Wednesday, December 06, 2006

About me : Part I : The person

I have been writing about others, about society, about happenings in the world, about movies, about culture about music… but this thought of writing myself descended upon me pretty late. Of course, this is not my age to write an autobiography, ‘coz I am just 22. Nor have I achieved any significant thing in life and I don’t have much experience of life either. But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of life and think of one self. I want to think of what I want from life. What are my aspirations? And to add more to this philosophical air, I was recently asked by a friend of mine, what the purpose of life was.

It is always nice to think about oneself. Though for me thinking has always been something I spend my most time into. But the urge of seriously thinking about myself comes on me when I face interviews. The first thing they ask is to tell about myself. We all know that we are the best judge of ourselves. That we know ourselves the best. But we know a lot about us. At least I can speak about myself at length. But knowledge about oneself is so huge that I don’t understand where to begin from. What are most important things to say? The whole story boils down to thinking in an organized manner. After cogitatinf on self , I have kinda divided my description in three broad heads -- Rajeev the person, then his two major loves of life : Music and nature.




Let me begin with food, I love home made food, because I never had much food outside. At home, I am not typical mumma’s boy who would eat ‘anything prepared by mom. I love chhole, rajma, chane, and any daal and aloo sabzi that is sour with heavy doses of tomatoes and spicy enough. I devour aloo pranthas, but I can’t have them much because of a growing tummy!! Then I love rice, dosas. I have a small hate list also. I don’t like tinde, tori, gheeya, idli . I guess that’s it. Otherwise I am quite comfortable with most food stuffs. I forgot to mention sweets. I love gulabjumans, rajbhog, gajar halwa, daal halwa, sohn papdi and I am sure many more that I can’t remember now. And yes, I relish the fancy stuffs too like chaat papdi, golgappe, raj kachori. The fried ones are kind of no for me these days for the fear of becoming a fatso.

Ok next comes clothes and grooming. Well this is one area where I can show huge innovation. I know how to wear even unusable clothes with grace. I don’t do expensive shopping much, but I do smart shopping. I purchase things that look like an original brand but actually it might not be, ‘coz it comes at a cheap price. Of course, when one has to purchase things which are to last long, for instance jeans, shoes and watch, then s/he should not mind investing in good brands and quality. In fact it’s not the brand, but the look of that stuff that appeases me. And as for quality, I don’t think I am qualified enough to distinguish between things on the basis o f quality. I love to design clothes myself also, because it makes them distinct. I have this natural urge to be different. I don’t feel satisfied when I look too much similar to rest all. My favorite color has always been blue, might be for my love for water. I like sober and elegant clothes and am quite comfortable with cool dude kinda stuff also. For ties, I feel the simpler the better. There are some issues that I disapprove in dressing up. Not tucking the shirt in when worn over a trouser is a big NO for me. Similarly wearing sport shoes over pants is something I find odd. I am quite uncomfortable in seeing nails grown even a bit, be it with me or anyone else. I don’t like very shiny belts. I am not much into using hair gels for the fear of losing my hair which have already started showing the signs falling.

Next entertainment. I like sensible cinema. I like movies whether Hindi or English that show some logical story close to reality and not sticking themselves to fantasy. Of course I love films that also treat me with wonderful music. My kind of movies would also include those that show plenty of nature, visual effects, real lives and places and dialogues that I can connect with. So I liked the movies Kya kehna, A Beautiful Mind , Life is beautiful , Umrao Jaan, DDLJ, Sholey, Lakshya, Pardes, Mixed Doubles infact all Konkana Sen stuffs (No, I am not art film type guy), Dil To pagal hai, , Matrix I (hate to admit that I haven’t seen the rest two), LOTR. Sound of Music, October Sky , most of Yash Raj films, and many more. And ofcourse all the comedy stuff .. not to forget the Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s storehouse. As for TV shows , I am crazy about FRIENDS. I was passionate about Hip Hip Hurray when it used to be aired on Zee. I also loved Hum Paanch, Khichdi , Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, Tu Tu Main Main, Shriman Shrimati.


Books and reading: I haven’t read much though I always wanted to read more and more. So I don’t have as such any particular taste. But I like comic stuffs. I love to read real stories and news analysis. I particularly loved Bapsi Sidhwa’s ‘An American Brat’, RK Narayan’s Swami and his friends. Sunday Magazine of The Hindu has been my favourite because of the gamut of knowledge and information it gives on variety of issues – dance , music, wildlife, health, personalities , events, history and a plethora of other topics.

Sports : I like basketball from my school days or may be from the time when Kuch Kuch Hota hai was released. But I remember I attended the coaching even before that!! I have been trying hard to learn the game for a very long now, but could not learn it properly, sometimes I feel that I should give up, dunno till when I can continue with something I constantly fail to achieve. I find athletics also very enjoyable. I have been involved in high jumps, long jumps, but one thing that really gets my adrenaline pumping is footrace. There’s nothing more exciting than the challenge of race.

Next people. This is a serious area. I like people who love laughing and smiling and who can bring good cheer on the faces of others. Because I am myself that kinda guy. I enjoy chatting with my lovely friends and making them laugh and smile. I strongly believe that smile makes even the ugliest face beautiful. I hate when I find people serious and unable to share the reason for the same with me. Similarly I am quite uncomfortable with people who stay silent. Seeing smiles on the faces of the people who I care for gives me immense pleasure. As usual, I love innocent people. I can tolerate some attitude, but arrogance is just not compatible with me. If some one tries to show attitude to me, then s/he should be ready to know the height of my nose. I love simple, down to earth and hardworking people. I respect successful persons. Intellect is the first thing I notice in any person I get in touch with. Of course, from a distance, it’s the looks and cleanliness that attracts me. People talented in anything attract me like magnet. I am a bit crazy in the sense that if I find someone not compatible with me, I snap the ties off permanently. OK this could be a weakness of mine. Finally, I like the company of people who share the interests I have, who can appreciate and understand things I like.

I am myself …. . ok I will have to be a bit narcissist here, slightly complicated person in the sense that it’s not easy to understand me. Of course I am not proud of this fact and in fact I am my self trying hard to understand what I want in life, where to draw a line between my desires and my aims. Ok now to make things simple, I am, I feel, emotional (but I won’t be any more very soon, I am gonna be very strong), shy (ironically, I have never been scared of stage, I enjoy performing more than applauding in the audience) , caring… that’s it.. I can’t write more than this. This it self took my nerves to admit in public!!! And apart from this I am a hardworking guy, who is not scared of labor. I always believe in being straightforward without formalities, in having courage to call a spade a spade and in appreciating people for their good deeds. Thouhg I am quite with individuals, but like Tughlaq, my weaknesses include difficulty to deal with a group.

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