Dev D teaches to move on

What's with this character of 'Devdas Mukharjee' of the very famous novel 'Devdas' written by Sharachandra Chattopadhyaya that our very own bollywood is crazy about. There's this old version of it directed by Bimal Roy with Dilip kumar as protagonist which was again remade by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with Shahrukh Khan in the lead with a whopping budget beyond 50 Cr.s on mammoth sets designed by Nitin Desai and ravishing costumes adorned by the lead actresses.

The movie that we saw was one more contemperory take on the much beloved character of bollywood. it is being directed by Anurag Kashyap. this devdas, though, was a bit different. a contmperory remake of the old one. Anurag moved the story out of kolkata to the northern part of India and brought characters from the 1960's to the 21st century. the director did not confine himself much to the original novel and inspired by only the main plot of it.

The occassion on which we saw the movie was also the one we would never forget for the rest of our life. it was Valentine day. I was asked by one of my friend(Sachin) to give him a treat since it was my birthday on 9 February. he settled in for the movie. two of my friends joined us later whom sachin had not seen but heard of. About Sachin, well, He recently had had a split with his girlfriend whom he was seeing for past 1.5 years and someone who broke off with him just over an SMS without any clarification (pretty rude na.). My other friend knew of his break off and pranked on him saying to me that 'I hope he does not resort to any thing that Dev D does in the movie.'

Dev D sees a confluence of two unorthodox players in the movie business coming together. The main lead of the film, Abhay Deol, and its director, Anurag Kashyap. the film recounts the stroy of Devdas who is in love with his child hood girlfriend, Paro, but does not marry her due to their egoes being hurted over a small spat. paro ends up marrying a delhi businessman who has already got kids from his previus wife. Shattered by this, our very own Dev moves on to delhi and resort to all wrong-doings which we possibly can expect from a heart-broken man like boozing, visting brothels where he meets Chanda, a girl of a diplomat who was caught in an MMS scandal due to his boyfriend's mischiviousness and later on dragged into this vicious world. where Dev voluntarily deserts himself from his family, Chanda has been forced against her will to exile from the very society she lived in. egotist Dev gives in to Chanda after knowing her past and how she coped with it.

Where the old devdas ruins his life for his child hood love and keeps his promise of letting himself die only in her(Paro's) hometown, Anurag finsihes the story on a very positive note. it's chanda who convinces him to let his egotism die rather than his own life. she teaches him to move on in life and film ends with a happy ending.

Delhi Was Delightful

It's been 4 months since i had been to Delhi but its memories still lingers vividly on my mind. I had been there to attend my friend's sister's wedding whom i met in my previous company's Training Schedule held in Chennai. I was accompanied by one of my college friend.after being there for merely a week several movies shot in Delhi realeased in quick succession of time namely Oye Lucky Lucky Oye!,Dev D, Delhi 6(I did not see it's previous 5 parts, have you?) etc.

The Day of Departure : 26/11 The Unforgettable one.

We had booked our ticket well in advance still it took several weeks to get confirmed. It was Rajdhani. I had heard lot about it. After travelling in it I realized it was well worth it. we left mumbai at 4:45 in the evening and luckily both of us had got window seat. As soon as we reached 'Baroda', We were accompanied by two middle aged married men, one of whom, originally hailed from Rajsthan but settled in Gujrat from past few years for business purpose, was very friendly to talk with. the other one, fatso, slept as soon as he had his dinner. It was through him that we heard the shocking news of mumbai's elite hotels (Taj Mahal, Trident) were being attacked by Terrorists. Initially, we did not take it seriously but it was only when my cell started flooding with calls from my acquiantences that i understood the seriousness of the incident. Being a mumbaikar, i was moved by the incident.

The next day morning we were awake by 6:30 and we had reached somewhere near Uttar Pradesh when i unveiled the curtain of the window. I was immensely excited about having to know that we would actually be reaching Delhi within few hours. That few hours journey toward Delhi in the morning was the most exciting, enthralling moment in my life till date. nothing could compare it. however, my friend was a bit worried about how the accomodation would be at Delhi.

