Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-1

I had not taken birth on the land of Kanpur but my heart belongs to here for ever. I have fist arrived on the soil of Kanpur on 9th July,1994. I was on the verge of completing 9 years of my life. Half of the previous life was passed in the hills, Nanital and remaining half was spent in the small town, Salempur. Kanpur was contrast to them in all ways...

Kanpur is shown in the films very few times despite its metro nature in Hindi heartland. I had watched 'Bunty and Babli' just because it has 5-10 scenes filmed in the Kanpur. And in the 'Dhadak Dhadak' song,when AB jr. is standing on the train top at the background of railway bridge on Ganga river, the cult movie become 'paisa vasool' for me. I recall with this scene about the train on narrow gauge (now converted into broad gauge) piercing Kanpur through middle and Doodhiyaas both in and out of train rushing back to kannuj, farukhabad....

And now on screen has come the clincher - Tashan. No film has used a city so intrinsically in its screenplay as Tashan does for Kanpur. Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar) and his antics as Raavan, crimes as an electricity thief, dialogues as a collection agent, sighs as a Roadside Romeo and most stunningly, his language are so Kanpuriya that its unbelievable!

And after a high-voltage fight scene, Saif pays homage to the city of Kanpur in a perverse sort of way by saying – “In logon ke beech mujhe zinda rehna hain, to mujhe akalmand banna padega, khatarnaak banna padega, Kanpuriya banna padega…”

I heard a string of decorative words in my first season at the school. Kanpuriya people blend slang so fast with full flow of pure hindi that kanpuriya dialect become most sublime language in the world. For example mumbaiya word 'Raapchik' can be exclaimed in continuous streak of four different words prevailing same sense: Behtareen, Chaukas, Sateek, Jhakaas.

Koi Sagaa Nahin…
Gulzar’s one (self-acknowledged) act of plagiarism is the famous line from the 'Bunty Aur Babli' title song… (Aisa) koi sagaa nahin, jisko (humne) thagaa nahin. This, in turn, is the super-famous punch line of the super-successful 'Thaggu Ke Laddoo' of Kanpur. Known far & wide for his laddoos, Thaggu got his name from his grandfather, who started the shop and was particularly ashamed of using sugar (a videshi product) against the call of Gandhi. In an allusion to Gandhi’s verdict that anybody using foreign-made sugar is actually robbing (thago-ing) the nation, he called himself Thaggu – and the name stuck till date as a super brand! Intensive research is currently on to figure the origin of the other famous product of his – the Badnaam Kulfi. Thaggu’s confidence in his products shows through one more of his punchlines… Mehmaanon ko mat khilaiye, tik jayengey!. To know more about communist poori and apradhi aata, log on to Laddu Special.

You can also get 'Makhan Malai' at Meston road. It is brilliant and worth to taste..Not to forget south indian restaurant opposite to the IIT gate or Lucky Restaurant at Awadhpuri on G.T. road. The last stop of the Veggie Express has been identified in the city of Kanpur is Gyan Vaishna: A sattvik eatery, situated right next to a traffic junction (which, in turn, is very close to railway crossing) at Jareeb Chaukee. So, even if you do not get run over by a train, auto or bike while trying to enter the restaurant, you will find eternal bliss in their ghee-laden preparations of aloo gobi, daal tadka and fresh rotis. And they some how manage to gauge your fullness. So after a while, the benign waiter smiles and provides tissues and water - without trying to hard-sell their mithais. Priceless!!!

.............I love Kanpur...............

G 9 at ITBHU

This work is an art of pure imagination and any relation to dead or alive individual is purely coincidental. Any similarity with real human can be considered as pure coincidence.This jingo is so common in bollywood unlike hollywood movies but it can work here very well for my protection. I have pulverized the facts with fiction but this story can be confirmed unofficially from any alumnus of our esteemed college.

