Undamaging the adventure lovers...

Being an adventure sport enthusiast brings along many challenges, staying fit and energetic is one thing. But when you are an adventure sport icon for many, things are quite another. Staying fit and in shape and constant practise are the staple chores of an adventurer. Similar was the life of Priyam Raghav and Neha Raghav a brother sister duo, travellers, photographers and adventure enthusiasts to say the least. Priyam and Neha were twins and had started trekking from the age of 7. Priyam was touted as one of the best rally car drivers in the country and Neha had won many heart and niche of awards with her chameleon like agility in rock climbing.

Now, looking to produce their own adventure show on a leading TV channel, Priyam and Neha were taking a trip across the Himalayas on terrains never dared upon. Lucky to be friends with the duo, when I met them at a party recently, I was thrilled to indulge in a long conversation with them. What’s the toughest part of being a hiker, I asked. Having to eat packaged food was Priyam’s reply. ‘Hair’, pat came Neha’s. Apparently she was more concerned about her hair problems than anything else. There are many places where we cannot travel by a car. We usually take a bike. Priyam’s hell bent on it. And the dust of the dirt-trails just kills my hair dead. I mean that was the biggest problem till a few weeks back. But then, she said, that her make-up guys in the TV channel introduced her to Dove Damage Therapy range of hair products. ‘Well, to be honest, that was the end of all my hair problems’, she chuckles. She further tells that as much as it is physically exhausting, trekking is also challenging for the skin. With the body losing so much of fluids, it becomes imperative to replenish them and given a chance she would love to endorse Dove for being a life saver.

With my own TV show coming soon, looking good never hurts and good hair is certainly the crown on the crest of a woman. To add to her euphoria, I told her about the Dove hair-ware app that has been the talk of the girl-gangs, as I’ve heard, for quite some time now. Priyam, meanwhile had been silently gorging on some fresh chicken-tikkas, a feast that he will definitely miss on his next trip. To say the least, I did learn a thing or two about grooming my hair from Neha if not her skills at rock climbing and I would recommend any of you adventure loving girls too to shed your inhibitions about spoiling your skin or hair, and as Neha would put it, there’s Dove to take your care.

Book Review: I’m Not Twenty Four…

I'm Not Twenty Four... by Sachin Garg

What Chetan Bhagat perhaps started, was big enough for many engineering graduates, like myself, to take up writing seriously and follow a passion that few dare to pursue. Following CB's suit, perhaps, is Sachin Garg. Though not an IIT-IIM pass-out like Bhagat, but an engineer from DCE and a management major from MDI Gurgaon (another prestigious MBA institute of the country.) BlogAdda's Book Review program landed me with Garg's second book, I'm Not Twenty Four... I've been nineteen for five years... 

The prologue of the book tells Sachin's story how he met a girl named Saumya, working in a steel plant in a remote village in Karnataka and the book has thence-forth been written in the first-person view of the girl. Saumya, a pass-out from MDI Gugaon lands up in a man's job in Toranagallu in a steel plant, all because of her unisexual name. I'm Not Twenty Four is the story of an ultra-modern Delhi bred young girl Saumya, working in a steel-plant in Toranagallu. Saumya, an HR major is designated as an Assistant Manager in the HR department and is assigned the profile of handling the reaction team in the Safety Department. Having come from a pampered Delhi lifestyle, Saumya not only finds it difficult to adjust to her new surroundings without any real friends but also proves to be faint-hearted in times of some gore accidents that she is asked to handle. Accepting the fact that she is not fit for the job that she has been assigned, she decides to quit, just when she meets a dusky Bengali hippie/wandered, Shubhrodeep Shyamchaudhary, who loves weed and beer more than anything else in the world. It is then that she sees a new side of life when she learns about his experiences in life and his 'Move-On' theory which makes him stay in no place for more than 90 days.

Right from the onset of the book, I felt too many words being wasted to describe a small event and too many repetitions of adjectives and descriptions. A few pages into the book, you accept typos and grammatical or time-line errors an integral part of the book, though on the part of the writer, I consider it as a cardinal sin. (Forgive me, if I too make them, but they are OK only as long as its a personal blog.) The first 50 pages of the book, though establish a setting for where the rest of the events take place, but they are highly likely make you put the book down due to a lack of Wow-factor as I like to call it. The story begins to get a bit interesting on the entry of Shubhrodeep (Shubhro), but soon falls back to a sluggish pace. The chain of events that provoke Saumya to arrive at the decision of quitting her job and going back home make perfect sense following the psychology of her character but the re-entry of Shubhro in the story is predictable and desirable in order to bail out the reader from succumbing to the sluggish pace of he book.

