C : Crazy People - Part II #AtoZChallenge2020

Last year when I wrote this post titled, Crazy People - Part I, I had not imagined that this title will lend itself so well to current crazy times and will be so relevant for my Letter C post, in this April Daily Blogging Challenge. 

Let me also add another dimension to this. There are good kind of crazy people too - like the doctors who are working so hard in this lock-down trying to stem the spread of Covid19 disease , our security forces who are out there to ensure that the lock-down works, bankers and other essential services providers who are ensuring basic services are running well and above all my wife, who is putting up with my extra working hours despite the fact that I am working from home. A big thanks to all these good kind of crazy people. I am grateful that you all are there.

At the same time this post is about the other kind of crazy people - the stupid ones. The kind of crazy people I talked about in my last post on this subject. And let me warn you, there are many.

The crazy ones who thought that they won't get the virus and kept going out. Now more people are at risk of getting the disease than ever before because of their misplaced bravado. The crazy ones who tried to escape the thermal screenings at airports, by lowering their body temperature, after popping a pill. They thought they are doing the smart thing. But they just showed us, that the world doesn't need super villains like Joker. Few crazy ones are enough to cause massive destruction. And those toilet paper hoarders, let me remind you that humans are different than animals. Survival of the fittest is the law of jungle, not the human civilization. We need to be more compassionate, not loony.

Before the lock-down, I used to romanticize the 'Work from Home' or WFH concept. Now I get to see its ugly side. There are two types of crazy people here too. The ones who think that WFH is a holiday and stay disconnected most of the times. You are pressurizing the ones who really want the work to get done. Then there are the other ones - the more dangerous kind of crazy. The ones who think that WFH is same as working 24 X 7. Guys, you are worse than the headache I get during my hangovers.

Each country's government is trying to do a lot, within their respective constraints. We have every right to demand more from our governments, but it is crazy to think that we don't have any role to play. So please stay in, stay safe and don't pelt the people, who are trying to help you, with stones! Remember, when they help you, they are enabling you to help others. Choice is yours : To be a Hero or a crazy villain!

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter C

2017: Chat rooms (A funny anecdote)

2018: Conversations that influenced me

2019: Courtrooms in Hindi Films / Bollywood

C : Courtrooms in Hindi Films / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

Off late Hindi films showcasing court cases or court rooms have become too sanitized for lovers of commercial potboilers. Some of the recent films based on court cases or law like Shahid, Court (Marathi / Hindi language) and No One Killed Jessica, are narrated more like a procedural. They are bereft of any drama and they sometimes focus on mundane. No doubt these films are engaging in their own way. But this post is not about films that fall under the genre of courtroom procedural. This post is to share with you some of my favorite moments from the courtroom DRAMAS that have been every Indian cinema lover's staple diet growing up. 

Dialogues

There are some time-worn dialogues and phrases used in Indian courtroom dramas. Sample few - 

Objection Milord! Your Honour! (British - Colonial Hangover)

Mere Kaabil Muakil! (means 'my worthy client' in Urdu / Arabic; Urdu is used liberally in Hindi films by lawyers)

Tazirat-e-Hind, Dafaa 302 ke tahet sazaa-e-maut di jaati hai (If not for this dialogue I would have never learned about Section 302 in the Indian Penal Code and death sentence)

But the most iconic dialogue from a courtroom drama in Indian cinema ever is from a film called Damini. Spouted by none other than Sunny Deol this dialogue is famously known as 'Taareekh pe Taareekh' ( Taareekh means a calendar date!) In this scene, a key witness has not reached the court at prescribed time, as some goons are trying to kill her on the way. As the honorable judge at the behest of the opposition lawyer is about to adjourn the case to the next available date, Sunny Deol, breaks into this diatribe against the flaws of justice system.

After watching this scene anyone would like to enroll for public speaking and dramatics courses to practice law.

Bravado

There are lawyers who argue in court to prove their point. And then there are lawyers who take strong actions in the court to prove their point. Actions that sometimes blur the line between stupidity and bravado. In the film Waqt, the lead lawyer Sunil Dutt, to establish a chain of events, uses a dummy dead body and then also drags a heavy body bag, with leaking fluid (substitute for blood) in multiple ways. I found it fascinating, that courts actually are like labs and lawyers are physicists. Later in life, I discovered that actually this is the job of forensics department and not of lawyers who excel in physics. 