Finally, we reached Delhi. The train was 45 minutes late something which had been the tradition of Indian Rail and this time was no exception. They made sure that they lived up to its tradition. Meanwhile, Lokesh had been calling me to inform that he’s waiting for us outside the Railway station. It took hell lot of time for us to get our way out of the station and look for the dog from the famous ad campaign of ‘Vodafone’ (well, it was the centre point where we were supposed to meet.) Winter was just around the corner but political atmosphere was burning like anything due to the upcoming elections.

There he was. Extra-ordinarily fair. He looks very much of a foreign breed something on which I had complimented him when I started talking to him during our tenure in Chennai. He had worn a winter Jacket with T-shirt inside it and a Track. He was looking handsome as usual. I introduced him to my friend and we headed off to his house. During the traveling, I observed that there were no buildings in Delhi. Not at all except some official buildings in Connought Place which was very much a replica of Kala Ghoda in CST. Later on I heard that the resemblance between both the places because they had been built by the britishers.

When we reached his house, we freshened up and had our first share of Paratha. His Bhabhi had prepared delicious parathas for us in the breakfast. Lokesh asked us if we would like to rest a bit but we refused to be at home. Especially with very few days in hand we decided to see delhi as much as we can which we eventually did.

Day 1: 27/11

Lokesh brought us to a nearby market which was called ‘Rajouri Garden’. He told us that Girls from affluent families visit here to shop. Oh Boy, were not they pretty. They were so fair and beautiful that I was obliged to ask myself ‘Yeh Delhiwale Apni Betiyon ko Kaun si Chakki Ka Aata Khilate Hain’. From there, We moved to a near by mall where we just freaked out like everyone else. While taking a leave from the exit gate we had our first glimpse of Delhi Metro. That was something. It was sleek, fast, and stylish. The track of the metro rail were laid somewhere around 60-80 feet above the ground level. It was even well above the highway bridge that was built. We waited there to shoot it in our camera. (Thanks to its frequency after every three minute, we finally managed to click that.). We asked Lokesh if there is any place where we can reach out to through Metro Rail. Lokesh thought of taking us to Connaught Place where there’s famous market called ‘Palika Bazaar’ and a garden named after Rajeev Gandhi.

Traveling in Metro was an awesome experience. First surprise was the disciplined queue in which everyone has to be in order to board the train. It was surprising because having traveled in Mumbai for so many years we never stood up in the queue to get into the train. When train did arrive, we got into it once all the passangers got down from it (more civilized and sophisticated way of traveling I felt). Inside the metro, I was witnessing an exciting journey which I felt should never end. I wished if I could have such convenient transportation to go to my work in Mumbai. In this way half of the energy I could have easily saved which I exhaust in getting in and out of Mumbai locals. The best moment was when we passed a gigantic statue of lord Hanuman who was well above the level of even the metro’s track (Just to give you an idea, metro itself was running 60-68 feet above the ground level). After reaching Rajiv Chouk, we freaked out in the market and strolled in the garden, before we left for the home. After reaching home, everbody from Lokesh’s family had arrived from their daily activities. We met his elder brother, his father, his nephew and niece. They all greeted us with warm and affection and talked to us introducing them to us rather than formally being introduced by Lokesh. That’s what I liked about them the most.

Day 2: 27/11

Day 2 was India gate. While heading towards India gate we went through safdarjang road where all the big shots of politics had their homes. There were security personnel’s at every nook and corner of the road especially after 26/11 Mumbai attack. The India Gate is one of the largest war memorials in India. It is a prominent landmark in Delhi and commemorates the members of the erstwhile British Indian Army who lost their lives fighting for the Indian Empire in World War I and the Afghan Wars. The interesting thing we found at near by garden of it was the several couples getting cozy in front of the whole crowd. After india gate while on our way back, we decided to booze a bit but being election the day after tomorrow all bars were closed. So we straight away came back home.

