kati patang

Another 15th august went by as we celebrated our 59th independence day. 59 years, since the tricolor was hoisted on India Gat for the 1st time. And though we’ve had our fair share of problems as a nation….like poverty…corruption…unemployment and of course our lovely neighbors….but the positives still out number them any day. Most importantly India can feed its own people…yes we have enough food to feed even the poorest of the poor. But our nice politicians make sure that they rarely get it. Also we have a booming economy which is proven by the fact hat my pocket money just got an appraisal…and also India became a nuclear power.

No….I’m not the prime minister reading out his speech on the Red Fort at 8:30 in the morning I Day…n even if they did make me the PM one day…nothing can get me out of my bed that early…and that too on a holiday. So without caring what Mr Manmohan Singh had to say about the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the about water crisis my bathroom…I was only concerned about how I would beat bittu at kite flying today.
(note1: bittu is my neighbor’s son who is half my height….n just over half my age but still comes out as the winner in kite flying every Iday)

Now kite flying is an age old tradition in our family…with my dad n most of my uncles being a rather good at it…. it was a thing that I was just expected to inherit…but fate had other ideas…..my tryst with this harmless looking piece of paper started when I used to visit my cousion at Iday…he was the James Bond of this world in those days…with his large black kite creating mayhem across the sky. It appeared like a big wild shark gulping up small n helpless fish….as the other pink...green…red ones ran for cover at the 1st sight of this black monster. Yeah….my bro was a master…n he would be on the terrace that entire day with his shades on and his music system playing Daler Menhdi…n other popular Punjabi numbers at full volume. My job was to hold the charkhi properly as he went about his merry business of spreading terror.
(note 2: for those of u coming from Pluto…i don know the eng for charkhi….all I can say it’s a wooden thing on which the razor sharp thread is wrapped around)

And while trying to keep the charkhi at an optimum angle so that he got an uninterrupted supply of thread…I used to think that I was also flying a kite(hey…I was just a kid then)
I thought that kite flying was a team sport n we both were like Leander n Mahesh.
But as time went on….my bro got into some more series stuff like…making a career…getting married….and I finally realized that I was just a ball boy…n not a team member…but still we had some real good times…and ended the day being tanned to the extent that we looked like the members of the Nigerian ice skating club….and with about 20 cuts on our fingers.

And this time….even with my bro not being there…I’d pledged to win my family’s name back…in what was once considered the sport of the kings. I’d got this extra sharp Bandar chaap maanja.... which according to the guy selling it ..could even cut through steel…

so as far as mr bittu was concerned …it was payback time….n I was hoping that the wind was real strong today…coz if that doesn’t happens…my kite…..with a supersonic jet figure on it…wont be getting off the runway.


In other unrelated and unimportant news….i just watched kank. Now like everyone..i was eagerly waiting for this movie…n for the 1st time in many years…had got my tickets reserved in advance….The movie was ok-types…a bit too emotional and heavy for me…but with an interesting story line…about extra-marital affairs…rani mukharji bursting into tears almost every 5 minutes….and then the break ups in the end…But as for me…the only things that ends up breaking when with a girl ..is usually my head…and this movie was going over my head most of the times… in the end left me confused about who among the four characters did the wrong thing

And can someone please help me in my protest to ban two things in a theatre…cell phones…n babies….Its becoming a routine affair these days…you in the middle of this edge on the seat movie..trying to figure out…vijay ke baap ka kaatil kaun hai…aur bindu ke pait main pal raha bachha kiska hai…And suddenly the cellphone of the fat guy sitting next to you starts ringing with the tone….”aahiq banayaa” ..for the next 10 min you trying to find out why didn mr Bhatia send the payment on time…seriously some people lack the basic common sense.

Still… you can ask a ‘grown up ‘ guy to shut up…
But what do you do about a 3 month old baby….who has just decided that hes had enough of Jitendra’s dancing exploits…and starts to howl with 3d surround sound effects which could beat those at all the PVRs.

So the next time you go out for a movie thinking that a real sweat girl or some handsome guy(for the female readers) will be sitting next to you…just remember that things can go wrong both in reel…and real life.