The Day The Music Died

Imagine you are happily married. Nothing about your life is extraordinary, but life is still good. Then one day, you visit a place you used to visit often as a teenager. A place where you have had good times. You eat at the same place you used to eat 10 years ago. You drink the same coffee. You remember the girl you were head over heels in college. All you wished back then was to marry her. You live in that 10 years ago moment, for a moment, sharing a laugh with your friends. But before you know a sudden sadness engulfs your heart. A sadness that this is no longer a part of your life. A sadness that stems from letting go. A sadness that comes from remembering the good times, and realizing how you will never be so innocent, pristine and happy again. How it will never be the same, however hard you try.

I have felt like a jilted lover since Sachin announced his retirement from ODI's last year. I have been trying to avoid any discussion, thought, rationalization or argument about him. I wanted my moment with Sachin alone. I did not know how to come to peace with the inevitable fact about his retirement, that he will no longer be seen on the green fields, wielding his wooden wand. These last few days have been a rush to accept that fact. These last few days, on the eve of his last test match have been an emotional upheaval. Routine life seems too trivial. As Sachin raises his bat one last time, I cannot ignore the sadness creeping in as he walks back to the stand. I can feel the silence of the crowds within me. They are chanting his name, but that's because they don't know what to do. The silence is discomforting, so they make noise. Every video snippet they have been showing about him, every stroke he played in his last test match, brings back a flash of memories from my own childhood. And then it occurred to me - that this was as much as my journey, in fact may be more so, than it was Tendulkar's.

"As soon as he comes out, the thunder starts

from fifty thousand throats the sun made dry. 

You almost hear the fifty thousand hearts, 

In ragged unison, beat for one boy. "

These lines are still fresh in my mind. They echo each time he walks into the field. I was in 9th or 10th grade when I first came across this great poem "From the Cheap Seats" by Dom Moraes. I chose it for my class' "poem recital" assignment. It was akin to making a statement for me, for someone who had always played it safe with the academic world until then. Just couple of years ago, I had chosen the ever so safe John Keats. But reciting a poem about Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was not in consideration. You couldn't just take a poem off a local magazine, could you?. It has to be a classic, a famous one. I don't why I chose this, but I did. I still remember from when I was in front of the class-that it didn't mater to me what others thought. I was singing praises for my hero, and for all I know,  it was as good as a classic.

But the Sachin fascination had started long ago. To tell the truth, I don't know how or when it started. To me, it feels like I was just born with it. I remember, like every other teenager my generation having Sachin posters in my room. The good looking posters at Archies were expensive, reserved as birthday gifts, but most of us made do with the cheaper Sarasbaug variety. As a kid, I couldn't get enough of him. That hasn't changed yet. I saved every news article, every photo, every magazine I found. I never realized when this habit become an obsession. There was a phase where my only topic of conversation with the outside world was Sachin. If they didn't want to speak about him, I didn't speak at all. Even when I went to someone else's house, I went through their newspaper "raddi" to find Sachin related stuff because they subscribed to a different newspaper. Eventually my relatives just started saving them for me.

"Ten years ago they mispronounced his name
At Lord’s, where, with a catch, a myth began.

Tall, cold, and arrogant, the captains came
to break this boy, and found he was a man."

I remember when my elder brother got married, my only criterion to make an opinion about his wife was whether she was a Tendulkar fan or not. That's all that mattered to me. She went into my golden list of people when she told me she also has a small collection of Sachin articles, saved from her childhood, which she would happily give to me for safekeeping.

Its been more than 6 years that I have been away from my home. Before I left for the US, I put all my stuff in a closet, including my Sachin collection. When I think back, out of 4 big shelves that I had for myself, 2 represented my life of 23 years. And 2 were occupied by Sachin. This closetful of memories is one of my only treasures remaining. And the treasure keeps building up. Even now, whenever Tendulkar scores a century, when he hit 200, when he announced retirement, every important news about him, I call up my sister back home and tell her to go crazy with magazine and newspaper shopping, take all those magazines and put them in my closet. Each time I visit home, I need one more shelf.

"Thickset and stocky, he takes guard today.

Designer stubble coarsens his young cheeks.
What fetches thousands here to see him play?

