_in the metro of a METRO_

Am waiting for her…in central metro…there's a bizarre song being featured in the metro TV and I have a man peeping into my cell phone screen...[sometimes I love to emphasize that it's a PDA]..and I begin texting the 2nd editorial of this magazine. Sometimes in life u suffer [or are blessed with] those moments when you want the world to walk past you..and want to just breathe and feel the numbness of life..hmm.. Poetic ehh? No dear..i'v buried that pen and muse of mine long ago. Am not great enough to be a preacher [or in that case..an editor too] but I just want to tell you about a media-man's muddle. [trust me…when you are persuing a direction course in FTII PUNE and running a magazine in Kolkata…it's more than a muddle] But the article is not about multitasking. Ohh… multitasking… these articles post- “give me some sunshine and give me some rain” make the world feel that our whole generation is obsessively suicidal… the average age of the U TH KOLKATA team is 24 and I do speak for all of us – we swear by our multitasking abilities – We certainly don’t have suicides on our minds! Ok. Let’s do a jump-cut.

I landed in Pune the day after the German Bakery blast and there was a certain amount of apprehension and fear mixed with my silent tears of leaving my family and Kolkata behind. In that mood I remembered the opening lines of a PC action game I used to play, I think it was Rainbow Six which went like this… International terrorism is a booming industry. Money and expertise flow into it… I forgot the rest of it! U kidding? How can we forget the rest of it – the rest of it is what is happening to us. Am afraid of everyone who carries a black strange briefcase and am suspicious of all men with long beards and each moment I feel am dying – how can one live without faith – fossilized prejudices have become demons haunting us and Wordsworth(s) do have a “reason to lament, what man has made of man”. “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist” – for me the film dint work but my question is – why does a Khan need to say this? Another question is – who gives you the right to bomb a country to save another country? Who gives you the right to play god? Hope you have answers as I am a man without answers and all I know is “there are no noble assassins”.

If you thought this article is about multitasking or about terrorism – you are wrong – it is about asking the right questions. Ok. Let me ask you a simple question. Or give yourself a chance to ask yourself a simple question – take some time out – stand in front of the mirror and, look into “it” and ask – Who are you? and for once be honest. Never mind whether you contest elections, cure patients, preach breathing patterns, make films, write editorials or just struggle to stay alive – just for god’s sake look into the mirror – (if you still can) – and ask that stranger – WHO ARE YOU? Once you get that answer then… huh! The answer ehh??? Go ask that stranger first…