked by the time I will stand in the medicines line and she could take medicines with me. I told her that if she was getting a bottle please get mine washed. She obliged and left. But she came back soon. She told me that the bungalow infront of the hospital was stocked with clean bottles kept by the residents as a social service for people around. I understood how stupid I was to buy that rose water bottle. But thankfully I had a bottle now.

The line wasn’t moving any faster. The lady said just as an idea she will wait in the other queue for medicines which seemed to move faster. Yes it was quite faster. She called me when she reached the window giving out medicines. I rushed out there and with some commotion with other people in the queue, I worried if I would loose my number in both the queues, fortunately the lady who was fighting with me was without a bottle, and we promised her one if she wouldn’t create any havoc. We had one extra bottle of water which we decided to sacrifice. My turn came and I smiled at the person giving medicines. For some reason he found me out of place. He shockingly looked at me and asked “Marathi yeta ka? (Do you understand marathi language?)”. I said ofcourse.. I am marathi. He said ok and gave me a moment to look inside.

I saw containers of pills. A lot of pills. Cans of orange syrups that was being poured into beakers and then bottles. I smiled and handed over my bottle. He promptly returned it saying that I wasn’t prescribed any syrup. He gave me pills for 3 days that he was giving to everyone else. He laid them down on a dirty wooden table and said “3 pills, twice a day after lunch and dinner”. Wrapped them in a paper and handed over. “NEXT” he called out. I decided no matter what I am not gonna have these medicines. I had managed to know the names of the medicines except one from the containers they were stacked in. I didn’t wait to say bye to the lady whom I made the case papers for but while leaving I was stopped by the politician who had unknowingly helped me get things done faster. He said “Can you tell me where to get a bottle for syrup?” I told him that I just handed over my empty bottle to a person standing behind me, but the lady had an extra. He said “Oh, that’s my brother, I was looking for a bottle for him.” I said cool and thanked god for giving me a chance to repay his indirect help to me. I rushed out of the hospital as soon as I could. I wanted to have a bath and feel clean. I stuffed the medicines into a bag and threw them. One could never know if that was expired stock. Even if it wasn’t, they weren’t clean. I told the docs about my experience and hoped I didn’t have swine flu.

Thankfully no fever for quite many days but the throat irritation persists. Taking treatment from the best ENT in town for the same. By that time my treatment for eoscinophilia will be over. The transit of Saturn has given a lot of health problems since some months now. It will be over soon and I hope to get better. I have concerts to perform and I want to be well by then. My throat is worrying me a lot, but docs say nothing is serious but not being diagnosed since long. Lets see.

Now people don’t need to worry if they have swine flu for more than one reasons. Its curable, and it can be diagnosed at private and cleaner hospitals. Don’t make a mistake of going to these government centers handled by efficient staff and doctors but governed by people who are flooding the media with swine-flu to hide some other scams. Lets hope that everyone gets vaccinated before getting infected in the round-2 of swine flu.

An Entertainment Era called "Michael Jackson"

25th June 2009 (26th June morning in India). I woke up due to a call at 3.30 AM in the morning. A call from my dear friend in London. She was crying. All she said was come online. By the time I went online, one more call followed from LA, from a source close to MJ who said "Mike is dead!". I couldn't believe my ears. The next thing I did was googling news for Michael Jackson and saw the news "Michael Jackson feared dead". Still I didn't believe. For me Michael Jackson is far more than King of Pop, far more than the God of Show Business he was something more important. He was my guru when it comes to music business, music presentation and arranging music. Music business leads to PR. Which artist do we know to have handled PR as effeciently as Michael Jackson??? He is the ruler when it comes to using negative publicity to one's benefit. And this is the same reason my student mind (his PR student) made me think for a moment that this is some gag to promote the concerts. In my mind I hoped that this was some PR stunt though I knew it would be wrong, I didn't want to loose him. But I was wrong. My worst vision had come true. It was in 2001 when Invincible was launched I had told my friend about this. He didn't believe me then. He called me saying "your words are ringing in my ears loudly now".