You feel the watchers stir in the cheap seats"

I thought I am going to meet my hero some day. And I thought my closet-full of memories will take me towards him. My plan as a teenager was to make a giant scrap book with all my collection, and present it to Sachin. I thought he would like it. I have forever imagined that photo of me presenting it to him, and he carving his autograph on it. And with that heightened enthusiasm, I collected even more. 

Life happened. I came to the US. Things became too commonplace in my life. But Sachin kept on beckoning us. The advent of internet made it difficult to collect. Honestly, there was a certain charm in trying to find that one good article in a used book store. You felt connected. With the internet, there was just too much written about him. I almost gave up trying to store every online article I came across. That's when in a fit of outrage at myself, I made a pact with my close friend Maanas, to start "Project Sachin". The idea was, we would weed through the tons of online material, and select the very best. Review and filter even further. The idea was to "recruit" only the very best variety of Sachin fans to do this. Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, all my best friends are ardent Tendulkar connoisseurs. We even made plans to rope in our software developer friend Varun to make an iPhone app about Sachin. Free for all. Just the very best, no nonsense collection of articles, photos and videos about Sachin. And we were still going to present that scrapbook to Sachin.

"Suddenly as the sun, he finds his power.

So, when the ringmaster assumes his place, 

flashes and whipcracks fill the acrid air, 

though he shows no emotion in his face."

There is still a folder named "Project Sachin" in my Dropbox-shared with Maanas. That project remained a distant dream. Unlike Sachin, we gave in to life, and pursued our trivial routines. When I saw "Farewell Tendulkar" section on the Cricinfo website, my heart burnt. That comes close to what we were trying to achieve. That could have been us. Only if we had tried a bit harder. 

But may be it is alright. Just like a 100 in his last game, something incomplete feels more connected. Something more remembered. We will always want to finish that project. That will keep Sachin alive in our hearts.

"The great show’s on the road, the circus tent 

made of leached sky. The tricolour hangs slack.

Not many people know what it once meant.

The marvellous boy refuses to turn back."

Sachin has gone through his own set of struggles. Every hero needs it, to reinvent himself. He needs to grapple with the enormous burden on his shoulders. He needs to grapple with the power he has. Its interesting, Sachin, that you think that we stayed with you for 24 years. It was actually you who held on. Through our ups and downs. Graduations and weddings. You never gave up on us.

The media hasn't been very kind with him in the last few years. Yes, they praise him quickly, but they write him off fast too. I felt disappointed at the cries asking for his retirement. Yesterday, everyone wanted just one more stroke, one more word, one more minute from him. But the same people had called for his head. I know there were "logical" and "numerical" arguments to support his retirement earlier, but I think there was a fair poetic logic in allowing him to struggle at the end phase of his career. Sachin and cricket were in love with each other. They are one and the same. For someone who has given every breath to cricket, the only possible way was to fight staying with cricket. Quitting while on the top would have been a logical decision. For Sachin, cricket came from his heart. As with many things in life, struggle often implies love. I can only imagine, how heartbroken he must have felt, when he heard that they don't want him anymore. His struggle till the very end, shows his love for the game and his commitment.

But it doesn't matter now. As of tomorrow, the world is already different.

"The watchers in cheap seats applaud it all 

with puny wooden drums, instead of words.

Fireworks explode round fences as the ball 

soars up in its huge arc to threaten birds."

His fans have matured with him. We used to fight for him and argue for him. We were hurt when anyone criticized him. We took it personally when he was spoken in a bad light. I still remember a small incident from almost a decade ago. A few of us had gone on a day trip to Singhagad. We were having food at the small hut, a quick fix hotel atop Singhagad. That hotel had a Sachin Pepsi poster on one of its outside walls. It was windy that day. A certain strong gust of wind took that poster down when we heard the owner of that hotel shout out to his waiter boy "Aeee arey bagh toh Sachya padla...". He meant to say Sachin's poster fell down, but it literally translates to "Sachin fell". I still remember throwing bewildered glances at Maanas. We both shared the same thought-how dare the hotel owner say such a thing !