The second half of the story takes Saumya through the life of Shubhro and his experiences in the 12-odd cities around the world that he has lived in for three months (90 days) each. Saumya falls in love with Shubhro at first sight, and his character never fails to shock you throughout his stay. What disappointed me the most was the porous description of the 90-day stay of Shubhro with Saumya and the untimely death of a potentially interesting character, Mallapa just before Shubhro's re-entry.

The character of Shubhro is very well written and there there is not too much to be credited to any other characters, other than Saumya herself. What struck me a little into the book was the fact that the biggest folly, perhaps, that Garg made was to write a story as a girl's first person account when he himself is a man. Let's accept it that you do not expect a man to fathom the feelings of a woman, leave alone writing something from her perspective. The second half could have been more interesting had Garg experimented with Shubhro and provided a more vivid account of his stay.

The story picks pace around the 180 page mark when on the last day of his stay with her, Shubhro confesses his love for Saumya and they entwine into passionate love-making, only for Saumya to wake up and realise that Shubhro had left, without a trail, without even bidding adieu, in resonance with his 'Move-On theory.' It is only in the last two chapters of the book that you are actually glued to the story and I, personally, silently cursed Garg for leaving the good (mind you, I'm using good and not the best) for the last. The book in its last 20 odd pages becomes a mystery you want to unfold. It was Shubhro's story, how a Bengali kid with a noxious childhood made it to IIM, graduated with an MBA in finance and ended up a hippie for the world to curse, when he was silently doing social service for the under-privileged in each city he visited. Shubhro's story is inspiring and the way it was narrated, made me wonder whether Sachin Garg was facing a writer's block when he wrote the rest of the book.

I'm going with 1.5/5 for Sachin Garg's I'm Not Twenty Four..., instead of reading the whole book, I would suggest you read the back cover followed by the last 40 pages of the book. Sachin Garg has written something different from other Indian authors but the book lacks novelty in form and idea and is something that you can easily miss. Read it if you have nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon but do not have any high hopes from the book as it is one that you can easily put down and forget till you dust your book closet sometime in the future.

My Rating: 1.5/5

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Book Review: Revolution 2020

Chetan Bhagat and his new novel Revolution 2020

Chetan Bhagat’s latest release, Revolution 2020 has hit the stands and it’s doing quite well. Why wouldn’t it? After all he’s India’s largest selling novelist of all time perhaps. Famous for being a ‘youth writer,’ Bhagat’s earlier books have either all been adapted into movies or are on their way to be. In the midst of all this, Bhagat manages to come up, once again with a very interesting four hour read.

As seen in all his previous books, a 20 something, middle class background, struggling engineering student, like me, relates very well. So much so that the first half of the book felt like I was reading my own biography. Jokes apart, Bhagat beautifully depicts the agony of a mediocre AIEEE ranker who is too good a guy to be the boyfriend of a girl who he has clearly been dating for seven years.

Revolution 2020 is a story of two guys and a girl, a clichéd masala bollywood love triangle with a very unusual end, for a change. Set in Varanasi, Gopal, a sincere small town boy from a very humble background, narrates his story. A story about love, deceit, corruption, success and sacrifice. Aarti, the girl who Gopal is best friends with since primary school and the girl he loves, is portrayed as a confused, beautiful girl who turns Gopal down because she has never thought of Gopal in ‘that way’ and wants to be just friends, yet she somehow manages to become Raghav’s girlfriend out of the blue. Bhagat, trough Aarti, unfortunately fails to portray women any differently than he has done before. For someone like me, who has read all his books before, reading Revolution 2020 wasn’t like reading anything new. Raghav, Gopal’s friend Aarti’s boyfriend is a JEE ranker (unlike Gopal), studying in the prestigious BHU and wanting to be a journalist some day. The story revolves around the two guys differentiating between the two at different stages of life.

While Bhagat strums the right chords with the protagonist Gopal (or I would rather just call him the narrator as no one is really good or bad here), at the same time, he fails to develop the character of Raghav, who only remains the other guy in Aarti’s life. The relationship between Gopal and Aarti is depicted beautifully over a span of 7 years from cover to cover. I could feel myself mumbling under my breath at several occasions. Gopal’s journey, from a pauper to a prince or from a guy who couldn’t secure an engineering seat to a businessman who opens his own engineering college is magnetic as he accepts the political and bureaucratic system, while that of Raghav, as a struggling journalist, fighting the same system, comes across as an under-written mystery. Aarti is as confused as all female characters have been in his previous books have been and after a certain point into the book, you stop hating Aarti and start hating Bhagat for being a chauvinist. [Yes my friends it comes from me who himself is blamed of being a misogynist many a times.]

