P.S. Aamir!!

Bye bye George Clooney. Hello Aamir Khan. Agreed Aamir doesn’t do what George does to a shirt but heck, Finally we also have a poster boy activist like the Cool George.

Aamir’s journey from chocolate boy actor to activist has been very riveting. His recent liberal activism and unabashed political views have made it to headline-attracting public prominence. But I’m not sure he is enjoying the limelight.

Somehow the script has gone horribly wrong for him. And knowing how particular Aamir is about the small stuff, he really must be upset.

Strictly speaking, I’m not an Aamir Khan fan. But I genuinely feel that the recent Aamir bashing is unwarranted. Who the hell cares whether Aamir Khan knows the length of the damned dam or not? What matters is that he became the voice of thousands of nameless, faceless people.

It takes courage to answer a call. As it is, the fraternity that Aamir belongs to is notorious for their code of silence. So when Aamir comes out and takes up a cause, instead of supporting him, what do we do? Run him down for being anti Gujarat and BJP etc etc. Come on people; let’s quit living in 3rd rock from the sun.

It’s really ironical. First, they blame him for being damned materialistic and hardcore selfish. (Do-you-know-he-asked-for-eight-crore-from-Aditya Chopra-was Bollywood’s big question till the time Fanaa released.) Now they blame him for having an opinion. (Aamir Khan is an actor and he should just sing and dance, Gujarat CM has supposed to have said something to this effect).

So basically, he is damned if he does and damned if he earns!

Come on guys, give the guy a break. Just have some thande ka tadka! Or watch him smolder in Fanaa.

The Man-In-My-Head


Okay, now its time to introduce someone from my life.

I’ve known him since I was three. Or rather I became aware of his presence at that age.

He’s someone I know very well. He’s someone I still want to know. There are days when I think I’ve figured him out. And then I feel I’ve yet to go past introduction stage.

He doesn’t have a name. He’s the Man-In-My-Head.

I don’t know his age but I know he’s wise. I don’t know his sun sign but I know he has hidden depths, fiery desires and soaring dreams. I don’t know what he looks like. But I’d like to believe he has the looks of Robert Redford, the smile of Tom Cruise, the easy sexuality of George Clooney and the voice of Heath Ledger.

He listens to me. He talks to me. He questions me. He replies to me. He’s just…. there.

Every morning he supplies me with a thought of the day. Then he pushes me to think about it the whole day. And just when I’m ready to call it a night, he gives me a learning of the day.

The Man-In-My-Head is colourful. He’s adventurous. He’s ballsy. He’s entertaining. He’s irritating. And he thinks he’s right most of the time.

You’ll be hearing a lot about him. So I thought I’ll just…you know, mention him.

PS: Today’s thought of the day: "People change. They end up having nothing to say to each other even if they were best friends years before."

Right Said Freddie


I wasn’t supposed to start with him. But he just refuses to leave my mind space. So I decided to give him the due respect of the day.

There is something about Andrew Flintoff that makes me go mmmmm… Till about three years ago, the only aspect I noticed about him were his lascivious lips (cherry red and so full that it’s criminal.)

Yeah yeah, he can hammer a few and bowl a couple too. But that don’t impress me much…at least when he’s giving it to My Men In Blue!

I like Freddie because he’s conquered his mid-twenties life crisis and come into his own. He enjoyed his phase of beach bummin’. Lived in the fast lane. But eventually chose to answer the knock of his true calling—cricket.

He fought substance abuse___in his case beer and chocolates. (The latter I couldn’t care about even if God forced me to… But the former…oh man, I understand Freddie!!!!)

He faced the Weight Devil and from a very huge maan (as Geoffrey Boycott would say), he became Inzamam-ul-Haq’s role model.

Currently, he’s International Cricket’s latest blue-eyed boy. But does Freddie give a damn? You bet the Union Jack, he doesn’t. And that’s what his appeal is.

Does it bother him an iota that he has been given a half-baked team to captain? That he was the last minute choice of captain after Michael Vaughan took ill? No way.

Freddie just goes about his job…taking each day as it dawns. With the trademark chewing gum in his mouth and those blasted strokes in his armory… he just plays.

Now, here is a man who will go on even after he hangs his bat n’ ball. Cricket doesn’t define him. Fun and enjoying the game that he truly loves does.

And that’s what I like in a man who matters.

Of course there are those lips too! But that’s for another game…

Men

Some like watches. Some dig heels. I like men.

Nah, it isn’t an Electra complex. I’m a psychology major so I’ve analyzed all my leanings quite neurotically. Yeah, yeah…you never really know! But life is all about premises right? What appeals right here, right now…that’s what we go with.

Anyway, now that I’ve sufficiently proved my premise, let me inform you (if you haven’t guessed already) I have very strong likes. And even stronger dislikes. But that’s for another day.

I dedicate this space to the men who matter. The little boy in my nursery class who told me with the best intensity of a four year old---“You have pretty teeth.”
The university friend who once recited Robert Frost’s A Rose Is A Rose with a strange look in his eye.
My cosmic twin because of whom I send a prayer of thanks to my family that they forced me to spend the summer after my Xth boards in Delhi.
The lighthouse of my life who…just is.
The brother who makes me laugh when I most want to kill him.
The dad (ahem…can see Lady Electra sneering) who makes me believe every day I’m the king (we don’t believe in gender here, you know!) of the world.

This space is also devoted to the men in my head. Those who engage me in such seductive conversations that I forget they are in my head. The screen heroes, the book characters, the actors, the singers…who help me find the magic in life everyday without fail.

Here’s to all of them.