PENCHAR... PENCHAR... PENCHAR..

Teri Tirchi nazariya dil ko kar de PENCHAR.. PENCHAR... PENCHAR... PENCHAR...

When I heard this song for the first time, I did not understand the meaning of the word - Penchar. I googled the word and got myriad explanations about it from netizens. But two explanations caught my attention and both fit in here perfectly well.

The first one said that Penchar is a rustic and crude word used in Old Delhi for Puncture. When I tried fitting this word into the song, it made perfect sense...!!!

The second explanation said that singing aloud - Penchar, Penchar, Penchar multiple times would remind one of a very very commonly and routinely used expletive in the north of Vindhyas. This expletive is not so popular towards the south, but yes, with more and more songs like this, there is bound to be substantial followers and users of this expletive...!!!!!

Ever since Delhi Belly, with all its slang and expletives, was released, there have been numerous critics singing paeans about the so-called "boldness" in the movie. Using foul-mouthed dialogues seemed like path-breaking to them. No hard-feelings towards the makers of this film but it is the critics and media who seem to have enjoyed those dialogues more than anyone else.

But if you look at the Hindi movie industry, it definitely has become "bold" in the past few years. There have been movies with some crude and rather embarrassing dialogues. I remember a dialogue in Ishqiya which twisted the complete meaning and pronunciation of Sodium Sulphate.. Na2SO4.. if my chemistry is good enough. My chemistry professor is definitely bound to cringe at hearing Chh****** sulphate. It was just gross and obnoxious if I were to quote one of my friends.

Indian movie industry has been very conservative in terms of using foul language. In the olden days, it was just the Kutte Kaminey main tera khoon pee jaaoonga. Hearing this dialogue so many times in hindi movies makes me wonder if the protagonist in the movie is a human or a vampire???? If it had it's way then man's best friend would have sued the dialogue writers for using their names along with the villians... :P

I remember when I was in 3rd or 4th standard, a telugu movie, Bhadram Koduko had a few expletives in it and I was totally shocked to hear it on television...!!!!! But alas, the kids these days keep singing Bhaag DK Bose DK Bose DK Bose DK Bose DK. Although we too, in our childhood, must have used expletives but using them blatantly on screen was a big taboo... !!! Not now... Changing times????

Well, personally, if just using expletives makes a movie path-breaking then why not have it in the title itself... Or if one is a bit conservative then they can possibly take a cue from Amitabh Bachchan of Buddha.. Hoga tera baap.. They can name the movie as BEEP BEEP.. or BEEP KI BEEP..!!!!

Bottomline is that despite using the expletives in day-to-day life it still makes me cringe to hear it on-screen particularly if you are watching the movie with your family.. Using expletives or erotic scenes in the movies does not constitute boldness but baldness...!!! Baldness of thoughts and intellect..!!

A tale of two 'Manishs'

Here I come after a long long long self-imposed exile... !!! I don't know if it was lack of motivation or lack of new ideas that forced me into this hiatus... But I am back now with a new 'tale to tell'...!!!!

The title of this article is definitely bound to remind you of the novel - A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. But trust me, this article has nothing in common with this novel..!! Or has it???

As is the case of most of my articles, let me take you back down the memory lane to the 90s when I was in my school... Precisely, let me take you to 1997 when I was in 9th standard. It was a cricket match again between the two neighbors divided by the Palk Strait - India and Sri Lanka. I am quite sure you remember those days when India was often whipped around by the Matara Marauder - Sanath Jayasuriya. It was one such match and India needed around 250 odd runs to win but as was the case almost always, as soon as Sachin got out, there was a big batting collapse and India was tottering and on the brink of yet another mammoth loss at the hands of our tiny neighbors... Two of India's all-time tallest cricketers were at the crease.. One a thin and frail individual.. Other a massive and intimidating individual... One known for his leg-cutters and the other, ahem, I am not sure if you remember his name even... No pun intended.. Well, let me take off the lid now, the two gentlemen at the crease were Venkatesh Prasad and Abey Kuruvilla...!!!! India needed around 70-80 runs to win.. The die-hard fan and the never-say-die individual named 'O-Manish' was still hopeful of an Indian victory...!!! But there was this other individual named 'P-Manish' who had predicted Indian loss the moment Lankans posted above 250 runs...!!!

This was well a precursor to the great fight that would keep on ensuing between 'O-Manish' and 'P-Manish'...!!! Let me represent these two as OM and PM respectively for ease of typing... !!!

OM always hoped for the best... PM always predicted the worse...!!!
OM always saw a silver-lining in every cloud... PM always saw spots on the moon...!!!

Let me now recount the story of OM and PM..!!!

- When I gave up cricket for the sake of education, OM saw a new opportunity in it. PM thought it was the end of the world..!!!

- When I could not make it to IIT, OM saw an opportunity in EAMCET... PM again thought it was the end of the world..!!!

- After my life's first ever interview with the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, where I was rejected for being a bit too undiplomatic and forthright in the HR interview, OM was imagining job with a better company... whereas PM again thought it was the end of the world...!!!!

- After faltering in my first attempt to crack CAT in 2003, OM saw an opportunity in CAT 2005 where PM, as usual, thought this to be the end of the world...!!!

- After debacle in CAT 2005, 2006 and 2007, OM saw opportunity in CAT 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.. But PM gave up any hopes of making it to IIM..!!!

- After making it to IIM and then giving up the seat, OM still saw an opportunity in software industry again.. but PM was just inconsolable...!!!!

Even today after some debacle or the other, OM finds newer avenues and opportunities whereas PM finds newer ways at self-destruction...!!!!

Well, reading this story, some might think about their own life-story albeit with different scenarios... I am quite sure each and every individual has two 'selfs' within. One OPTIMISTIC and the other PESSIMISTIC..!!!

In my case, O-Manish was always Optimistic with life... P-Manish was always Pessimistic with life...!!! But time and again, OM was always proved right. His belief in good things always brought about good results. He never let PM get over him..!!!

I feel when we are born, all of us have 50% optimism and 50% pessimism within us... It is up to us to ensure that the P-component reduces as we grow... The more the growth of O-component the lesser the influence of P-component..!!!

Now then, even as I write this article, OM says people would love it but PM says they would despise it...!!!! To this OM says - Even if people despise it, I see an opportunity to improve my writing skills..!!! And the battle continues...!!!!