When the investigation started and things started surfacing, news started getting as controversial as Michael's life. Lisa Marie talking about Michael knowing about his sudden death at this age was not surprising for me. When the medication overdose was doing the runs with things like demerol it was obvious that Michael had given indications about this in his 1995 HIStory album called MORPHINE. The bridge goes -

Relax .... This won't hurt you
Before I put it in .... Close your eyes and count to ten
Don't cry ... I won't convert you
There's no need to dismay ... Close your eyes and drift away

Demerol Demerol... Oh God he's taking demerol
Demerol Demerol... Oh God he's taking demerol

He's tried... Hard to convince her
To be over what he had... Today he wants it twice as bad
Don't cry... I won't resent you
Yesterday you had his trust... Today he's taking twice as much

Demerol Demerol... Oh God he's taking demerol
Demerol Demerol... Oh my Oh God it's Demerol

It is not very obvious. I think every artist is spiritual and a visionary. Michael had business skills, spiritual skills, many more things. What made him weird was his isolated life from the real world since he was on the stage with thousands of people in audience since he was 10. Imagine yourself living a life like that. Why wouldn't you be weird or strange not understand how to behave in real world. Not to mention that every person he tried to befriend was trying to gain something from him. Through the history he showed in his actions and interviews that he had a very few trustworthy friends and never trusted his family which was always trying to encash on his publicity. His biographers always mentioned about his sadness and his non-stop efforts to run away from his family. The recent news about his will not to be disclosed to his family seems to be the last thing to prove that. He loved them as well. He loved Janet and Jermaine. But still through all that he stayed away from them remaining untouchable. He couldn't be comfortable with selfish people around so he used to surround himself with robotic mannequins in his house. His friends were celebrities and very few of them remained to his side through thick and thin including Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and so many others, the list will go on endlessly.

His humanitarian efforts and his kindness is not as publicized as much as his weird behavior is. He was always caring and very passionate about helping the helpless. There are many reports that have always surfaced where Michael has donated to a individual or to a organisation. The media never had any interest in any of these records until now. The total charity Michael has done would be as equivalent to the debt he is pressured under. He has supported 39 charities and his own foundation along with charity singles like "We are the World". This is a hyped story about Michael oweing $450 million in debts. Its not hyped because of the kind of amount it mentions, it is hyped because it doesn't mention the assets of over $1 billion he owns, including the famous Beatles songs. What does owning a catalog mean. In the layman's terms. Whenever a beatles song like 'yesterday' is played on a radio, television or a concert, the royalty goes into Michael's pockets and not of any beatles members. He is also rumoured to own many catalog albums of Eminem and Beyonce.

There was Elvis, Lennon (Beatles) & then Michael Jackson. I think this would be the last star of that popularity calibre and influential status worldwide. Madonna and Prince are as accepted in the western countries but media would ignore this fact very nicely. They should go to an African or Indian slum areas and ask 10 people whether they know Elvis, Madonna, Beatles, Madonna, Prince or Michael Jackson. The answer obviously has to be Michael Jackson. He is known more than a singer and a normal celebrity (a small word to decribe his popularity). Michael Jackson is known for endless things like dancing, revolutionized music videos, new innovatory pyrotechnics and illusionary effects on stage. Industry analyists say that Michael redefined the terms - Performance and Musical Genius. Its not because he had all the money in the world to put his ideas in practice. Michael Jackson was a disciplined artist from his childhood. His childhood was spent of rigourous practice sessions that sometimes lasted more than 12 hours. He might have been weird in the normal world, but he was the best in his singing, musical arrangements, compositions, dance, stage setup, sound, everything in detail. He was that shy perfectionist that never left behind any effort by himself when it came to presentation of his work.

Michael Jackson's moonwalk was first showcased on the Motown 25th anniversary special with the famous white glove. Very less people know that after the concert ended Michael was frustrated and crying because he couldn't stand on his toes at the end of the moonwalk as long as he had planned too. Being a perfectionist practicing for hours he though he had done a horrible job and was crying crazy. Suddenly he met a kid on his way out who said you were incredible. That made him smile. He said that kids never pretend or lie. He then believed that he had infact given a great performance. The confirmation for this came when he got calls from greatest dancers and celebrities who watched his performance again and again. That was the start of the moonwalker era who was about to make the record never broken till date. Thriller his 2nd album as an adult had shattered all records and till date happens to be the highest selling album selling over 59 million copies. If the total sales of his albums were to be counted they are well over 750 million.