But we have come a long way ourselves. We have learnt that our love for Sachin is beyond numbers, beyond statistics. Just like Sachin, we silently laugh and walk away when we hear critics. Sometimes calmness is an outcome of having enough faith. Noise is needed when we are trying to convince others, but more importantly convince ourselves of what we are shouting about.

They call him "God". Rightly so. And I understand and agree wholeheartedly with the emotion behind it, but I personally refrain from using that term. Not because I don't want to associate him with God, but because it takes away the credit from Sachin. It takes away his genius. The surprising part is; that he is, indeed a human. A mortal. And even then, he is everything else.

"Now strings are pulled, the tricolour unfurled.

But he’s empowered, not reined by any rope.

Tatters of colour, shreds of sound, are whirled 

around the cheap seats, in a rage of hope,

while with his bat he reinvents their world."

Looking back at Sachin's life and career, it makes us feel good about ourselves. Through more than just cricket, he inspires us to be better. To be simple. Watching Sachin finally show emotions on the field was heartbreaking. My heart went out for that one person. Again.

Sir Tendulkar-you were an honest happiness. You were an addiction. An inspiration. A friend. A constant companion. You were always in our prayers. One of the few that were answered. You define our generation. You identify us.

Watching you has been a poetry in motion. I don't know if you are a cricketer first or a musician. A sportsman or a composer. For that willow is more than just a bat. It was your baton. Thank you for being there for us. Thank you for all the joy. Thank you for the music.

It was an absolute honor.

Letting you go is difficult. Very damn difficult.

Nachiket Mehta
16th Nov, 2013

Some moments are etched in our memory...they play like an endless loop.
 It is surprising how we remember everything about them-the silent living room,
the quick prayers, the noise of leather on wood, and then the chaotic jubilation. 

THANK YOU SACHIN

(Sums up the emotions of a billion people)

Vanishing Stars

I was in the gym when I got the text message from my friend Varun. "Steve Jobs no more" it said. To be honest, his demise wasn't something unexpected. He had been frail for a long time, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. But its unimaginable impact on self was. I did not expect, that with millions others like me, the loss would feel personal. But for some reason it did. I tried to continue cycling , but the TV screen in front of me played news of SJ's demise again and again, and I could not any longer delay the sinking feeling in an attempt to burn some more calories. SJ definitely commanded at least two minutes of cycling silence from me. I just went home. I had a sense of some injustice taking place, some error happening on the Creator's part. I was not really angry, but rather disappointed. There was almost a selfish streak to my disappointment, because along with sadness, I had a feeling of  "Damn..now who is going to come up with those great designs ..". And I was further ashamed of bearing that selfishness.

Moments like these, makes us realise how much someone so remote has touched our lives, and how much we actually owe to that someone. Let me tell you "my" Apple story. I was never a Apple guy. I wasn't one of those guys who went to a coffee shop because I had a cool looking Mac. I was a Windows person, and am still a big advocate of Windows in our day to day lives.

But then iPhone happened. And it changed the way how I marveled at technology and simplicity.

It changed the way I thought of Apple. It introduced me to a phenomenon known as Steve Jobs. Although I knew who SJ was before iPhone and his various other accomplishments, I did not bother to be impressed. I regarded him as just one more silicon valley knight. But since I owned an iPhone - SJ, iPhone, iAnything and Apple have become synonymous with each other for me. I cannot isolate talking about SJ from talking about Apple or iAnything.

Apple changed the way how I judge an invention, any progress, any technology. Apple forced me to search for simplicity in things.

Why SJ was great was because he brought intuition to complex products. My amazement at SJ comes from my amazement with iPhone.To keep something geeky is not too difficult #Android. To make something human takes inhuman efforts. Right from the moment an iPhone touches your hands, it talks to you in its own unique body language. You don't really need to understand it to start using it. Its simple. It seems to read your mind like an old time lover. It seduces you by its touch. It leads you to discover her and amazes you more and more as you explore her. The more you know her, the more you are captivated, enchanted and you know, that you are not going back to anyone else again. She has you in her spell.

