She knew she had very little time.. his birthday was only a few days away… his birthdays had never been celebrated grandly.. he had never asked for it, and no one had ever felt the need… considering that the only thing he spent money on were books and cassettes,he was never difficult to please if his birthday presents were any of the above… except for the occasional games or toys, much like his life, the presents he got were also routine, not that he was complaining… he was, well, like that…
but this time, she wanted it to be different, it was his 15th birthday, the one after his tenth standard board exams had got over, the first big hurdle in life… and she wanted him to celebrate it in a slightly better fashion than they usually did… and the first and perhaps only difficult task was convincing him.. because, although she was very strict about everything he did, lately she had understood he was growing up, and increasingly left his things to his judgement.. well, she was his mother, and knew what was best for him..
besides, she knew things he didnt..convincing him was difficult, for he was a shy child, with a handful of close friends, and ran away from attention of any kind, except for the ones which his extra curricular activities demanded.. for she was still very strict about that… and so he was trained in classical music, played in the cricket team,and was a member of the school quiz and debating teams… all of which he liked in a very matter-of-fact way…
all said, he was a very reluctant social animal…but she wouldn’t have any of that.. with 2 days left, she forced him to accept the fact that he would have to invite at least 10 of his friends to celebrate his birthday.. the only thing which he could decide was the place…and so it was, that for the very first time he could remember, he was doing something more complicated than distributing sweets for his birthday..
but after all was said and done, he was happy, and grudgingly thanked her… and she in turn, thanked her god, for she had survived the day…but he doesnt like celebrating birthdays, because she died 9 days later..
until next time, some things arent forever…

She alighted at the station and had her first good look at Mumbai.. the place where her silverscreen dreams would take shape.Although hers was a stereotypical story of a small town girl dreaming of making it big in Bollywood, she was sure that hers would be a success story, because she was sure of her talents…. and assets.. and she had a definite plan…
she had taken up all the courses in fashion, modelling and acting that her small town could offer… and her small town already boasted of a precedent in making it big in bollywood.. but she was sure she wanted to make it on her own.. and not take her predecessor’s help.. but her predecessor had given her one crucial info that was essential to her plan- the casting couch, its existence and the way it worked, and the ‘contact’ persons… she had her parents’ approval on her bollywood dreams, but even to them, she had not revealed her plan…
She called a taxi, and asked the driver to take her to the 5 star hotel where she had booked a room….. not that she had the money to spare, but this was crucial to the plan… she checked into the room, and thought about reading the paper, since it was almost 3 days since she had read them… always important to keep oneself updated about bollywood.. but she decided to do that after she kicked off her plan….
she started calling up the contact persons, and got her first shock, for the responses ranged from ‘do you think i am dumb?’ to ‘which channel are you calling from ‘ to plain abuse… she wondered what was going on and decided to take a shower before proceeding…
to jail!! the cops barged into the room, minutes after her phone calls, and arrested her for trying to trap people.. they talked something about an established villain having been ‘exposed’ a couple of days back on a news channel…. she said she didnt know a thing about it… and was only a wannabe actress.. she was so afraid she even told them about her plan- to use the casting couch- where she wouldnt struggle (and therefore could bypass the ‘struggling actress’ phase)..
but they werent convinced…. she reckoned she knew who her enemies were – a nexus of actresses who didnt want competition and news channels who wanted TRPs….. she also realised that what she needed now was shakti, tan ki nahi, par man ki….
until next time, news channels cant help broadcasting and filmmakers cant help casting…

Towards the end of a decade, when the ‘flower power’ generation were swinging towards what the rest of society considered normal, a set of parents were eagerly awaiting the birth of their first baby… the flower power seemed to have rubbed off on the baby, coz in later years, it wished it had been born at least a couple of decades earlier… the baby’s maternal grandmother was also eagerly awaiting its birth, since the baby’s mother was the only girl child and so, the granny’s favourite…. the baby was very inconsiderate as it chose a late hour to be born.. but he(yup, was a boy) was quite inclined to come out, and didnt cause much trouble…
a few hours later, he was brought into the room, where he would spend the next few days.. and that was where he was supposed to lie, with little cries in between that were indicators of entry or exit of materials…. but quite apparently, he was an attention freak, for within 24 hours of his birth, he decided to test his destiny and the nerves of his granny…
while his mother slept because of the sedation and his dad was at home for some well deserved sleep, and granny was dreaming of her newborn grandson’s future, he decided to question whether he had a future at all…he just stopped breathing, and within a few seconds, turned blue, scaring his granny out of her wits.. but she wasn’t one to give up without a fight…
in the dead of the night, she ran up three floors, carrying him, searching each floor for a duty doctor/ nurse… she finally found one, and got the equally frightened nurse to force the breath back into him… and was rewarded with a happy gurgle from him, as though a question had been answered…
years later, he still has the blues, albeit of a different kind, and writes about them in his blog… today is his 27th birthday…

until next time, what are you waiting for? wish me…

He was a young man from a small town… born and living in the small town that was his home… his parents had sent him to a good school, and then to a good college in the hope that he would get a good job, marry, give them grandchildren and generally achieve the ‘purpose of his life’… and things were going according to plan till the time he started actively following bollywood, its heroines and the general glitz and glamour… in his final year in college, it started affecting him in a major way..from a shy, unassuming lad, he morphed into a cocky youth who assumed a lot of things, including the love that his beautiful neighbour should feel for him…. and thus began the nights of serenading, bolstered by the fact that he had a good voice and when that didnt give any results, he knew that his studies wouldnt help him anyway, and to realise his dreams, he had to make it big, somewhere, he knew he had to unleash the entertainer within!!
She (not the neighbour above) was a studious young girl, her parents had pinned a lot of hopes on her.. they were very liberal parents, and wanted her to live her life, her way.. and she had her head firmly screwed on to her shoulders…. that was until she heard a certain bollywood singer. she began hero-worshipping him to the point of obsession, and made up her mind that she somehow had to meet him, whatever be the cost.. her interest in her studies dropped, and she was forever listening to him, and making plans to meet him…
and thus it is.. for people like him and her, and others quite similar from them or different from them, they made this (er, something like this)….judged by a forever ‘inspired’ music director, a choreographer turned director, and a singer who’s not sure if he is a singer, an actor or a rockstar, they want their moments in the sun…
billions would watch them..one will win, ten will get offers, hundred will know they have taken a step in the direction, ten thousand will be shattered and may not be able to pick up the pieces… for them, was it worth it??
until next time, is idol worship in??