What was his effect on Bollywood? HUGE! See Hritik do those mind boggling steps. EK pal ka jeena famous step is just a modified version of thriller dance with hands pushing in. His famous FILMFARE performance in red jacket was MJ's Billie Jean performance. I am not demeaning Hritik here in anyway. I love him as anyone else does but mentioning him here is important because he is the latest and biggest sensation in the industry and if something influences him forget the others. By now everyone also must have read blogs and comments by Ram Gopal Verma, Amitabh Bachchan and A.R.Rehman. We have a horde of artists like Mithun, Govinda, Ganesh Hegde, Shaimak Davar, Farah Khan and a lot more influenced by MJ And known as big MJ fans. Would anyone care about breakdance if there was no moonwalker who was marketing himself so deeply into the world audience? Michael's marketing was phenomenal. Watch the Nazi kind of march video and the huge statue he flown over the river thames when he was launching HIStory. Black or White happens to be the song premeire watched by the highest number of audience in world history. The production cost of HIStory and Invincible albums are known to be highest in music history.

Which other artist would surpass this. Induction into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, Guinness World Records calls him "Successful Entertainer of all Time", 13 Grammy Awards, 13 Number 1 singles, 750 million sales worldwide and not to mention his concert which was bound to happen in july "THIS IS IT" selling more than 50 concerts in just 8 hours making it "The Highest Selling Concert at a single Venue", "Fastest Selling Concert Ever" & "Concert with highest audience at a single venue". Michael died on the verge of his sure-success comeback. I think that everyone knows a rule by now. The greater the success.. the equivalent price one has to pay in terms of allegations, controversies or similar trouble. No celebrity was spared from this in history. I think God must have been intelligent enough of not letting Michael have more pressure and hurt in life in the form of newly found success through the concerts. I also feel fortunate that he didn't go through a prolonged death process like cancer patients do, but infact died a death with a momentary pain. Maybe this also isn't true. The man was suffering all his life due to various reasons. Sometimes the people he loved and believed him hurt him. The media played their role quite often but that was a result of his negative PR stunts as well. He was often hurt by the pain he saw in the world around and understanding that he was limited in his ways to solve that. Whatever it was it was a person, a phenomena never to happen at this scale again. Michael Jackson has left behind a huge legacy for his fans, the artists he influenced, his friends and family. I think the fans and artists like me who are influenced by him have a bigger responsibility now to continue enriching the legacy he left behind.

Now that he is gone from this mortal world, fans don't need to spend their time fighting the rumours and controversies he was always surrounded with, now they can spend more time talking about his records and helping new generation know what is the kind of music that lasts for ever and what is the kind of music that they hear, something that doesn't have life beyond a few months. How to give back the world as a humanitarian. How to present yourself on the stage giving a complete performance using every conceivable technology and creative skills. What we have lost is the mortal being of Michael which his soul used for converting his visions into a reality. We have lost a great source of those visions, those ideas, something we have never seen someone else come up with. He will rest in peace now away from the world he gave and got from also resting all the negative controversies and rumours that haunted him all his life.

I have left mentioning a lot of things here. It would take a book. Even my own The Michael Jackson Anthem had 1 million downloads not because it was a great song but because it had a name Michael Jackson attached to it.

Nikhil Gangavane
Founder / President
www.clubmj.com - The Official Indian Michael Jackson Fanclub

Birthday Lesson

Its been quite many days since I blogged. Some would be thankful and some angry. Well I am back. Very tired and very bored. The weather seems nice on the terrace. Yes I am on a laptop typing this blog since I have got nothing else to do. Its my birthday, and I can't party due to the health problems I am facing due to the crazy heat, nor can I work as usual since I am stuck in a power failure since 2 hours now. Its 8 PM and I am getting frustrated. Today couldn't work much as had to visit the hospital to see how grandma is doing after her yesterday's surgery. Additionally I had more work to attend today only since I had to check my stock and burn some things for Shammiji who has invited me tomorrow at his residence. This is the only exciting thing that happened today and also the best gift I guess.

