Know me a bit better!

Alright then, it is 2 am at night and I am not very sure what prompted me to sit in front of the laptop and write this post!
Part of the reason could be that I just forget by the time I wait for the “appropriate moment” to pen down my thoughts or may be, more the thoughts stay in my mind, the more jumbled I get, more worried whether a certain someone following my blog would appreciate it the same way I do and that usually results in a potential article down the drain. So here I am, writing down as I almost planned this one in a matter of few minutes. I am trying to be a bit different this time, hope it works!

This post has actually occupied a part of my mind, well, for almost a month now. The thought came when I realised how I lost touch with myself in recent months, a few things preoccupied me and I had forgotten moments that gave me a high, got my adrenaline pumping and personalities that inspired/motivated me to go that extra mile. Simply put, the passion was missing.
So here is a list of personalities from different walks of life, possessing talents and qualities which have inspired me for a very long time. Read and see if you have something in common with me! 🙂

1. Harsha Bhogle – Ok, for time immemorial he has been the face of Indian cricket through ESPN STAR, although for a brief while in between, there was an unsuccessful attempt to sway the audiences with “noodle straps” and “sidhuism”. But, honestly he makes me want to watch cricket. He has the knowledge, speaks well (as if he needed me to validate that!) and is amazingly witty at times to come up with funny one liners. His ability to engage the audience at all times and the honesty he radiates makes me believe that he is not only great at what he does but a wonderful human being too!

2. Aamir Khan – First things first, he is pretty much the only “Khan” that matters to me! Somebody, who makes me proud of the Hindi Film Industry. He has given memorable performances time and again but it is the consistency and variety of cinema he has performed in and being associated with which amazes me. “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander” and “Andaz Apna Apna” are all time favorites for a lot of guys and the same holds for yours truly, but he steals the show for me with his performance in a lesser known but brilliantly made “Sarfarosh”. I am a fan of his for life and will watch anything remotely related with Aamir Khan.

3. Kishore Kumar – Magic in the voice! I am really a nobody to say anything about him, just that his renditions are timeless. “Tum bin Jaaon Kahan”, “Rim Jhim Gire Saawan” and “Kya Yehi Pyaar Hai” are just a few which are on top of my mind right now and makes me want to listen to them all the time.

4. Shane Warne – I still watch his videos on You Tube cause he was one of the very few who made the “ball talk”! There is no doubt he is the best spinner in the history of the game and I wonder anyone will ever have the same impact he had on cricket, mind you I am not just talking about the number of wickets he has, cause “statistics, my friend, are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital”. 😉
He is somebody who can keep me engrossed for a full day of a Test match, somebody for whom I will happily stand hours in a queue to buy a ticket. The game needs more mavericks like him but really there cannot be another Shane Warne!

5. A R Rahman : Another legend who has been as consistent with his high quality work as we are with our morning ablutions! 😛 I have truly admired him for more than a decade now but had new-found respect when I listened to some of his Tamil numbers. His work for ‘Dil Se’, ‘Saathiya’ and ‘RDB’ takes me to another level, cause not only is each song in those albums a piece of craft in itself, the very fact that the variety was packaged into one with minimum fuss is truly legendary! I am expecting an encore from him soon!

6. Shaan – So, may be he is not as popular as some of the others I have mentioned but nonetheless his husky voice is soothing to my ears. Unlike a lot of his contemporaries he not only has a great voice but also a wonderful sense of music which is revealed by his own compositions in albums. In an age where playback singers in India are trying to become rock stars (remember Sonu Nigam?) he maintains his dignity and composure and that is worth some attention. “Gum Sum ho Kyun” from his album ‘Tanha Dil’ is my all time favorite. Be rest assured, I will always be ready to showcase my own bit of talent by singing this beautiful number from Shaan. 🙂

Ok, so enough about the past! I have been wise enough to explore lately and some of the things which have caught my attention are – the Delhi based fusion band ‘Advaita” and “Coke Studio”, both in their own way promote a very different genre of music which is seldom given importance in a predominantly Bollywood occupied space.

Abhay Deol and Chitraganda from Bollywood. The former is amazingly natural and a confident personality and his choice of work is something to be proud off, the latter…phewww! Yes, I am a guy, and her dusky complexion and killer eyes are a bit too much for me! 😛 Add to it the fact that she is a very fine actress and it makes me want to keep a tab on her always!

Gautam Gambhir from the extremely talented lot of present Indian cricketers is a favorite. His aggression and a beautiful all round game is a treat to watch, his innings in the World cup’ 2011 final is a timeless classic and the way he soaked the pressure….still cannot fathom! I wonder if a lot of cricket fans and experts across the world realise that he is going to go down as the best left-handed batsman for India and probably one of the best the game has ever seen.

And lastly, very recently I started reading Ruskin Bond (thanks to my friend Meenal), in fact I just finished reading “The room on the roof”, which was the first book he wrote at the age of seventeen. I have never felt so moved after reading a book, not that I have read many in the first place! He has a knack of painting a wonderful background to the storyline. The way he explains the minutest of details about the land scape and his passion for the hills, it all strikes a chord with me. I wish to explore more of what he has to offer!

And so I hope you know me a bit better! This is not an end all to me, but I do hope this read helps you reflect back on what keeps you up and running, for a lot of times we get caught in the web and forget to live for ourselves!