There are many such scenes in many such films, where courts are like playgrounds, and lawyers are like athletes. But one scene that really left an impression on me was from the movie 'Meri Jung.' The hero of the film, Anil Kapoor, is a defence lawyer who is trying to save a doctor accused of killing a patient by poisoning him. The patient had actually died of poisoning. But someone had replaced the medicine bottle with a poison bottle. So doctor was innocent. So how did the defence lawyer prove his client's innocence in the film? In front of a packed courtroom, he picks the same bottle of poison from the items of evidence on display and consumes it. The poison is supposed to act after few minutes. The judge immediately pronounces his judgement and declares the doctor innocent. No Taareekh pe Taarekh here! Soon after Anil Kapoor runs out of the court and is attended to by a doctor waiting for him. Watch the first few minutes of the video below.

After watching this scene it is very clear that our courts are capable of speedy justice, but we don't have enough daredevil lawyers.

Vigilantism

Shahenshah is a vigilante film in which Amrish Puri, the bad guy, is hanged to death during the climax scene from the roof of the courtroom by Amitabh Bachchan. Why wait for a judge to lord over the case! The cliche here is not the vigilantism, but the fact that courtrooms in Hindi films are so big, with high ceilings. Almost like banquet halls. The real courtrooms are nothing like them. Also I just realized, that Amrish Puri was the bad guy in Damini, Meri Jung and Shahenshah. Some body of work!

Comedy is another courtroom cliche often used to diffuse the tension in Hindi films. Either the judge saying Order! Order! with no one paying heed to him or a witness would often turn out to be a buffoon. 

Many a time, when evidence, argument or bravado is not enough, the leading lawyer will do a rapid fire Q&A session and the criminal will often have a slip of tongue and that would be treated as an admissible and irrevocable evidence. Clearly villain's lawyers always miss the trick in Hindi films. Watch the scene from Waqt, below to know what I mean. 

Lastly the spectators sitting in the gallery of the courtrooms would always applaud for the hero at the end. And judge will keep shouting, "Order! Order!"  with no one paying heed to him. 

Is it some kind of meta cue for the film audience to clap as well during that scene? Clever! Really clever! May be this is also a cue for you to appreciate my efforts in the comments section. 

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood cliches. You can read the theme reveal post here.

2017 Challenge Post from Letter C: Chat rooms - It was about a practical joke we played on someone. Click here to read.

2018 Challenge Post from Letter C: Conversations that influenced me - It was a reflective post in which I cited some conversations that I remember till date. Click here to read. 

C : Conversations that influenced me #AtoZchallenge

"Everybody talks, but there is no conversation." - Dejan Stojanovic 

Despite the cacophony all around us, there are those rare moments, once in a while, when we have really meaningful conversations. Conversations, that influence us. Conversations, that we can recall vividly, even after years. 

There are very few people, among the many we meet over our lifetime, with whom we connect in truest sense. That connection may not last a lifetime or in some cases it might. But that moment, that conversation, remains etched in our mind. There can be multiple reasons for the same. A conversation might lead us to take an important decision. It might help us look at something from a different perspective, altering our world view. The conversation may have cemented a bond. Or simply, it might lead to an introspection. I can count such conversations in my life on fingertips. 

Also it is possible that some conversations I had in past, were perceived as meaningful by the person(s) I was conversing with, because they got something out of it. I may be not even aware of that.

Through this post, I have tried to reproduce the gist of some of those conversations which have influenced me one way or the other.

1. Mom Knows the best : I used to write a diary when in 7th or 8th standard. Despite all my efforts of anyone not knowing about it, my mom found it one day. And she read it and discovered, to her horror, that her son's thoughts were too wayward (putting it mildly). She immediately summoned me and had a conversation with me, which instilled in me a fear (of a sound thrashing too) that I never wrote a diary again for years. I think that conversation helped me understand my thought process and my limitations better. In hindsight, I can say, it helped me focus better in life and how to be more careful, when it comes to hiding things from my parents ;-)

2. Love for Science and Mathematics: Last year, I had dedicated a post to one of my favorite teachers (Usha Madam). There are few other teachers whom I admire a lot. Anupinder Sir is one of them. He used to stay very near to our house. And I started taking home-tuition from him for Mathematics and Science. His style of teaching was very interactive and he is one of the major reasons, I took up non-medical studies later in life. He used to follow a different sect of our religion. Once in a while, we used to have spirited conversations on religion and deadly sins. His ability to not treat me as a child, but as an adult, gave me a lot of confidence.