Turning 30 today and life seems ridiculously boring. I feel confined in a jail where there are no open gates for expression and celebration. Did marriage do this to me? I cannot blame it alone. I think the age makes a person more serious and mysterious as well. Have been facing people who misunderstand me all the time, so nothing new or exciting about it either. The crisis and the problems in life are so stale and boring! It reminds me of my days of education when I used to work for small software companies and program in visual basic. The main reason I left that world was something like this only. The projects and the problems they created seemed new initially. Later I understood that the same algorithm or logic worked on them all. There was one basic equation that applied to everything. Same is in the life. What I understood new is quite an interesting finding though.

I've been in horrendous stress last 2-3 months. In childhood I was a quiet person often considered as introvert. Later in the college days... fun days... I was considered an extrovert person who doesn't allow others to talk. Later I settled with something in between. What I understood was that the introvert and extrovert terms were just the visions I cast on the world around me or maybe what our religion calls as MAYA, which casting some illusions in their visions. I think the problem was the scope of the number of people I was talking to. It was too wide. I think I opened myself to too many people and maybe most of them were people whom I shouldn't have ever been talking to. Thankfully though open-minded, I never did anything wrong that would make me regret anything. I also didn't capture the fancy of people who thought I was weird or great. I always kept telling them that I am not, since I lost the only war I ever wanted to fight. ummmm.. .love n' war are the same I guess.

Today, I am like a child again. What people would call introvert. I am panicky when silly things happen to me. I am drowned in my work like I used to be drowned in carefreeness in childhood. No I dont hate my work. I love it too much. Dont think I am complaining. What was incredible till now was the desire to make people understand about their misunderstandings about me... correcting them. Was that too big of an ambition??? I don't think so. But making people understand things that are beyond their capacity can be an ambition. Right now my black labrador Shania is snoring beside me, and she is the best example for that. I can never maker her like the smell of a flower of some favorite perfume of mine, she will always like the smell of meat.

I had long back read some story in Aesop's fables about this. I don't remember it clearly though. A bored king kept a competition of entertainment to find the best entertainment. Some crazy comedian made a sound of a pig making the audience think that the pig was hidden under his cloak, but to the astonishment of the audience he showed that it was he who was making the sound. A farmer in the audience was not impressed by this, so he challenged them all that the next day he will give a better performance. No one agreed on this. The next day the farmer performed the same trick but the audience booed him saying he didn't sound like a pig. The clever farmer quickly took a pig outside his cloak and made it grunt. He proved to the audience that a real pig made a different sound than what the comedian was showing them.

The moral - You need to convince people by their senses and not by logic, because not all will be open-minded and most importantly intelligent to understand your logic. A nice lesson, which is now more of an action required in my life. I was stuck to one basic issue to test this funda, what happens if I spray a rose with the scent of meat. My dog will surely gulp down that rose thinking its meat. She will sniff and like the smell too. But is my mission of convincing expecting this kind of a result?? Shania will like the smell or gulp it down just thinking that its some food like bread mixed with meat. She won't be actually like the smell of the rose. My mission is to make her like the rose. Maybe a move beyond my capacity, maybe something only God can do. But taking humans into consideration it seems that it is much easier than changing a stupid person's beliefs. Stupid people misunderstand because they feel they are intelligent to understand everything. Might be if not my logic it can be easier to make them understand things a better way.

The choice arises here of whether we really want to spend so much time and effort on these kind of people. So its better to narrow down your search and create a list of people who really matter to you. In last 30 years I understood that misunderstanding people keep changing their misunderstandings all their life, so maybe even their understanding might not remain permanent. Changing a person's beliefs might not be that essential in such cases. Again this trait of theirs design their personality. I am with flaws as well, but I try to reap from those. If someone tries to correct my flaws which over the years I have cultivated for a positive outcome maybe even I would get bugged or stay adamant on someone else's efforts to erase them.

