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No Khaas Aakarshan in Aarakshan...

When I saw the trailers of this movie, I wondered to myself how brave it would be. Reservation is one of the most polarising topics in recent history. This movie could be controversial, yet brave. It could cause a sensation or riots…or both. It could present this difficult topic in a particularly clever way. The scenes in the trailer looked enticing—various stakeholders and their reactions to the reservation rule.

But you know it’s a bad sign when the movie begins (more or less) with a song. However, the action does move along fairly briskly. We get an introduction to each character, and then the SC judgement in favour of reservation creates all kinds of problems all of a sudden. Yay, so far so good…what I’d expected from the movie, it was delivering. In fact, I was tingling to see on which side the movie would lean and how it would present itself without displeasing the people on the other side of the fence.

And yet, a short while later, the movie completely loses its marbles (pun intended). The OBC reservation becomes a backdrop to something else entirely. It becomes a typical Hindi movie, a tale of personal vendetta. Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of a principled educationist hell bent on challenging the system. Manoj Bajpayee is absolutely brilliant in the role of a corrupt opportunist. Easily, the best actor. Saif Ali Khan hammed his way through. Deepika Padukone is pretty. Were we to expect more from her?

Anyway…the plot itself is in shambles. After starting off with the whole reservation fight, the movie veers off into the evils of professional coaching classes. The solution? Free coaching centres, in the guise of “remedial centres”. It’s a ridiculous. The film doesn't tell us how these free remedial centres will sustain themselves. Nor does it really give an answer to the question everyone would have been hoping for—is reservation a good thing?

All in all, this is a movie that just falls flat of all expectations. Even the actors fail to live up to any sort of expectations, with the exception of Amitabh Bachchan, against whom it’s not easy to find fault, and Manoj Bajpayee, who was truly outstanding in every scene he was present in.

Rating: 3/10 – and I normally am very generous with my ratings, if only to acknowledge the effort put in by the film-makers.

The prayers of a little Durga...

Getting up on the first ring of the alarm and switching it off as instantly as I could, praying that my brother does not get awake and get, before me, the glimpse of the Pujo-Sthal (worship place) that Maa have decorated for the Durgo Pujo, was my first prayer of the day.

Being brought up in a family where everyone is a staunch believer in the existence of God have made me do more prayers than breathings in a day! For every little and not-so-little subject matter of my interest, I always have a prayer ready, hands folded and eyes shut as tightly as a shutter. LOL!

And in the meantime, my first prayer of the day had already been answered. For some random number of year in consequence, I won over my brother in the race of seeing the Pujo-Sthal before the other.

As I walked towards my room to get ready and enjoy the day of festivities, joy, togetherness and loads (and loads) of sweets, I felt so warm with the early morning sun-rays entering my room through the window and touching me so lovingly that I felt like princesses.

Time flew while I got dressed into my brand new clothes and the moment I stepped out of my room, I was completely mesmerized with the holy fragrance of the Cycle Pure Agarbathies, with which Maa has turned our humble abode into some sort of a heavenly land with divinity overflowing from each corner of it.

There were mice all around my stomach and after that shower they acted as if they have not had anything since ages and that aroma of the Cycle Pure Agarbathies’ Lakshmi Pooja Pack coupled with that of those various sweets made in Deshi Ghee, was just making the hunger more unbearable. There was still time for the breakfast to be served and I took resort in flipping the newspaper lying up on the table, to kill that mammoth of a hunger increasing with each passing second.

The next few minutes, it felt as if I was reading some kind of crime reporter bulletin. There was hardly any news in the paper. I realized that even if I would have given that piece of so-called-news-paper a blurred look, words like crime, arrest, malnutrition, theft, outrage, killing, victim, blast and so on, are the ones which can be noticed at distinction.

I was taken aback, and when I left the paper, it felt like I have been transported to a different world altogether which to me seemed a lot different from the one I read about in that paper but soon realized the illusion.

Soon, the Puja began. And I, as usual, had in-numerous prayers to be made, all of them being on the top priority and to be fulfilled ASAP (as if God was some kind of an intern under me), but honestly He has been gracious enough to fulfill all of them, always. An here went my list to him:

“Dear Durga Maa, 

Welcome back! It has been a great year since we last met. I missed you a lot. And I have to tell you that there is a lot which has been changed over the time. I know that you must be aware of all of it as you are You. So, I pray to you to please, please and please fulfill ALL OF THESE wishes of mine and I promise behaving like a good girl for the whole of the year.

So, here goes my list:
1. May all the girls like me be always loved and not be the object of desire;
2. May all the fathers always reach home safely, daily;
3. May all the mothers always remain protected at homes when we are away from them;
4. May all the brothers are always blessed in your hands;
5. May none sleep with empty stomachs;
6. May none be cheated by anyone;
7. May there nobody be orphan ever; and
8. May there never be a tear of grief in any eye.

Thanks Durga Maa, thank you so much."

May be a little too much, may be lengthy when compared to others but this remains the list of my prayers this festive season. These are my reasons to prayer each time I fold hands and close my eyes and spread the fragrance of divinity and awesomeness by lighting up a Lakshmi Pooja Pack at my home and wish that each home be as happy and fragrant as mine - today, tomorrow and always.

"And as always, VendiSpeaks what - Spread Love 'coz What Goes Around, Comes Around! :)"