I have often had "friendly" arguments with my buddies, bordering on war, about an iPhone vs an Android. Its almost like a fight we see these days because of a religion. But then, is what SJ created any different ? Isn't he like a messiah?. Think about it - Apple binds people to a discipline, a thought process. People say that Apple only allows you to operate in its own rules. It controls how you use it. Unlike other devices, which I think don't have any form or function integrity, it gives us freedom, by binding us. It shares its love with everyone,without bias. It has caused wars, as I mentioned above. But its the interpreters, the practitioners who do that. It in itself does not intend it. Not to mention people are against it without understanding the genius behind it. The thought behind it. The philosophy behind it. They tend to label it too fast. Some fear it might destroy their originality if they accept it in their life. Some feel threatened to an extent that they are ready to accept anything else. Now, isn't that already becoming a  religion? May be, it does boil down to faith in some way.

Android is because iPhone is. Apple created the competition, and they beat it. SJ was a proof that an idea can be powerful. How many industries did it create? Plenty. Companies exists because iPhone exists.One might say Apple copied other things. iPhone was not original. Fair enough. May be it is right. The question is not really about being original. The question is about what one did with what one knew. Touch screens were not new. But did anyone else master the "touch" ?. I am not against Android at all. I think it is itself a well deserved technology feat. What I don't like is someone faking their un-marvel at iPhone. I think one of the signs that a product has really touched peoples' lives is if it becomes a verb, or a descriptor for a group, or an adjective. Like Google. Google this, google that. Or Xerox. Can you xerox these documents? Or Kindle. Or  iPod. Or iPad.

You either hate Apple or you are in love with it. Either way, you are touched by it. But there are no two ways about SJ. There is no other emotion but immense respect for him. I am appalled at people who are trying to prove how iPhone is a piece of shit or how they don't approve of Apple. Frankly its an insult to SJ. If its a friendly argument about why someone loves their Android more than iPhone, its fine. One is free to choose his or her phone. But really, does one need to go the lengths of disgracing the genius behind iPhone just to feel a tad better about their Android ? I think by doing this, iPhone has already won, SJ has already been proved right, again. Apple doesn't even need to try. How many non Apple commercials do we see which try to compare their product with Apple and poke Apple to market themselves.? And how many do we see the other way around.?

If nothing else is available, people start blaming SJ's taskmaster character. I don't care about how he was in his personal life. I really want to know to whom does it matter? All he did was never let his focus off the customer. He sincerely loved his customers.If you probe any person deep enough, you are bound to find inconsistencies. Frankly, thats human. It's not that he committed a sin. He just had unfaltering ideas of perfection. I have not read his biography, nor interested in knowing anything more about him. The image of SJ I have is sufficient to make him my hero, my inspiration. I don't crave for any more details.

But its not only SJ that we lost last year. 2011 seems to have been terrible. Too many gems lost. Jagjit Singh, Shashi Kapoor and Bhimsen Joshi to add a few. Is this a sign? Are the legends making way for the new ones, or are we entering a starless time? Or are we really facing the end of the world? That would explain why HE is calling all his favorites back to HIM. Very selfish of HIM if thats true.

Sachin Tendulkar. Cannot even imagine the impact on me the day I hear he is no more. I am going to go cold turkey. I am going to go into deep silence. Or maybe, that's when it will start sinking in, that the honeymoon phase is over, and life sucks. The fairy-tale has ended. Forget the time when he passes away. His retirement, which is now near, will equally hurt. I tend to shun imagining these moments. I was never introduced to cricket and then to SRT. I go introduced to the aura known as SRT, and then to cricket. I don't think I will follow cricket after the time of SRT.

These stars, they abstracted what they did, from what it really is and made it into a beacon for human achievement. SJ took "design" to the next level. Any study of a good design will not be complete without being in reverence of SJ and Apple. Any lesson in sport and sportsmanship will not be complete without being in awe of SRT and his discipline and dedication.

But its not only those faraway stars that I miss. My grandfather, a hero to me, also passed away last year. 90 years of  treasures just faded away. Someone who saw the second world war, the uprising, the British, the freedom that we earned, the freedom that we gave away, the corruption, the India shining, the Bombay, the Mumbai, the television, the landing on moon and also an iPhone during his time on earth just ceased to exist one fine day. 90 years is not a short time.And to live them in an exemplary fashion, to influence generations to come, is a basically a story of great struggle. What he left behind though in a family, as a family, only a star could do it.