The wish finally comes down to a person who is open-minded enough to understand one's flaws. It is when that person identifies a flaw in oneself, that he/she will be ready to overcome it or use it the positive way. If a person doesn't identify a flaw as flaw... or a disease as disease, no one in the world can provide a good medication for it, even if it is a medication that works well. Just sometime back I got a call from a friend telling that there are no lights in major parts of Pune, so its not juts my area suffering as I anticipated wrongly. My dad reminded me of my bad reputation with power. 10 minutes before I was born there was a power failure, I was born in the dark... Maybe that is the reason why I love the nights and the moon so much. But the bad part is that the power plays its game on every birthday of mine. Every time there is a power failure. Maybe I use it too much for work, and it had an intuition of this thing when I was born. hehe. Should wind up now. Before you all start getting bored like I am.

Till next blog.... cya... and try to convince people by their senses and not by logic. It works u know :)

Love n' Regards
Nikhil

Bliss in Ignorance... A Fool's Refuge

© Photographer: Thefinalmiracle | Agency: Dreamstime.com

John was a regular visitor to charity institutions. His life felt incomplete without talking to people in need and trying to make them feel better. He did not donate anything in cash or kind. He spent his time with children, elders or general people in distress that he came across in real life on in some institutions. In an orphanage he always used to meet Peter, a boy who was very enthusiastic in craft and art, but otherwise very depressed person. After talking to Peter time and again, John realized that Peter was always ill-treated by his caretakers as well as his limited friends around. Though, the inmates liked Peter's work, they generally avoided him when it came to real involvement as a friend.

A few months later Peter was liked by a couple who was going to adopt him. Peter was very skeptical and uncomfortable with the couple who was going to adopt him. Though the couple seemed to be financially good and understanding, there seemed to be some problem. John was somewhat optimistic that the experience in a new world might help Peter become a happy & strong person after facing new challenges and expansion of life. Sadly within some months Peter returned back to the orphanage. When questioned he told that he was living no different life than in the orphanage and infact the couple was being cruel to him. The couple on the other hand complained about Peter's depressing nature and inability to understand situations in the normal way.

John and Peter's relation was becoming stronger day by day after Peter returned to the orphanage. He related well to John and seemed to understand what John tried to explain him. Peter was 14 and since the orphanage had a limit of having kids only under age of 15, John was getting worried for him. Peter on the other hand was also getting worried about the job he would have had to do after being out of the orphanage and to be in a total alien world with no one to understand him as well as John did. John was a widower (his wife and son had died in a plane crash) but he was still passionate about his own life, lost wife and boy. He had never wished to have a liability like a child since he felt he was a free as a soul (without his soulmate). Suddenly, he started pondering over the idea of adopting Peter, which he didn't want to do only out of pity or sympathy that he was feeling now. If he had to adopt, he wanted to first love the boy like his own and then do that.

Finally after some months of self programming (training), John became convinced that he loved Peter enough that he couldn't let him face the world alone, especially with the challenge he faced about understanding simple things the way they are. He thought Peter had enough of bad luck in his life and it was time he could enjoy life and become more comfortable with it. Since Peter consulted John and followed every advice John gave, John believed that it would be easier for him to make Peter happy after adopting him. But before doing so, John clarified to Peter the priority for his own passions - his work, and his eternal love for his lost wife and son. Peter understood John's state of mind and was very grateful to John for considering to adopt him.

Some months went by, and John started realizing that Peter was changing. He was taking John, his family and friends for granted and used to behave very carelessly and erratically. Many a times Peter would blame John for ignoring him for his work or his quiet moments in the memories his lost wife and son. Apart from being depressed and moody, Peter was making normal life of John go haywire with his tantrums and demand for attention. John in turn tried to explain Peter in many ways, sometimes with the help of his friends, of how there were somethings that John couldn't give up. When not understood, John took the final step of not giving any of time for his peaceful thoughts of his lost wife and son but couldn't limit his work hours due to the pressure to take care of himself and Peter. But this also didn't help.

Some months later, Peter's closest friend from the orphanage visited him after years. John was happy that maybe this meeting would help Peter understand his situation better since Peter's friend himself was also having a serious trouble with the parents who had adopted him. John also took Peter and his friend out for a short picnic, a dinner and was happy to see Peter happy until he sat down with Peter and his friend to discuss about Peter's problem. Shockingly John realized that Peter's friend had played an influential role to increase Peter's negative thoughts about John. Peter's friend himself was always incapable about handling his own situation had brainwashed Peter and his way of thinking. Peter and his friend now blamed that John had adopted Peter so that he could have a helper in the house. The claimed that John is a self-obsessed person who was constantly involved in his own work and thoughts of past life. They made endless nonsensical allegations that shocked John, his family and friends.