This is not an urban legend traveling in the lanes of ITBHU. G9 is not any mythical term coined by me. It consist of 9 distinguished teachers grouped together for greater good of majority. G9 had been constituted by 9 people who are still living legends in their own backyard of BHU. But, it is a taboo to speak about them in the department. I was astonished by the fact that even blogs and social networking websites (orkut, facebook or Linkedin) do not have any mention of them. It was their charm or horrifying Deja-vu.

I am not mocking at them through public blog. They are well respected gentle and elder men. I RESPECT them for their concerns about degrading morals and academically uninterested students. I just want to give "Jhaadu ke Jhappe" to group G9. They really need a big hug from all of the IT students. I am not sure of the instant reaction but they will behave different after 1000 hugs. There is a dashing line in the movie 'The Dark Knight': You die as a hero or live long to see yourself becoming villain. It can be molded for them as : You live at a place for short time like a hero or live long there to see yourself becoming villain in the eyes of the coming generation. Cafeteria table reserved in student section by a privileged group of teacher is living example of this quotation.

PCU is (now retired) the prominent name in this pseudo group. Either, I do not know the names of other persons or (even if know) I will not reveal in the blog land. Discipline is their weapon of mass destruction of moral of uneducated (non learning technical engineering student). Solution to the problem of unwillingness of students to study as geek was devised by screwing them with grades and compulsory attendance. Fakka is also used by them for breaking heart of a rebel student. This solution can achieve short term focus on study with uni focal on theoretical (no tutorials) subject. But long term loss is immense. With that mode of teaching, student moves away from the learning and shifted its focus on shortcut route of success. He/she consider these well wishers as their enemy.

An environment of fear clumping discipline is made in the department. Lack of conversation and feedback from each other creates a communication gap between student and teachers. Knowledge can only pass through bridge between them; Questioning of authority by students is taken as negative perceptive in this group. For your update, Disciplinary committee (DISCO) constitute of majority of members from this G9.

Point to Note: Discipline cannot be imposed on anyone against his/her will, especially on adults. Discipline is a self applied phenomenon. Disraeli had quoted ''You cannot make men virtuous by acts of parliaments''. A student should fear from administration only on violation of rules. Nothing less than this should be accepted. Respecting teachers is important virtue of the student. Few teachers tend to demand it from students. Respect can only be earned by command not demand. Command comes from knowledge and compassion, not from the whip.

An Engineering student tends to enjoy the personal life and do not pay attention to the academics. A sincere student spoiled his one year in the rough IT culture. He meets several asshole suggesting minimum studies and maximum enjoyment is mantra for success. The seniors (in majority) misguide the fresher about relation in academics and extra curricular activities. But, it is also necessary for nerds to learn few tricks for development in personality (mainly presentation and communication skills).

In second year, some unfortunates enter into mechanical department. Wase bhi, Mechanical department is more cussed fore lesser grades and strict professors than any other department irrespective of engineering college. It is really hard now on to move with shrewdness in studies. Wisdom and Silence hatches more grades in department. The wit and smartness will gain unnecessary attention and doom you into on 3 year (for lucky ones) of failures and frustration.

"People related to Education often complain - at least, professors do -- that young people do not read anymore. But that is not true. They read all the time but they do not read books or long texts. For the most part, presses and journals as they now exist do not serve the interests of intellectual or cultural development. To the contrary, their proliferation is symptomatic of increasing hyper-specialization in which there is more and more about less and less."

My wish: We really need role models and guidance by lenient means for career growth in engineering days. Enter into the Mechanical engineering department and name of heroes like Ravi Kalsaria and Sripati Sah must spring in the young minds. Only those can give more inspiration and push students to dream and achieve big in their life and career.

This line is written on the old Identity card of BHU;Dedicated by me for those teachers who impose discipline rather than guiding young souls for self discipline.- "The most reliant and self governing person is always under discipline:and the more perfect the discipline,the higher will be his/her moral conditions.-M.M.M."

No hard feelings....