Steve Jobs was a true wonder, a gift to our generation. Like a few others stars, we are fortunate enough that he shone during our time. The way he lovingly showcased his white creations, with that black turtleneck and blue denim, will always remind us to stay hungry and foolish. How many of us manage to do that, is yet to be seen.

And one more thing....he made us into kids again. He gave us a toy, and made us ecstatic with the same scream, the same joy, that was missing within us for a long time since we were children. How I wish there was indeed One More Thing...

27th May 2012
Nachiket Mehta

Apple's home page on the day SJ died.

When a company shuns everything and just pays homage to a single person on their front page, it speaks a lot about how empty they feel due to their loss. What I also observed about these pages was the same uncluttered simplicity that SJ liked, and which is part of everything Apple.

I think this is probably the most brilliant adieu to SJ

When One Billion Sang In Unison

It is one thing to know important history from before your lifetime. I agree it is even more exciting to know that some important history was made during your lifetime . But it is entirely an out of the world experience to live through a moment,  which created history, of which you had always dreamt of, all along your life.Along with a billion others. To witness history's plans unfold in front of you, with all its teasing of your logic and hope and patience, all the way till it actually manifests, is enthralling.

I will tell you exactly what happens. Words don't flow to start with . Photographic memory is on an all time high. The senses are soaking up every noise , smell, emotion, sight, touch they can pounce upon. The mind goes haywire in trying to record the incident, but it gives up after infinite efforts to give a correct reaction, due to the enormity of the moment. It understands that silence is the best way to shout. And sometime later, the silence erupts.

This is exactly what indeed happened when team India, won the cricket world cup on April 2nd, 2011. The nation was probably never more united since the freedom struggle. For my generation, this was probably the only time it came close to witnessing what it is to be united in thought with each and every person of the nation. The rich, the poor, the Hindus, the Muslims, the fans, the casual followers. It was like the whole nation had the same heartbeat.

And it beat for one man. One man who has struggled and fought , fallen and stood up again, to take his nation to the heights of glory in a sport, that has defined him. Or a sport which he defined. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.  His glorious matches can be recounted, his contributions can be analysed, his effect on the masses can be wondered at, his dedication to his profession can be envied at and his simplicity through his growth can only be seen as an unachievable virtue. But today,we speak about  a payback that happened. Fate owed it to him, his share of happiness, and his share of dreams. And fate gave it to him today.

You see, we Indians are really simple creatures. We like drama. We like a protagonist in it , who gives us happiness. Who plays a role which we would like to play in real life. And we like the protagonist to win. We wish he never fails, but we relate to him more if he does. But we also want the protagonist to have his dream in the end. So when, in a life story of an protagonist , he takes a long time to achieve his due, we get hurt. We pray for him. Our hearts go out for him. We want life to be fair to him, in spite of our own lives being thrown apart in the practicalities of world's unfairness.We swear to leave no stone unturned until fate is fair to him. . 

Some movie lines cross my mind. They seemed to be made exactly for today. " ..Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai ,  ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki sazhish ki hai....kehte hai agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho toh poori kaynath tumhein usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai...." .When one billion wish for something, reality has but no choice than to submit to the drama. And so, we Indians, we cry when we see the protagonist cry. We stand up when he walks to hold the cup. We clap even if we are not part of the crowd. We make an unconscious salute. We imagine theme music playing while he takes his dream walk. May be the music is really playing somewhere. 

May be this is really what it means to be an Indian. To throw the cares to the wind, and throng the streets chanting ,screaming , celebrating. To do weird superstitious things so that the protagonist's dream comes true.Believing that they work. Simple things really which makes us happy. 

Today's script was not a fairytale. SRT did not perform. But it was not any less magical. He played a big role in getting us here. Not just this world cup. His journey started 22 years ago. The Indian team has been often accused of being a one man team. May be, the greatest gift Sachin could give India, was that he leaves the team as a "team", where everyone today fought to get him his due. They all played together. Virat Kohli couldn't have said it better. " He has carried the burden of the entire nation for 22 years. Its time we carried him on our shoulders". 

