A : Afresh Start #AtoZChallenge2020

Afresh Start - A Short Fictional Story

Avinash had a spring in his step today. He had come to office after 100 days. The lock-down was over weeks ago, but he remained in isolation for quite some time, even after that. He was scared of stepping out, of catching the virus. Fearful of people, groups and crowds in general. The period of isolation though, was not entirely futile. He read many self-help books and motivational articles. He connected with lot of his friends on video calls, friends he hadn't talked to for ages. He had learned to roll out fresh pasta with his hands. 

This stretch of isolation was not all roses. There were times, when he had self doubt, when he felt low or just stared vacantly at the ceiling of his cushy bedroom for hours.  But it was his work, that always brought him back to normal. He is a creative designer and he had kept certain hours dedicated every day to work from home. This work of his, provided some sense of normalcy to him in this time of chaos. And of course, the regular delivery of groceries by his neighborhood store - contact-less delivery - kept him alive. 

He became a regular on this particular dating app too. It was fun for him. From behind his phone screen he could pretend to be anybody. There was no real risk of a real meeting or he thought so! A very beautiful, sapiosexual (almost everyone on the app had used this adjective to describe themselves) girl finally forced him to come out of his self imposed imprisonment. 

He had a date today after office. He finally had decided to start afresh and not be fearful of the invisible enemy. 

He had a spring in his step today. A mask on his face. A bottle of sanitizer in his hand. Confident to face the world. As he sat in his cabin, working on his laptop, he dialed the number of pantry in his office. He ordered for a strong coffee. After some time, the coffee was brought in by the new pantry boy. Avinash inquired about Santosh, his favorite pantry boy, who made the world's best coffee. His face fell when he heard about Santosh's death caused due to virus outbreak in his locality. He is survived by his wife and a young son. Avinash made a mental note to send some money to them. 

He sipped his coffee. It had gone a bit cold. He perked up thinking of his evening date.

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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 A

2017: Away

2018: Amazing things that my ten year old self would find miraculous today

2019: Award ceremonies in Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood

A : Award Ceremonies in Hindi Film Industry / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

Hindi Film Industry awards are dime a dozen. From December to March every year, there is at least one film award ceremony being telecast on TV every week. They are more of TV events and are less interested in really rewarding and recognizing merit. One can dissect several aspects related to them like their selection process, jury, actual event design, number of awards, categories of awards etc. But there are few things I really find funny.

My son is over two years old and has started going to a playgroup school. Recently he got a participation award in running and sorting. I never knew this category of sport existed. And he got an award for just showing up. Our film stars are like these two year old kids. If they show up at an award ceremony, the inadvertently win one. After all no one likes to go back home empty handed. Also because these award events are designed for TV telecast, the awards are interspersed with lot of garish performances. These performances are in fact shot much before actual awards with no audience. On the editing table, they very cleverly mix shots from the actual award ceremony and these pre-recorded performances. I am not exaggerating, but I once saw an actor dancing on the stage in a costume and simultaneously sitting in a tuxedo, applauding his own performance from the audience area. The editor must have slept off watching the performance. Film stars are paid for these performances in cash and kind. Akshay Kumar claims in the video below (watch from 5th to 6th minute) that he got an offer to perform at an award ceremony for half his price and the organizers assured him an award instead.  He declined the award and asked for his full price. 

When you have to keep so many egotist film stars happy, of course you have to invent new award categories. Screen Awards 2019 had categories like Real Star Awards and Best Ethnic Style Awards for both males and females. And they were given to film actors, but not really for acting. I am sure some of them performed on the stage. They at times give Best Onscreen Jodi (Couple) Award. This happens when Shahrukh Khan and Kajol act in the shittiest film of the year. In Filmfare awards, they give multiple best actor awards - Popular Best Actor and Critics' Award for Best Actor. We all know that the organizers didn't have the guts to not give the award to the Popular Best Actor. Had Academy Awards learned this trick, Leonardo DiCaprio would have won much earlier, his Oscar!

These are some of the reasons that the National Film Awards in India are more respected. I can't claim that they are entirely credible, as politics of the day play an important role in them too. But one thing these National Film Awards get right is that they don't need a sponsor. On the other hand, Filmfare Awards 2019 are actually called Vimal Elaichi Filmfare Awards. At some point in past, they were called Manikchand Filmfare Awards. I sometimes wonder, why such a strong fixation with Paan Masala / Gutka / Tobacco brands. 

May be these awards are like the Paan Masala. Pop into your mouth! Chew! Spit! They guarantee to leave a bad taste in your mouth. 

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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 A: Away - It was a contemplative post about being away from home. Click here to read. 

2018 Challenge Post from Letter A: Amazing things that my ten year old self would find miraculous today - It was a fun post looking back upon my amazing childhood and changes since then. Click here to read.

A : Amazing things that my ten year old self would find miraculous today #AtoZchallenge

When I was in my pre-teens, a new hotel opened up in my hometown, Ludhiana. (There is a hotel at that place, even today. But, not the same one.)  The biggest attraction for me in that new hotel was a lift, which had an outer glass wall over-looking the road. By the way, I had never been in a lift before. 