3. Down in the dumps : On a particular day, during 2006-07, I was surrounded by friends and everything was pleasant on the surface, but deep inside there was a pain. Pain of a failure, shattering of dreams, unknown to many. SA noticed that and asked about my well being. I went to my empty apartment after that, about to get into a dark space, when I received a call from SA to check on me. I think that saved me. As I recall the incident today, I can surely say, my pain and sadness were for futile reasons.

4. Coffee Shop Conversations: Normally, the coffee shop conversations are too shallow. They exist to fill the the empty space and time. But that one conversation in Cafe Coffee Day, Ludhiana with IC (extremely reticent) who shared with me a common taste in music, was different. We had met almost a decade after school. I vaguely remember the things we discussed that day. At some point of time, our discussion veered to a point, where I was told about the exact color of my eyes. It may sound funny, but I never knew it. One interaction, if done by being fully there, both in body and mind, can forge bonds of life-time. Now whenever I meet someone, I try to be there, mentally as well.

5. Work Meeting: It was a Friday evening on a slow day in office (don't remember the day or year). KG had been following up with me since weeks, for a meeting to evaluate the proposals for our media spends. Normally such vendor meetings get over in 30 minutes or so. But as we started discussing a particular concept, some common interests emerged. We discussed passionately about things we believe in outside our professional lives as well. Sometime during the discussion, I had realized that KG is a great listener and floodgates opened. I try to emulate this listening ability even today.

As I write, I recall a few more sober as well as meaningful conversations. I am tempted to continue.  But I don't think I am yet ready to reveal everything, everything that is exceedingly personal.

Also there is no point in elaborating on the conversations I had with some of my best friends over umpteen booze sessions. Those deserve another post altogether. In fact, I had mentioned few of those in a post titled Instant.

---

My last year's challenge post from letter C was a funny anecdote about Chat rooms. Read it here.

---

My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is all about writing stories, anecdotes and observations from my life in form of easy to read listicles. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

C : Chat rooms

ASL?

Do you remember the time, when "ASL?" was the term you used umpteen times daily?

Age,Sex,Location?

Chat rooms had opened a new world to a small town Indian. A guy who would be scared to even talk to the girl in her class, was now courting some Mary from Hot_Girls Chatroom or was sharing his love bytes with Angella_123 from US of A. An average Indian teenage guy in his own mind was really cool. He didn't need to think too much about those Ruchis and Nehas in his class. To hell with them!!!

Internet had arrived in late 90's in India and Cyber-cafes were mushrooming in every corner of the town. Our trips to video-game parlors were now being replaced by these clandestine dates with hottest girls all across the world, albeit virtually.

So every time the response to the 'S' in "ASL?" was a certain 'F', that was the cue to hit your charm button. And every time the response was 'M', you would just close that window and open a new one in hope for a better result. Right? No. Wrong.

And that is where this anecdote from my life that we friends laugh at even today is something I want to share in this post. 

Friend 1 had increased his cyber cafe visits a lot. Another friend (Friend 2) of mine had discovered that he is chatting up with this really hot girl called Priya from Chandigarh these days and they are soon going to meet. I found out that he was using a chat-room which was not verifying any credentials of the users and didn't even require a password. So one fine day Friend 2 and I went to the same cyber cafe at the same time as the Friend 1 used to go. We logged in with the user name Priya_coolchick. (Here, let us applaud, my Friend 2's snooping skills) before Friend 1 logged in as BigJatt_Ludhiana. What followed was hilarious. We chatted with him as Priya from Chandigarh and set up a coffee date in Chandigarh. He looked very happy, once his one hour session got over, and we were really amused too. 

But as it happens always, I had the guilt pangs, and before he could really go to Chandigarh, I spilled the beans. We were really mean to him. Right? But it was a lesson for all of us, to not trust everything on internet. Things could have gone really wrong had someone else played a prank on him.

Soon after Friend 1 had his first real girlfriend in college. All is well that ends well.

So do you have any chat rooms experience to share?