Though the name Revolution 2020 comes from Raghav’s newspaper in the book with the same name, Bhagat fails to justify the title of his book. The unexpected ending to the story is less of an open ended reality of life and more of an unfinished tale. Read it because it’s cheap and costs less than three figures but do not expect to be pleasantly surprised.

My Rating: 3/5

Frankly Speaking, I was generous with that and I would also like to give a word of advice to Chetan Bhagat: MOVE OVER IIT AND AIEEE! That might be the biggest event in your life, but life is more to that and with your fifth book at least, we expected you to give us a novel (and not a screenplay.)

Raghu says: I don't always abuse bhosdike!

This is probably going to be the most interesting posts of all time. I got a chance to interview Raghu Ram and Rajiv Lakshman at the Roadies 9 Chandigarh Auditions. It was one of the most interesting half hours I ever spent. Of course, you don't get a chance to interview Raghu and Rajiv everyday and not poke Raghu deliberately, to get abused, just so that you have interesting material to write about in your blog. But of course, life puts you in a more comfortable position when you have a press card hanging around your neck and are quite sure that Raghu has to think twice before he speaks anything! (\m/)

Anyway, here's the whole interview that I had with Raghu, or if I may say, a censored version of it.

DISCLAIMER: The following content may have some adult language, though I tried hard not to write any. If you get offended by the use of such language, then Frankly Speaking, I don't give a damn. Only read if you wish to, else there's always the close button.

Q. Roadies has been running successfully for 10 years now, how do you see that the youth has changed over the years? And how have you people changed?
Raghu: The youth of today are more driven. They are more motivated today, more clear about what they want and not. I was more chilled back then. There was a lot less pressure on us.
Rajiv: We wouldn't have met a group of Bloggers like you back the.

Q. What are you exactly looking for in a Roadie this year?
Raghu: We meet many interesting characters every year. Just meeting them is fun enough. This year, I would say we're looking for passion, not only for being a Roadie, but for anything in life.

Q. What have you learned from Roadies in 10 years?
Raghu: We put in our heart and soul into Roadies each year. I've just learned and seen one thing, hard-work pays, and that's it! If you're given a nail & a hammer and you keep chiseling for a long time, you're bound to get a diamond. We just think about one year at a time, never worry about the TRP's. They're a secondary issue.

Q. How did the idea of Roadies come along?
Raghu: MTV hires psychos. They hire mad. MTV is made of personalities. They look for people who can do something crazy. Fortunately I was one of those. There was a Cyrus before Cyrus Broacha too. He was the brain behind Bakra, he was crazier. Everyone you see on MTV is mad in some way or the other.

Q. Just yesterday I saw you in a promo for WTF. What's that all about?
Raghu: That is just something to show everyone what kids feel about what is going on around them. I think the youth of today is mature enough. Yet, they're not given their due. If they can drive at 18, chose the fucking Govt. by voting at 18, can marry, divorce and remarry, then why can't they fucking drink before 25? Either totally ban consumption of alcohol, or don't make ridiculous rules.

Q. How do manage to keep yourself fit? We've seen you look fitter every year...
Raghu: Fit? I'm not fit. I've never felt worse in my life. I'm an insomniac, in fact not insomniac exactly, I'm sleep deprived. I work for 20 hours a day. I hardly rest. Fitness I feel is not about climbing mountains or going to gyms, it's about eating healthy, feeling healthy.

Q. People consider you a youth icon. What change would you like to bring when you have the power to do so?
Raghu: Bring changes? Are you suggesting I join politics? (laughs) I don't think I can change anything and neither do I think I am a youth icon or something.

Q. Then who do you think is a youth icon today?
Raghu: Anna Hazare, Aamir Khan and Sachin Tendulkar.

Q. What is your take on the new breed of politicians, like Rahul Gandhi?
Raghu: There are both kinds of politicians. Old politicians need to retire, agreed. But I don't stand by Rahul Gandhi too. Had he opposed his party and stood for Anna Hazare, he would have been correct, but I don't stand by his view-point as of now.