Talent in Indian Cinema

Before globalization, most of our Indian companies were run by families of Lala and Seths.They do not give preference to talent and people always end up doing Ji Huzoori, unless fresh talent happened to be connected. After opening of market,not many of those companies survived. Same story can be projected here. Barring few, not many will survive in bollywood in coming future. Times are changing.

Film making has became family business here. The bitter truth is that Bollywood of late has become Fortress Bollywood, shutting off its doors to non-filmi people. They are leaving out a wide section of society aspiring their career in this line.

Family rules despite lack of talent.
Bollywood is full of star parevaar like mafia families of 'The Godfather'.The Kapoors. The Deols. The Bachchans. The Roshans. The Khans. The Bollywood firmament is crowded with stars with the same surname. Apart from perpetuating fan following across generations, they make wonderfully symmetrical photo ops at the film magazines,awards and entertainment channels. Kumar Gaurav, Rajeev Goswami, Kunal Goswami, Suneil Anand, Faisal Khan, Pururaj Kumar, Sanjay Kapoor, Armaan Kohli & Uday Chopra... (the list continues) for those family members who fails in achieving goodwill of Indian public. Otherwise scenario would have been different and worse. Launch and relaunch of them through various means is well spread epidemic of our Bollywood.

Now let us talk about film makers.There is an entire breed of young directors who have been born into film families, the well-networked families and have easy access to almost the entire talent that the Indian film industry has to offer. what new talent have they given us? They take an SRK when he is a star. Not the SRK of 1991,the struggler one....

People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make in Bollywood. Kowtowing is performed and rumors of social service to acquire a role is always heard here. Any hero/heroine without Godfather or Sugar Daddy cannot stand in the rat race of fame and glory. Stereotype casting of good actors is waste of huge talent. Bollywood is full of babes. Every Miss India winner these days has a fair shot at making it in tinsel town if she keeps off the potato chips. Otherwise, there is enough demand from makers of hot & remix music videos.Ash - often denounced as 'plastic' and 'facile - indeed became a pioneer even though within a shabbily maintained bollywood standard of things.She has now become face of the nation and currently work with B grade directors of Hollywood and media (only Indian) creates the myth of her charm over firangees.

New wave in Bollywood
Today Mahesh Bhatt and RGV can be credited for bringing new talent on and off the screen. Aside: Whatever Ramgopal Varma may have degenerated today, he must be commended respect for giving break to all the newcomers. At the height of his career, the factory of RGV had consistently backed fresh talents in each aspect of film making.

Riskbearer Directors are hard breed to find these days but some directors are ready to experiment like hell. Some take their own time. New directors are projecting the globalization Hindi cinema and the liberalization of India. Never will quality cinema can take place of mainstream cinema or vice-versa.But for the growth of Indian cinema, the experimentation is necessary. Anurag Kashyap, Abbas Tyrewala, Raju Hirani, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rakeysh Mehra, Shimit Amin, Nagesh Kukkunoor, Dibaker Banerjee and Sriram Raghvan are the new talents to be watched in the future.

The Middle Path
When Vishal Bharadwaj makes a rural film (Omkara) with big stars, he beautifully mixed Deepak with Saif, Ajay, Kareena, Konkona and gang. How he took Shweta in Makdee. How, after the success of Hyderabad Blues, Nagesh chose to work with a newcomer in the lead role and wonderfully added Naseer as a support. This is the right way for our cinema.

Admiration of off-beat films with new faces and experiments are expected from this industry. The wonders of a Pankaj Kapur, Pavan Malhotra, Manoj Bajpai, Ranvir Shorey, Deepak Dobriyal or a rank, bloody-talented newcomer is still untapped for world cinema viewers. Some as-yet faceless cinephiles in some deep pockets of India can screw their heads and ask why? Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works,not just only bollywood. Hence, luck and chance are needed for new comers with talent.

And if all else fails, there is the one-liner of the decade for the sarcasm. The man who worked with stars only,Karan Johar: comes on the Filmfare Awards stage and says, "Heere ka kadar sirf johri kar sakta hain. Aur hero ka kadar sirf Johar hi kar sakta hain..."