At that time, we used to stay in a joint family. One of my cousins threw a tantrum to try out the lift. And along with our grandmother, packed in a small car, we kids took a ride to the hotel and had multiple joy rides in the magical lift, that took us up and down four floors, multiple times. It is an amazing anecdote for various reasons. One, my grandmother went to that three-star hotel without footwear. Most of the times, she was barefoot. And nobody stopped us from entering the hotel. We rarely used to go out for eating in restaurants, and it was perfectly normal. We kids didn't feel compelled to dine there or spend money in that hotel on anything else. I must tell you, kids get away with a lot of things. 

When I look back at that eventful evening, I don't remember when I started taking for granted,  technological marvels like these. In 2016, I was in Dubai, and I went up the lift in Burj Khalifa. It took about a minute to go up some freaking 100 plus floors. But I don't remember being as excited as I was in that four-storey hotel in Ludhiana.

Also, we dine out a lot more now. I don't think my 10 year old self would find that easy to digest. (no pun intended)

One of my uncles (my mother's eldest brother) - mamaji - used to stay in Patiala. Once we went there for a visit. There was something called an AC Market in Patiala, which we all wanted to see. Not because we wanted to shop there or there was a line-up of great brands, that we see today in most of the malls. We wanted to go there because, as the name suggests, it had centralised Air Conditioning, a rarity about 20 years ago, in small towns. And for us kids, it had a moving staircase - an escalator. Again something I witnessed there for the first time. And, totally freaked out riding them. It may  now sound funny, but I find escalators pretty standard, boring and slow. 

So let me list down some amazing things that my ten year old self would find miraculous today.

1. Home Delivery - When I moved to Mumbai in 2005, I was surprised with the range of things we can get home delivered, even alcohol. I think this is the pinnacle of our advancement as a civilization, considering we started off as hunter-gatherers. This doesn't only reflect our technology usage but also our enterprise and change in social structures. With apps, ruling the roost, in last 10 years, even Home Delivery has undergone a massive change. Now you don't even need to call.

2. Cash Less - Sometimes I don't use cash for days on stretch. Everything is either already paid for or you have cards. In fact, if you throw a stone around, there are chances you will hit a payment wallet instead of a leather one. When I was 10 years old, at that time also I didn't use cash for days on stretch. But that was because I didn't have any. Parents were my debit and credit cards rolled into one. 

3. Entertainment - We are constantly hooked to a screen nowadays. The excitement of waiting for a Sunday to watch our favorite cartoon or Ramayana is long forgotten. This instant gratification is all pervasive. Not only in entertainment, but our smart phones have replaced most of the things, I used to do elsewhere as a 10 year old. I feel it most in terms of satiating my curiosity. We just search on google if we need an answer. I am sure people will have smaller memories 100 years from now. Evolution.

4. Multiplexes - I spend lot of my free time at movies. And my 10 year old self would not even recognize the way we watch movies now. Multiplexes have sanitized the movie watching experience over the years. Single screens have a nostalgic value for me. I still remember the tickets bought in black and time spent in queues. You can read more about my experiences with single screens here.

5. Gully Cricket  - I heard they take few thousand bucks to play equivalent of Gully Cricket at indoor turfs these days. That is a sad state of affairs. We used to play for hours in our street. Friendships formed and characters were built. I wish such social spaces hadn't shrunk. And kids shouldn't be spending more time at tuition. Save the childhoods. 

This list is endless. You can add more such items in the comments section. 

But technology and innovation are not the only things bringing in change. Few things else do too.

When I was 10 years old, I never thought that my career would bring me to Chennai of all places in India. My 10 year old self would have never agreed to stay away from my mom ever. Lust of money is overpowering it seems.

I always wanted to be an academic (a scientist) and settle abroad as a kid. When I was 22, I was all set to achieve this goal. But then to woo someone special and due to my youthful stupidity (cocktail of raging hormones, recklessness and an immature love) I took up a sales job and my career path was set. Today, I have a satisfying career. But there are times, when I think, what my life would have been?

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My last year's challenge post from letter A was about being away from your roots. Read it here.

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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.

A: Away

Away from home since 2002. Fifteen years. Fifteen long years. It sounds surreal that for the first 22 years of my life, when I was at home (my home, more specifically, my parents' home) I never imagined a life of a nomad.

But then I just left home for work (read greener pastures). I lived in and traveled to many cities since then. I even went to few other countries for business or personal reasons. A large part of these 15 years were spent in rented places. Temporary accommodations. I stayed with my wife and my parents visited often. But I always felt I was away from home. From my roots. I bought my own matchbox sized apartment in Mumbai, three years ago. I felt that now I have something of my own to call home. But. But that feeling of being away from home never went away. I missed the home where I grew up. I missed my hometown always. As I got bogged down by the daily grind, I started thinking less about my home, my town Ludhiana. But the "missing home" feeling grew stronger.

After staying for 12 years in Mumbai, I got a new job in Chennai recently, a land farther from my moorings. I shifted for betterment of my career. I know for a fact, that I will never be able to call any place my home apart from the home where my childhood was spent. No luxury or material benefit will be able to replace that happiness of doing so many things for the first time there. Nothing can replace, not even my own house in Mumbai, the warmth and love of my home. 

The feeling of being away is something I have learned to live with though. But one day, at the end of my life, this feeling will vaporize and we will get to our true abode.