Hats off to Dhoni. To end a 28 year old drought with a six - speechless !. Hats off to everyone else too. Today, not just SRT, not just the Indian cricket team, but the entire nation will sleep slightly more peacefully. Because, no one really realized, when and how in the past, the future and happiness of the nation, and winning  the world cup got intertwined.

And so, the final played out in a way, that was worthy of a "Mein Samay.. " narration. Today was the most exciting day of the cricketer in me. The fan in me. The patriot in me. The sportsman in me. The drama lover in me. Even if I am half as excited on my wedding night as I am today, I could be called a good husband . There is celebration in every nook and corner of my city. It must be some bad karma, that I am not on the streets with my countrymen today. But some good karma must be accounted for as well, because, similar to like they said in the movie Troy , "I lived in the times of Sachin, I lived to witness today..".

Dreams often come true

The chosen ones

Had purchased this shirt sometime ago, in hope for today. Wore it once. Will never wear it again. All present together to watch this moment left their marks on it. 

Nachiket Mehta
April 2, 2011

His The Throne

The music grows to a crescendo. The girls dance with more vigor.The mom looks behind her back, with a knowing look in her eyes. And then, the jet black helicopter, starting from its whirling blades, slowly comes into full view. Shah Rukh Khan, by then the son every middle aged woman in the movie hall wishes for, sprints to his eager mom. A teardrop doesn't fail to roll off her eyes.Behold. Her son has arrived.

Or if this is not classy enough, picture this. Lush green lawns in the foregrounds of a huge academy. A white, marble, dome shaped structure somewhere . Chilly winter. And on one single black chair inside that marble dome, Shah Rukh Khan romanticizes the world with his violin. Love is in the air. Why just the three students, the whole world suddenly falls in love.

Just another shot from K3G or Mohabbatein, but one which is typical of Shah Rukh Khan. Grand entry, larger and full of life attitude, and captivating the viewers to such an extent, that it instills hope and excitement about themselves when they watch him. And I have not even started mentioning DDLJ.

You know how those statements are, about how the world is divided into two parts..blah blah. Well, in this case, the world is actually divided into 3 parts. Ones who like SRK, ones who do not, and the ones who do, but cannot show that they like him ,for some reason. We do not know where Karan Johar lies, but that apart, the third category is interesting, and surprisingly pretty big. Guys often hate SRK because its not a guy thing to like his mushy movies, or some engineers often hate him because its not a engineer's thing to be sentimental. Why don't people accept it ? Probably some disturbed childhood trauma makes them run away from sentimental and emotional stuff. But I have had a guy confess, that he actually does like him, but "log majak udate hai, isliye main batata nahi hoon". While I was writing this blog, I came across another one, about our typical (read "desi") characteristics. A totally sarcastic and hilarious take on our habits, I cannot but help mention this specific article from it - "I hate SRK".

I have myself often thought, why do I like him? The arguments people make against him are not entirely baseless, then why does he have a ridiculous fan following ? Well, I think,may be because we all secretly do like him. "Har kisi ke dil mein, kahi na kahi, ek SRK chupa hota hai". A Delhi guy. Rose to fame with his own efforts. Started with television initially, so lets accept he knows a thing or a two about acting. His first love ,Gauri ,pulled him to Mumbai for the first time. But then , there was no looking back. Since then, he has been romanticizing every heroine, and giving one movie per young generation, for them to dream with, to dance with, to get nostalgic with, and to carry the "Rahul" in them forever.