John was broken after hearing all this at the risk of all sacrifices he had made. Instead of showing gratitude, Peter and his friend had abused John of selfishness, when John had sacrificed many things to make Peter happy. Things were beyond repair since John gave up all hopes because he didn't feel the need to do anything more for Peter ever again. The kind of treatment he had recieved for the greatest selfless move he had made in life left him devasted. He was sure that he could never love or trust Peter ever again. In all this mess, Peter and his friend were still amassing support for their claims by trying to convince John's friends and relatives about the lies they themselves believed in. This made John realized that Peter was not just suffering from a mental illness causing depression or mistrust about everyone around, but also a high level of stupidity which never allow his creativity or good intentions to flourish.

John finally decided that no matter what anyone believed, enough damage was done in his life. It was time to tell Peter to understand the situation well or to leave his house for good. He very well believed that Peter could never be trusted again after this deed and it was impossible to love him as a son again. John also spend a hard time in having discussions with his friends and relatives about Peter, who anyway never believed in what Peter and his friend had told them. They all had to reach to a decision of what had to be done about Peter. Surely enough a tough struggle lied ahead. After several discussions and analysis about Peter's life in the past and present, a decision was taken. John called and told Peter that if he had to live with John, he had to live under certain rules that John put up otherwise Peter had to leave home and find a house of his own. John also told Peter that he had lost all the love and concern he felt for him, and if Peter continued to stay with him, he would have to struggle a lot to revive them, with no surity about their revival. John had made a big mistake in his life, but Peter had made a bigger mistake. After growing old, instead of analysing the failure of his own relations with most of the people he came accross in life, he tried to judge himself from the fewer relations that succeeded.

The further life of John and Peter are unknown because the above story was a metaphorical representation of what we all face everyday in the role of Peter or John. Maybe sometimes we fail to appreciate those who unknowngly help us selflessly, and since we are not selfless enough we cannot actually believe such a selfless deed. On the other hand, sometimes we do help someone selflessly and end up getting kicked in the butt. Whatever the case we have to walk on, but walk on understanding and correcting the mistake we make earlier. Maybe none of us is as selfless as John or as stupid as Peter, but we must always remember to choose the people we should be kind to. We should also control our kindness depending on the response or understanding from the other person. At the same time we should always be carefully observant of what people around do for us, sometimes when we ask them for help.... and sometimes when they just help us understanding that we need it!

The Greatest Gift of All!

© Photographer: Thefinalmiracle | Agency: Dreamstime.com

A strange feeling pressures me whenever I am supposed to visit someone for a birthday / anniversary party or a similar occasion. Whenever a gifting or taking a gift on a specific occasion is involved I get very uncomfortable. Earlier I thought that recieving a gift pressures me to gift back something of the same value. Surprisingly after my financial conditions improved, I realized that its not that. Recently, since I have started getting more time for myself, I sat down, concentrated with a single objective in my mind of solving this gift issue.

This traces down back to my childhood. I have always been a person who preferred to be left alone. I seldom related to people. Though I am known to have a lot of friends or contacts, I might be with them for general fun or just being there for them, otherwise there are actually very people I consider going to when I am in trouble. Those are the people whom I feel related to. In my whole childhood till 10th standard, though acquainted and always being with many people, I actually had only 2-3 friends. Outside the house I used to be a friend of all, but back home I was specific. Rather I never invited more than those people to my place ever. And I was and am still happy with the same kind of isolation.

Things became more clearer sometime in 8th standard, when definition of friendship got more clearer and intense. There came a friend who still happens to be with me... Amit. Our friendship changed the whole world for both of us forever. It was not untill 8 years of our friendship that we realized that forget even gifting each other on birthdays, we never even have really wished each other. We didn't find that fact astonishing when we realized that. We had been together almost everyday, and since we were known as the most notorious kids in the school, we were living life to the fullest. The enjoyment of life or rather the difference between living and surviving a life dawned on me after carefully analysing this friendship of ours. But gifting was again not an issue even to be considered because whenever anyone of us knew that we wanted something, we used to manage to get it ourselves or help each other getting it. It was like his wish to have something became mine and viceversa. So the passion of having a certain thing used to become a common thing and then we used to strive for that, get that and then be happy for that. Even if I got something because of his help, or directly from him, the concept of gift never came in picture and viceversa.

