Back to normal life after vacation, work and hosting

Last one and a half month was very hectic. I had to go to Capetown for shooting ‘Acid Factory’ and then to Malaysia for a fortnight. A director friend Surya wanted me to act in his upcoming Telugu film, he insisted and I happily agreed to work in his film. I had fun working in Capetown. We just shot action sequences in the whole of last month.

The shots didn’t require any usage of mind. Yes, the body definitely ached. Sanjay Gupta, our producer is considered an amazing host; hosted parties almost every night. Every night we had an outing and this made our days cheerful. I was along with my wife so in leisure time we went out to explore Capetown. For the first time in my life I saw a bunch of male fishes. There was also a school of Dolphins swimming briskly across the ocean. We also went to Capepound, where the Antarctic and Indian Ocean meet. So, along with shooting for the film we had a wonderful excursion.

My wife likes shopping on streets so that we can get acquainted with the culture and tradition of the country. She normally doesn’t prefer shopping from expensive outlets as these places are costly and the whole atmosphere is much Americanized. It’s all similar to the mall culture prevalent. While I wasn’t shooting I hopped the streets of Capetown which was tiring and exciting at the same time. Days passed, I lost my cell phone and regret losing my 400 contacts. We finished the shooting on a friendly note. Then flew to Mumbai, stayed over for two days, repacked our baggage and left for Malaysia.

Unit of South Indian films usually work in shifts from morning 7 am to evening 7 pm. On top of it there was a continuous language problem which was sorted out with the help of a prompter. My prompter at the sets was next to God for me. I was very busy but my wife as per her habit shopped on the streets of Kuala Lampur.

We dined at various restaurants of Capetown. I never missed home food there but in Kuala Lampur both, me and my wife were bothered by a typical smell that the food emanate. Hence, we had to eat at the five star hotel, where we stayed. We spent days eating soup and bread only. I won’t disrespect their type of food as every country has its own food and taste. Since we were not accustomed to such food, we faced issues with it.

When I returned home from there, my wife’s sister came from America along with her new born daughter Zoya. My in-laws also came to our place from Delhi. We were busy hosting them. As I and my wife stay all alone at home, having a small child and other guests at home were a pleasure. Amidst all this we didn’t realize how a month passed. Every one has left now and we are again busy with our lives. We both miss Zoya’s voice and presence. May God bless her a long age and all the happiness in the world.

The Mumbai incident was very painful and sad. I’ll definitely share my views on India and the society in my next post.

Love
Yours
Manoj Bajpayee

Will we learn?

It seems that, like always we’ll learn no lesson from this. People are dying and they are being separated them from their loved ones. Even then we aren’t learning anything. We are still playing the blame game with Pakistan as to who is responsible for this. Be it the govt. or media or anyone else; everyone is talking about war and nuances of war politics. The question here stands that what are WE doing to protect ourselves? Making individual and collective security a trivial issue, the politicians are more interested in debating on the television screens. By doing this, all they want to show is that the party they belong to has no role in this.

I personally feel that Pakistan should face external pressure from countries so that the terrorist training camps based in Pakistan can be destroyed. This pressure building shouldn’t be stopped and the noose shouldn’t be let loose. As far as the internal security is concerned, it has always been a question mark. But we should try to make it stronger. All the efforts should be made to make sure that Mumbai Attacks be the last crisis in India. However, breaking relations with Pakistan would not be an intelligent step, as any citizen would not be directly affected by this. Why split relations with Pakistan which have been made with efforts over a period of time. We have given and taken love.

I know that many would not agree with me, but I think that which is right and for the humanity, should win. Senators and ministers of various nations commented on this, including Gordon Brown. Condoleeza Rice visited India. But the truth is that they would only think for themselves and not importantly India. India would have to think about itself. All of us will have to come up together. Only then will this Nation move forward and develop itself. This would be in the good of the Nation and its citizens.

Love
Yours
Manoj Bajpayee