Rocky Life of a Rockstar

I enjoyed Rockstar. I might watch it again, when i have the time to spare. Perhaps on television. I loved the existentialist bit from the "Sadda haq", although i thought the song was out of place in the movie. That, in India we don't have a "real" rockstar and music for us equals to Bollywood, is subject for another blog. This one is is about essence of a rockstar.

Everyone at some point in their lives wants to be rockstar. Live the irresponsible, reckless and mannerless life, not be answerable to anyone, live in the present, say and do things without second thoughts, not care about the consequences. The classic "rebel without a cause."

Some even manage to do it for few years, mostly in their college and youth - as pretentious as it sounds. Torn jeans, walk with a swagger, date a few girls, buy some porn. Little bolder ones might cheat in exams, shop lift, walk out from eateries without paying bills. You get the picture. And then, its time to grow up and wear formal clothes and polished shoes and get on with "haan-ji" life that they are destined to live. The rat-race begins, never to end. Everything else follows - wedding, EMIs, kids, more EMIs - and the "babu" coded in the DNA wins.

This, in no way is a life to be ashamed of. Its a perfectly alright and acceptable life - with solid definition, strong rights and wrongs and moralities. Millions would kill to get a sorted, mundane life like this. Those of you living this life, are blessed, my friends.

Few continue the inexcusable beheviour all their lives and they too have a stories to tell. Not the 9-5 water cooler gossip, or the polite dinner time tales though. These are the wild stories - Of living on your terms and risking heart break and unrealised dreams; Of going out on a whim and ending up friendless. They never grow up. They don't want to grow up and put a pretense of civilised beheviour. They continue to rub institutions, establishments, and everyone else the wrong way. Most times over a stoopid pretext of wanting to be different, or some such belief and endure whatever comes their way. Everything else - love and hurt, things said and unsaid, actions done never to be undone, ecstatic joy and unbearable pain - are all part of the rocky existence.

Each one is a rockstar. Everyone who pushes whatever limits is a rockstar. For the former, what seems boring, could be the most exciting thing ever. Pushing through the day, surviving the mundane, making compromises, not feeling like a speck of dirt could be an achievement. And that makes them rockstar.

The wild ones, have no limit. They go on with this unstoppable force that burns them and everyone around them. They continue to be embarrassments, social menace - thinking thats the only way to do things and they carry that cross forever. And that makes them rockstars too.

The ultimate motive of life is to end. Just like everything else. Everyone finds a meaning and purpose in moments that make up a lifetime, and lives it in their own ways - justifying everything, or carry on unrepentant.

Karte kya ho?

The other day at lunch, the discussion veered to an interesting question that was asked in the film ZNMD: "Karte kya ho?"
What do you do? At times, appearing superficial cos of the regularity with which it is used,  the question actually is very incisive. In an interview it tells more than you expect to hear. At a social gathering, it is an indicator of your social status. When we meet someone for the first time, it is one of the first few questions you ask to kill the silence. The top answer, however, and unfortunately, is mentioning what you do in your "professional" capacity. Work - something that roughly occupies 33% of our work life and almost 60% of our waking time.
The question is, has the professional identity surpassed the individual identity?
The front page in todays TOI says that 1/5 of all Indian adults have hypertension or diabetes and the ratio is almost 1/3 in Maharashtra, and that takes question really on the forefront. Have we been so conditioned by our education system, that what we do can be answered only by what we do for a living?
Apparently, the trend to answer that question with your work profile is a very Mumbai thing. Considering it is the financial captial of the country, i might agree with it. There is a chase. Constantly. However, is seems that question can be answered in a "non-bread and butter" reply in Delhi. People have lots more than just work, up there.
Is it possible that because we spend more and more time at our work and thinking abt work and socialising with work people, and most calls on our mobile phones are for work related stuff, that we tend to think work is life? Or work defines what we do??
Has work-life balance become a thing to say and not to follow? Perhaps its time now to introspect and reflect on the question: Karte kya ho?