Recently he got married and he was visiting the city first time since he moved out before marraige. For some reasons after picking him up at the station and while coming home I drove to a mall and gifted them both something, all the time wondering about why was I doing it. For sure there was no pressure that he had gifted me something in my marriage (since he had not) that I was trying to gift him something equally valuable in terms of money or close to heart. The thing that had changed was the pressure on me from wifey who was trying to make me more civilized instead of being the weird isolated tribal lifestyle I am used to. Thankfully this didn't affect Amit or me (After I realised why I gifted).

But gifting somewhat has become to artificial and mechanical in recent times as far as I have seen. In fact many people expect gifts from people whom they can count on, people they love or people who love them. Its become mandatory or sometimes even a style statement to gift someone. This didn't happen with me, but I have seen couples throw tantrums over the gift they did or didn't recieve on a birthday or an anniversary. The whole gifting scenario has become so dependent on an occasion that people hardly realise that there is a compulsive obsession behind the whole gifting scene. Again, here I am not denying any couples existing who do it naturally, but if I am right, they do it regardless the existence of an occassion. I am also not denying the non-couple, or non-friends gifts that are given to stay in the good books of acquaintances to reap the results.

So what was it that made my and Amit's relation different that taught me about gifting the right way or rather scaring me about the whole concept of gifting. It was about time. The time me and Amit spent with each other was always like a celebration every time. We never got bored of each other, but if we got bored of the situation we were in, we used to hunt up something interesting to do or just chill. Staying as a pair we used to roam around meeting people, talking to them again moving on. Maybe because we stayed away for a lot of time not studying and doing things that people call worthless, we were actually learning a lot about life. Those bunking of school and classes and then going for long rides on the bike used to help. Basically because we can talk and relate to the life of any person we meet. And generally in those times we used to end up talking to a chanawala or chai wala. There was no boundry for the class that we had friends in, and we were understanding and learning all aspects of life.

Looking back, now I understand that in many of the people who were either very important in the society or on the other side the least important were hardly aware of their own birthdays or anniversaries. Some people didn't even know about those dates and those who knew didn't remember till some relatives or friends threw up a bash for them. These people had been enjoying life everyday, gifting and recieving gifts like a routine and still with an appreciation that would be expressed on an occasion. They had not got tired of these gifts but infact were equally fascinated when someone gifted them something... equally enthusaistic when they wanted to gift someone. These people had been busy and enjoying more important aspect of life, using the time to the fullest, making the best out of whatever resources they had.

Coming back, after a lot of time being wasted in all these factors and when the time came that me and Amit had to think not just about living but about earning a living, things changed but it was quite an alien like situation. We did good in our respective fields but still haven't really been able to accept this culture around. Soon we got adapted to it but it has always been like a formality, and artificial move.

In todays world everyone is busy. We all have our targets whether we are doing business or doing a job. Basically we are employed by time for whatever the reasons. Its the most precious thing we have, and since we don't know how long we will live... we don't know how much time do we have. If there are problems today in the world of relations, they have mostly been due to the lack of time we spend for that relation. Though spending of time should also not become a routine, spending that time for a relation is important. A compensation is required somewhere, maybe with a short vacation. Today, I feel the biggest gift I can recieve from someone is having their time to discuss my pain or happiness when I want to share it. Similarly, I feel, it is the most important gift I can give someone. Being there when they really need me.

We surely can't get up everyday like in teen days and decide that at 7 o' clock, we all friends meet at a certain joint. It will become a routine.... and any routine is boring, it brings a boredom factor whatever we can do more interestingly. Since we all have our priorities if not always ambitions and goals, meeting at the right time with ample time would be the greatest gift of all! The gift of time helps you understand yourself, life, your loved ones and most importantly the importance of time. Obviously too much of anything is bad, so one has to be careful that even time is gifted and the right time and in right amount. :)


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