"Kabhi Haa Kabhi Na", was one of my first movies ever ,seen in the theatres. And may be, that is the reason SRK is my favorite. But apart from his on screen presence, I think I am probably a fan of his persona in general.It might seem ironic, but I think SRK is one of the most honest guys around, as far as his role as an actor is concerned. He has accepted that he is a peoples' man. And he gives it back to them, the way they want it. Being an actor, he realises that media is what helped make him, and media is what he can connect to the masses with. He never shuns the media. Nor does he shun any award functions. He has willingly accepted the commercialness of his profession. And he uses it to his benefit , instead of cribbing about it, and trying to be intelligent about it, and complaining about things such as absence of personal life. He has willingly accepted that he would have very little personal life, and that is the price he would have to pay for his stardom.Never into politics, and never into controversies relating personal relationships. Nevertheless, I think he has been pretty successful family man too. He is intelligent and smart when he talks. Listen to any of his interviews.They are exciting and one would appreciate his ready wit, sharpness and body language. Technically savvy himself, he is constantly endeavouring to bring technical skills to the Hindi film industry, and is constantly taking his production house,"Red Chillies" to the next level. No wonder, he is known as the most powerful person in the industry, and the only one to be adored by Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachhan both and envied by all the newcomers alike. Everyone wants to debut with him. Everyone wants a clip with him.

One interviewer described his meeting with SRK pretty dramatically. He mentioned , that when SRK gives an interview, albeit only for 5 minutes, he makes sure that the interviewer is the only person in the world that matters to him. He treats the interviewer like a king. But when the 5 minutes are over, all that is left is smoke from his cigarette, and you can see SRK fade away in that smoke back to his world. Do not get me wrong, I do like Amir Khan movies. He is an excellent actor in his own realm. But given a choice, to meet any one , just for 5 minutes, I would choose SRK.

I recently commented to a friend, that it is difficult for me to completely hate a movie. I am a hardcore movie buff. The director would have to try really hard to make such a film that I would totally not approve of. Which essentially means I watch any movie that is being made, or comes my way. But still, the anticipation of a Shah Rukh Khan movie, is something different. The anticipation is not of 3 hours of entertainment, but a ride into the world, where you might play a character. May be , you dare to play him.

We can see the transition from Rahul to the character roles that he plays these days. I think he has proved beyond doubt, to the people who even doubted, that he can act. He has been a actor who is capable of delivering "hangover" movies. Meaning, movies,which leave you thinking about them long after they are over. Movies , which leave you dreaming long after they are over. Well, as I write this, I am craving for a similar movie from him again. And I really wish , like a true fan, that there is enough reason, for everything that happened at the Newark airport recently. And that it was not a cheap publicity stunt. Because SRK has a lot at stake to resort to this cheap stunt. Because it took a real long time and hard work to reach where he has. Because he is far too intelligent to use the minority card. And because I have not seen Chidambaram and Sashi Tharoor speak up for anyone so directly and immediately. I do not know what has been not told, but , unless proved otherwise, I believe SRK.

Is it only his movies that we enjoy, or is it also talking about him that we fans enjoy more? Oh, we love to hail him, and oh, we love so much to argue for him. I could have become a millionaire by now, if SRK gave me 1c each time I spoke for him. We love to hear the ignorant Amir fans. We love to see how close we are to the truth, but we are also disappointed to see that the world needs awakening. We are appalled to see the fruitless pursuits of the thinking masses. We ache to see that the rightful king, has to condescend to the likes of "others" to claim his throne. He is the Tendulkar of the entertainment industry. Amir is like Dravid. Probably better techniqued. But SRK is whom I would pay to watch. Because somehow, I get a feeling ,that when Dravid plays, its his mind which is involved, but when SRT plays, or when SRK performs, its a matter of the heart. And I would always like to put my money on the heart, rather than on the mind.

On a serious note, I do not care if SRK hams. I do not care if he seems repetitive in his roles. I do not care if he seems pompous.I do not care if he passes of as vain. I do not care if he got a bag full of cash to get a Filmfare. He gives me what I want from a movie, rather than give me what I think I want from a movie. He is a sure shot ticket to the world of entertainment and fantasy. And that is all that I want. I am aam junta, or "mango people", as Saif puts it in Love Aaj Kal. I do not want to be intelligent about my movies,about whom I like as an actor. I do not want this choice of mine to reflect my thinking in any way.And also because it is hardly of any consequence to anyone else, apart from me. It is not a matter of any big concern, like for e.g our views on abortion, or are we pro choice or not? That is something which would probably shape the future society.Debate on that, think about that. Have a side to choose from on that. But SRK vs Amir? Seriously,whats there to think about ? Why is there even a question?Why is Amir even an option?

Nachiket Mehta

5th Day of Sept 09

Josh mein;hum bhi hai !