Q. But don't you think the Anna Hazare went too far by holding the Govt. on ransom in order get his whims to be obeyed?
Raghu: Too far? I'll tell what is going too far politics of hate, mob violence, communal riots. A peaceful protest is not going too far.
Rajiv: When do you draw the line between holding the Govt. on ransom and putting up with a wounded Govt. I think its high time someone held the Govt. at ransom and asked the questions that they should have answered way back.

Q. What do you think about people like Rahul Mehra, who are also standing up for issues but are not getting noticed as much?
Raghu: I wouldn't say much. A lot of people do things, get laws passed but law makers are targeted often after getting laws passed. That is an even bigger problem.

Q. You have an image that most people fear you. Who Raghu and Rajiv fear?
Raghu: I don't fear anyone. There are people who we respect, but I don't think we fear anyone, c'mon, koi kha thodi jaega yaar. (No one's gonna eat you as such.)

Q. There is one image of yours, that on TV, that of an angry abusing....
Raghu: (Snaps in between, doesn't let me complete) See... Again... I don't always abuse, bhosdike! (laughs) Please continue. :P
Q. There is one image of yours, that on TV, of an angry, abusing sort of guy, on the other hand you play very different characters in films, where's the real you?
Raghu: In films, I play characters, I act, Both Omar Sheikh in Jhootha Hi Sahi and the Johri brothers in Tees Maar Khan, we act and that's that. Here, sitting in front of you is the real me.

Q. And what is Raghu's character in real life?
Raghu: I'm characterless. (with a laugh)

Q. Final words sir... Describe Roadies in one word?
Raghu: Passion.

Q. And in one line...
Raghu: More than just a TV show.

The Dangerous Ones

That's all from my side today. I guess that was enough.

Stay tuned. Stay Raw.
Cheers!!

Jab I met Nagesh Kukunoor

There are some things in life that I believe in strongly. One of them is that dreams coming true is only a myth. I was living in reality but a loser like me couldn't even believe in something in peace. My belief was shattered recently when I met God. Not literally, but figuratively I mean. I had read about life showering pleasant surprises on people but the possible thought of me, a dud engineering student, barely a film-maker, meeting my idol was bleak. But Roadies, as we know it, always does what no other show can do, and when I went to attend the Chandigarh Auditions of Roadies 9, Raghu, Rajiv and Rannvijay brought with them a surprise, and a big one too. Travelling with the Roadies 9 Audition team was Nagesh Kukunoor, promoting his Rannvijay starrer film Mod, and the sight of a frail looking, long-hair-greying-at-the-temples kind of a man wouldn't actually make your brain-gears churning that this could be a hot-shot film director, but when has Nagesh Kukunoor not surprised you, eh?

So I got a chance to not only meet Nagesh, but also interview him. Wooohoo!! Still can't believe it! And what struck me was not only the simplicity of this man but also the gentle way in which he talked to me. His eyes lit up when I said that just like him, I am also an engineering student who aspires t be a film-maker some day and I consider him as my idol. Who would believe it, but under his autograph, on the back of my Power Electronics class register that I was carrying to take notes of the Roadies event, he also gave me his email id and asked me to mail him the links to all the films that I made. What a day that was!

Here are some excerpts from the little interview that we had:

Q. You launched Shreyas Talpade in Iqbal, he was seen before in a scene in Aankhen and now you're giving Rannvijay his first solo film with Mod, who is already super famous; what do you expect from Rannvijay as an actor?
Nagesh: I had never watched the show Roadies before or knew if had done any films before. I had no idea about Rannvijay being a star or his fan following when I cast him. A friend referred his name to me, I asked him if he would come and audition for the part and he got selected.

Q. Shreyas in Iqbal, John in Aashayein, Akshay Kumar in 8x10 Tasveer, when you were moving to bigger actors or 'stars' with every film, why suddenly Rannvijay, relatively a new-comer if I may say so, why was that?
NK: Look, there are some films which require big actors or stars as you put it and some which require fresh faces or newer actors. This was a film which required a new actor and here we are.

Q. Now that Mod is ready for release, what do you expect from the film?
NK: I wanna show the world that a guy like Rannvijay, who has this biker-boy, adventurer image can actually do a serious romantic role. Not trying to create another image, but breaking stereotypes in a way.

Q. You're an engineer yourself, who got into making films, what is your advice to aspiring film-makers like us?
NK: Just pick up a camera, go out there and let your creativity loose. Believe.

Stay tuned. Stay Raw.
Adios!