Day 3 : 28/11

Day 3 was the main reason why we had visited delhi. We were scheduled to visit the wedding of my friens’s sister late in the evening. We decided not to go out and stay home. Lokesh had arranged a cab on official code of his manager. ( I was surprised to know that Lokesh had resigned from that job but still he was able to book a cab and that too maruti Sx4. we were thankful to Lokesh since our stay in Delhi was so royal that we never had to travel through public transportation except in the metro. That too we insisted him to do so.)

When we reached the place. ‘Baraat’ had just arrived and I saw Anuj after so many years. He had not changed at all ( here, I am talking about the size). That was some wedding. The wedding couple were looking gorgeous. All the males had darted formal suits and females draped in sarees. There was one ‘WagonR’ wrapped as gift for the groom, Lucky he! It was the first north indian family’s wedding that I had attneded and I loved it for sure. Aftere wishing the couple, we left for home.

Day 4 : 29/11

We were very unsure of which place to visit on this day. Especially being Sunday. There were many option being thrown but we finally decided to go to ‘Lotus Temple’ which was adviced by Lokesh’s nephew, Simar. The Bahá'í House of Worship in Delhi, India, popularly known as the Lotus Temple due to its flowerlike shape, is a Bahá'í House of Worship and also a prominent attraction in Delhi. I loved the peace over there especially hailing from a very noisy place like mumbai. We were made to sit inside the temple and we could hear our murmuring In the echo no matter how hard we tried to talk in a soft tone.

On the way back, We visited Akhardham temple. Security had been tigtened up because of the recent terror attacks. But we never had to jostle through the crowd as we thought so since there were not many people came to visit the place. The temple, which attracts approximately 70 percent of all tourists who visit Delhi, was officially opened on 6 November 2005. Designed in accordance with ancient Vedic text known as the Sthapatya Shastra, it features a blend of architectural styles from across India. It is constructed entirely from Rajasthani pink sandstone and Italian Carrara marble, and has no support from steel or concrete.

We were pretty early to reach keerti Nagar. But in the midway we decided to have some small pegs. We arranged alcohol, snacks and glasses before reaching a dhaba. We made a make-shift bar in the car itself. Lokesh told us about his desire to go abroad ( he is curious towards Australia). We had had a nice time except my friend who was disturbed after having received a call which was supposed to be her friend (who he loved unconditionally) informing him about her marriage plans. I could really understand what severe pain he must be going through at that very time. But he really did not make us aware of it at that time.

Day : 29/11

It was Monday and lokesh had to resume his duty after several days of leave. He suggested we could go back to old delhi and visit chandni chowk and Red fort. We went to Red fort. But after reaching there we could not stop ourselves laughing at. Well, why? Because Red Fort is closed on Mondays. We could not help but watch it from outside. Disappointed by this fact, we did not even pay a last visit to chandni chowk as per the schedule. We did not know what to do for the rest of the day. My friend adviced to go to back to Connaught Place where we had been to on the first day since he wanted to do some shopping. Shopping was done but it was still 7: 00 p.m. and we wondered going so early at home would be very boring since Lokesh was not there. We decided to sit there as much as we could. Finally we left to leave for home. We already had food from outside. When we reached home, we were treated with so much affection( asking us whether we had food?, how did we like delhi?, telling us how was the expereience of them having visited mumbai)that I was really touched by their hospitality. We had already been delighted with the kind of treatment we had from the very first day.

Day : 30/11

It was the day of the departure. It was the end of the all new and exciting things that had happened over the last few days and going back to the same old world again. Our train was at 4:30 in the evening from Nizamuddin Railway Station. After having lunch and greeting all his family members, We went to a sweets shop to have some sweets to take back home. We spent lot of time shopping for it that it was already 3’o clock. Lokesh excused himself since he won’t be coming at the station to drop us. We hurriedly started looking out for Rickshaws. As soon as we got one. We shifted all the luggage from his car into the rickshaw. And that was it. The moment came in a flash. The moment that I hated the most when I had to say bye to Lokesh. I hugged him whole heartedly and thanked him for treating us so wonderfully through out our stay in Delhi.
Delhi was not the first place that I visited and would not be the last one for sure. But there was something about it because of which the its memories would never fade.