Gully Boy!

I finally watched the Bollywood movie Gully Boy. It was a lonely week night at my in-laws condo (they along with my family had all gone to Houston for a wedding while our place was being renovated), and flipping through IPTV channels, I decided to watch it.

I had watched the trailer and snubbed it as being a rip-off of 8 Mile. Bollywood is notorious for shamelessly ripping foreign content with no due credits. Therefore I joined 2 and 2 together and made an assumption (System 1 vs System 2 reference of Thinking Fast and Slow).

The movie is so well crafted and deals with issues the characters are facing at every level – socio-economic issues, parenting issues, marital issues, religious issues and personal identity issues.

There was not a single dull moment in the movie. Protagonists Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt were marvelous. Before the movie, I was not a fan of Ranveer Singh but this movie changed my perception. His transformation from a subdued passive-aggressive looking for identity and self-worth to an alpha male who climbs the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is really moving.

Alia Bhatt’s character of a rebellious, independent and a strong girl who does not bows to social pressure is heartening to watch. She wears a hijab and proving its not a sign of oppression but her own choice.

Ranveer Singh’s parents – how they were dealing with martial issues which led to harming their own kids personalities. Father being the sole bread-winner and his frustration in making ends meet. Imposing his parochial views of class system.

Alia Bhatt’s parents – how they were being over bearing parents that was leading Alia Bhatt to hide things from her parents. To build trust, you must foster a relation of openness and transparency with your kids where they are willing to share their insecurities with you.

I can’t come up with any flaws in the characters.

To sum up my review of Gully Boy – it was nothing like 8 Mile and the only similarity between those movies is the rap. A must watch movie .Gully Boy is a phenomenal movie!

And to sum up the message – you are owner of your destiny – own narrative. You are limited with your own imagination and not my limitations set by someone else. Above all, never lose hope – Apna time ayga…

Ramadan Special

In recent year, this was my ‘best’ Ramadan – relatively speaking of course . Personally, this Ramadan was satisfying at various levels. I was spiritually more inclined to make a conscious effort in doing an act of worship. I would engage in remembrance (‘Zikr’) and devote some time for self-reflection (meditation). Prayed 5 times a day, did not miss a single fast. But…there’s always a but…I didn’t do much Tarawaeh.

My biggest achievement was the first 2 weeks of Ramadan, my wife was away for work and I not only had to arrange for my own Suhoor (early morning meal) and Iftar (breaking fast) but had to take care of my kids! It seemed daunting but made it through! The Ramadan ‘barakah’ helped :)

This Ramadan, for the first time I played squash while fasting! Yes! I played 6-7 times during the month – some games while fasting and some encounters after breaking fast. I did loose weight if that was the obvious outcome of fasting and high-intensity cardio.

This Ramadan, I was able to land a contractual employment right after my previous engagement ceased. Thankfully did not had to wait long for my next assignment as I was fearing the ‘off season’ job market will make me a ‘House Husband’ lol. Hey, nothing wrong with that ! (had to write that as my wife reads this)

Lastly, we were able to sell our place this Ramadan. Our house was on the market for couple of months which was way unusual for a property and location like ours (modestly speaking of course). The overall market dynamics of darkening economic clouds and polar-vortex weather made us wait little longer for much our liking. But as they say – everything happens at its own correct time.  On the flip side , we were also able to find our ‘dream’ house which seemed inconceivable given we had huge want/need/wish list with a limited budget – we made our agent show us houses in Mississauga, Milton , Oakville and Georgetown – yep – we were all over the place. Miraculously, we found one that fulfilled our criteria in our dream location – Oakville. The barakah of Ramadan ensued.

May Allah accept our prayers and shower his blessings and mercy always. Amen !