The Realisation-Struck Zindagi

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara or ZNMD as it will be referred to going forward, is an amazing film. It’s a film which made me understand so much about my life. There were so many things which I could relate myself to and all those scenes on screens made me look at them in a fresh perspective. Like, for instance, in the scene when Hrithik Roshan finishes scuba diving and comes out of the water, he starts crying. My first reaction was maybe it’s some fish which bit him like the way it bit me when I was snorkeling in Andaman, a couple of years ago, and I came out crying just like him. But I was wrong. In his case, it was the self realization-Kung-Fu-Panda-Inner-Peace kind of thing. It started me thinking that maybe I too had cried not because of any fish bite but because I too realized that earning millions of dollar, having a villa in Manhattan before turning 35 is a waste. Instead scuba diving in Spain – well that’s what is called Life!!

The movie also reminded me of another incident when I jumped from an eight-feet high wall with a cape tied across my back, in the hope of becoming a superman and started crying as soon as I hit the ground. Now I know it had nothing to do with the twisted ankle, just as in the case of Farhan Akhtar it had nothing to do with nausea or high blood pressure or anxiety caused due to a jump from a higher altitude. Fortunately, in my case, I was aware that my father and I sharethe same genetic traits, thanks to a school project, so I figure that that particular bout of crying was related to my realization that I am no Superman. It was the hard truth and I was not ready to face it.

But the part which wasclosest to my life was the bull running event. It reminded me of the time when the nasty-barking-rabies-infected-stray dog of my lane ran after me for a mile. Unlike the bull running, where only a few bulls are running behind thousands of people, that was a one-on-one encounter. That was the day I realized I should remain indoors after 10 PM and I must say that it was one hell of a “realization”.

ZNMD is a great movie as it has been inspiring so many people to think afresh and helping them in realizing so many things just like in my case. Now you can “realize” why ZNMD is so close to my heart. But this movie, like every good thing, has its own side effects as well. Last weekend I went to a water park. As you might be aware “urban” people in India think the straight slide to be a dangerous adventure. I decided to do that inspired by ZNMD. As soon as I came out of the water after completing the slide, I had tears my eyes. It was due to some stupid faulty edge of the slide, which scratched my elbow, and trust me, it was a pretty nasty blow. But my friends and people just left me alone thinking that it’s an intensely private moment for me as I must have realized something. Well what can I say; I guess the movie was pretty impactful.

Now wherever I go, I see people who have just crossed the road, people who have just got down from a Mumbai Metro train, people who have just been able to get a job – staring into the heaven. Looking for something to “realize”. Hoping for something to “realize”. The truth is ZNMD is a farce in which the characters are wealthy enough to not care about the banalities of real life and real relationships and in the end realize that their life is more important than the money which they have already earned. But the truth is, we, the middle class people have to do certain jobs and take care of relationships. No matter what we may have realized, Money is going to be the central axis around which life will always be revolving.