A BOY IN BANGALORE

17 years. 17 years later I am back to this city that I have no recollection of in the present. Well, subtracting 17 years from my life would make me a 6 year old, so obviously when I stepped out of that railway station to the roads outside, I kind of already felt the mega-ness of the city. Buses, people, a lot of them, film posters with uncomprehendible names featuring heroines & heroes in all their glory, an address in my cell phone & a purpose in mind, I walked down to find a bus, the one that I was told to board. As I sat, a rather unfamiliar sound & music greeted me. It was a Kannad song. I was in Bangalore!

I wanted to be here, I needed to be here, I have been planning my documentary series called SUPER START-UPS for sometime now. And to be actually going on the floor to implement it, to make it happen feels amazing. So, basically this series, as you might have gauged from the title is all about start-ups, those outgoing, those adventurous, determined people who are made to make a difference, who have ideas, some quirky & extremely innovative/creative ideas & who, more importantly dare to step out & make them happen & click with people. I empathize strongly with their spirit as I too, kind of am an aspiring start-up and so I set out to capture that spirit & the stories behind that spirit. Bangalore is an extremely important city for such people as it fosters an entrepreneurial spirit like no other city in India and it gives them scope to share their ideas and make them happen. I had got a start-up who was willing to share their story with whoever wanted to hear & I was more than happy to help them. Today is the pen ultimate day of our shoot & now back from an exhaustive yet satisfying shoot, I am here sitting in my guesthouse room which is way too opulent for me, the window open with superb cool air coming from it & presenting to me a high, panoramic view of a section of the city with the lights & sounds of the traffic. 'Manva Lage', a song from SRK's next blockbuster Happy New Year (it WILL be one obviously as a sea of SRK fans await it's release!) plays soothingly in the room & goes with the happiness that I feel today! Now this song will always remind me of Bangalore! Tomorrow will be the wrap of chapter 1 of SUPER START-UPS:THE SERIES! I also received three-fourths of my costing for the project! I wish making money feels as awesome every time I make it! It feels great, to see this project come alive. I hope it sustains & sees the light of day as a series. It has been a great start & I wish to see it continue, to go to different cities, explore different ideas & bring them out in the limelight. I want this series to benefit the start-ups, get them their audience. 

I will be leaving the city on Tuesday but I really wish to come back soon and explore more ideas. This one week here has been simply amazing and eventful to the core, and it still hasn't ended. I also promise to learn to read & talk some Kannada the next time around so that I can at least talk to the bus conductors & auto waalahs and ensure I get down at the right stop, which I haven't been able to since the last 3 days! Cheers Bangalore! You rock!     

BLACK OR WHITE

This is becoming a habit now!! The last few posts that I have written have had only one excuse, that I needed to while time while a video gets uploaded on Youtube!! Not that it is the ONLY reason, I love to write at that time as well. Takes away the tedious waiting process & when you are not thinking about the gazillion things that cloud your mind and concentrate on one thing, that concentration is like the high you'd get at a party when you've downed vodka like water. Okay, highly under qualified to make that statement but I am guessing it must be similar. I remember the one time I had vodka, it felt like drinking nitric acid & I spit it out two seconds after it went in, unfortunately partly on someone's footwear! She must remember that experience better than me!
So, this video that I am uploading, it's about the supposedly 'next to life' level important thing for today's generation! First there was water, then air, food & now it's FAIRNESS CREAM!!! Yup, it's about that 'necessary evil'! I can't think of a more apt term for it! It seems so necessary for people who are in their most evident state of escapism & disbelief when they tell me how important it is for them! The power of advertising, I swear it has the power to manipulate generations. Although the majority of people in my video said that they find the very concept of a fairness cream stupid- forget the actual cream- it is not without reason that the Fair & Lovelies & The Fair & Handsomes are laughing their ways to the bank whilst I make this video. Back in the 90's, some legendary artist said in a song of his- It don't matter if you're black or white and he was the epitome of racial attack by the world! And today's morning newspaper told me that while an average Black guy has 4 black friends in a group of 10, a White guy has 1 black friend in 10 and an Indian shuns Black friends when in foreign land! An Indian is intrinsically White, it said. Shall we blame it on the 150 years of British rule? The succession of generations seeing as they did that the 'gori chamdi' always got the bow & the 'kaale log' the belt?I don't know, maybe. Anyways, I will let my video do the rest of the talking & please see it and give your honest opinions on it. :)

http://youtu.be/RpVmtcdThzM