Been There, Done That

On a recent visit to the MTV Hero Roadies 9, Chandigarh auditions, as a blogger selected by Blogadda.com, Io got a chance to interview the ex-Roadies Mohit, Anamika and Suchit, of Roadies 8 fame. Mohit and Suchit were the best performers as far as I had heard and this what the three had to say to those who want to be Roadies:



Q. What is it that makes Roadies from Chandigarh different from the rest?

Mohit: They are more daring. The three of us were from Chandigarh.
Anamika: Rannvijay, Ayushman and Bani, all were from Chandigarh and most Chandigarh Roadies have out-performed everyone else.

Q. A word of advice to those who want to be Roadies.

Mohit: Don’t try to be over smart. The more you use your head, you get to know that you’re competing with Raghu and Rajiv, so it’s no point.
Anamika: Just do your tasks well. Win immunities. That’s the key.
Suchit: Everyday on the journey is a winning day. Just go out there. Enjoy!

Q. What’s the best part of Roadies?

Mohit: The journey. The bike rides, which are probably the most under-rated. But its the only part without competition, without politics.
Anamika: Yeah. the journey of course. Those 45 days. Riding on Karizmas. I think the Karizma is the best bike in the world.

Q. How has life changed after Roadies?

Mohit: Life has changed. The journey was tough and long. My personal toughness level has grown immensely.
Anamika: We have tested all boundaries of ours. Physically and mentally. We’ve grown as people I guess. Specially the nude task that these boys performed. That was the limit.
Suchit: I feel like now I’m satisfied with life. Or atleast a large chunk of it.

Q. What do you have to say about the nude task?

Mohit: Back home, there was a lot of media attention, newspapers etc made it sound embarrassing, but it was a test of character nonetheless.
Anamika: Their respect grew in our head manifold.
Suchit: Saari sharam nikal gayi boss. (Shed all shyness at once)

Q. Any message for Roadies 9 contestants?

Mohit: Cowboy style man, in US of A. Beware! You’re gonna have your ass whipped!
Anamika: Good luck!!

Also visit my Roadies 9 page. Read How to be a Roadie? for more info

Stay Raw.
Cheers!!

Caged

While walking down a street behind the Patiala bus-stand, a few months back, I witnessed something disturbing. Something you hear everyday, talk about in essays, read in news-papers, but never do we do anything about it. I came across a pet-store. A cage, housing love birds. Ironical. Isn’t it? Caging love?! Is that even remotely possible!

On inquiring about those birds, I came to know that these are some of the most special birds of Australia, specially imported for people to raise as pets. A single cage housed, or imprisoned if might say, 25 pairs of the most beautiful love-birds of Australia. Green, white, pink and yellow; a mix of all the shades of the rainbow, locked inside a single cage, given grain to eat, but no freedom to express what they are ambassadors of.... LOVE!

The shop owner told me that each pair of these birds costs Rs. 350. He tried to convince me a lot to buy one of those, was even ready to give be a free cage for the birds and was so sure that during an average life span of these birds, which is 10 years, they’ll reproduce and I’m sure to get all my money back within 2 years’ time by selling its off-springs. Another cage, kept just behind this one housed rabbits. Three little black and white rabbits were eating carrots in the cage and when i took out my phone to click some photographs of the docile creatures, another of their salesman came forward and started convincing me to buy a pair of rabbits. Lucky as I was that day, there was a ‘special offer’ on the rabbits and a pair of bunnies which usually costed 600-700 bucks, I was being offered to take them for just 400 Rupees.

Chicken were even cheaper at Rs 150 a pair. Again the same promises of selling its eggs again the money back scheme and again, it pained me, because they were the littlest of the lot. If all this was not enough, then to add to my turmoil another person from the same shop came running in with a blue and white pigeon in his hand. He went straight in and put the bird in another big cage that had as many as 20 pigeons of many different colors and species. I could not muster the courage to ask him any further questions, but this whole incident left me with a very important question that still remains unanswered. If at all we pet animals and birds, then why don’t we show them love..!!

It maybe true that after adopting a pet, an ‘owner’ takes good care of it. Some people even treat their pets as a family member, as their own child as they may say, but the question looms, why cage them. Why do the pet shops show no mercy? Why is it that these birds and animals are not kept in an environment, a habitat where they are meant to be? Why cages? If fish are domesticated in aquariums, why not a kinder way for other critters? Why are rabbits being caged and sold and not raised in a garden where they can be themselves? Why are the love-birds caged and not set free in a nursery? We always have better options to adopt pets.... But our only problem... We look for easier options... Not better... Lets take out some time guys... Sit and think... Maybe one of us can answer the questions I wasn’t able to.

Here are some pics I clicked!

[gallery link="file" orderby="rand"]