Nasir Zaidi

The actor for whom the word superstar was coined. He ruled the roost in the early 70s when nothing could go wrong for him. He was the man with the Midas touch. The song Mere Sapno ki Raani from Aradhna almost became the national anthem of the country. He gave a succession of jubilee hits. With one shake of his head he created a sensation and with a blink of his eyes he made an entire generation of women swoon. He was a phenomenon.   But as we ride on the wave of success, we forget that we are mortals. We begin to feel that we are supernatural. We consider others as inferiors. We become dictators keeping everybody on tenterhooks. As long as we don’t lose the Midas touch, others bear with us. But silver clouds have a dark lining too. The golden touch gradually begins to ease, the euphoria fades, the hits turn to flops, the same movement of the head becomes torturous to see, the descent is swifter than the ascent, and soon the superstar finds that there is no demand for him. ...

Moments die as soon as they are born. And yet we complain that life is short. Honeybee gives us honey but butterfly doesn’t give us butter. We got to be careful with who is offering us what? Every kind of writing doesn’t require rewriting. What is spontaneous should not be tampered with.   Listening requires knowledge, talking requires tongue. No one is above criticism. There is learning at every step. But we wear dark glasses and hence miss out on most of the things. What Tolstoy took 900 pages to resolve in Anna Karenina , Anton Chekhov took just 20 pages to do so in The Lady and the Dog and still both are masters in their own right. So, whether it is on a huge podium or a narrow platform, we can find a spot for our self, but if only we want to. Otherwise we will just drift. We love to build castles in the air and it’s perfectly ok; we shouldn’t be discontinuing building fancy structures in our dream but we shouldn’t forget that life is not only about living in a fanta...

Life is Divali. Celebrate it with sparklers and diyas. From here to there can be covered in a jiffy or may take an eternity. The mind responds only if you are persistent, otherwise it dozes. People who are too sweet may infect you with a disease which may be life threatening. The one whom you help may cause you more harm than the one whom you refuse to help. All laws are meant to be broken but some if broken may land you in hot waters. The other woman is interesting because you are showing interest in her. If you ignore her, she would be as dull as a post-box.   Divali is not a yearly occasion but an everyday affair. When your parents bless you, it is Divali for you. When you hug your spouse, it is Divali for both of you. When the children run about the house, it is Divali for the whole family. Divali is not a festival but a state of mind. Be a daredevil when it comes to making a difference to someone’s life. We are all on visit visa to this world but we act as if we have...

Bollywood is famous for marriages, affairs, scandals and break-ups. But it is also well known for marriages that just didn’t happen. Here is a list of 10 such relationships, in which Fate the villain, didn’t allow the relationship to culminate in marriage. The reasons are several; the Hindu-Muslim factor, the presence of the ‘other’ lover, the family background, one of the partners being already married, ego, etc, etc.  1.     Dilip Kumar-Madhubala: They were madly in love, engaged, and all set to marry but an incident changed all this. While shooting for BR Chopra’s Naya Daur (later on Vyjanthimala did the movie), Madhubala’s father refused to allow his daughter to shoot because the area where the shooting was taking place was infested with dacoits. He requested for the venue to be changed. BR Chopra refused and asked Dilip Kumar to intervene. Some argument happened between Dilip saab and Madhubala’s father. Dilip Kumar told Madhubala to leave films and...

The cup of destiny overflows. A cuckoo has forgotten how to sing. The problems are many but solutions are scarce. A leaf stirs gently but the fluttering in my heart continues. Does this mean that it’s time for the Messiah to come back? Forsyth says there are No Comebacks. A lull before the storm creates an invisible barrier. The cliff may just be a mirage. Some pebbles glitter in the moonlight but diamonds are diamonds. Just because you are quiet doesn’t mean you don’t know how to talk. Christ sometimes is also expressionless. We all have our nemesis. Sometimes we ourselves are the nemesis. Even a cracked mirror never lies. The conscience is the loudspeaker of our deeds but we conveniently lower its volume to such a level that we don’t hear anything. Innocence wears the mask of chicanery. If glad tidings don’t come to you, be the bearer of glad tidings for others. The marathon is run not only on stamina; it requires will power too. When the will to do something...

Life moves on like a taxi and the taxi is sometimes empty and sometimes full with passengers and the destination is sometimes close by and sometimes far away and yet the taxi moves on, so it is with life, sometimes there is joy, sometimes sorrow, sometimes things happen quickly, sometimes they take a long while, and yet life moves on. Saturday evening, and the mind is wandering in a desert that is far, far away from the city, where the sky is so clear that countless stars can be seen twinkling and glittering like glowworms romancing. The isolation is so divine that one feels like prostrating on the cool sand. Some distance away there is a tent where some Arabs are sitting and smoking and laughing. I feel like a Bedouin from a forgotten past and as I walk on, I see the caravan of Time pass by, and on one of the camels, a beautiful princess with her face covered by a thin veil is sitting, who is looking at me intently and so I gaze at her and she smiles at me, the bril...

The mermaids of joy have gone underwater leaving me alone on the shore. Suddenly I feel alone, a bit unsure, and scared. But the moonlight carves out a new path for me. Gingerly, I take a step forward, and then walk ahead. I leave a lot of memories behind. Around my neck hangs a cross of expectation. Some moments are golden, some silver, some bronze, and some are merely pebbles. If you can’t touch the sky, let the sky touch you. There is a way out from every situation. Life is not a straight line. If you don’t get something, it is either because you don’t deserve it, or you haven’t yearned for it intensely. If someone else gets the attention, then probably it’s his time under the sun. You may, meanwhile enjoy the shade, until it’s time once again for you to be in the limelight. Each one of us has a role to play. Sometimes we have to play a double role. But as long as the double role isn’t hurting anyone, it’s ok, but if it begins to hurt someone, then it’s bett...

Emotions don’t count in office but Emotional Intelligence (EI) does. Your EI quotient determines how much you can cope with things happening around you. And there is no known fact to connect EI with intellect. So, an individual can have a high IQ but very low EQ. EI is directly linked with performance. If you are a consistent performer then it means that your EI is definitely better than those who are not so-good performers. It is very, very rare that one can be a top performer without EI. A study has shown that the correlation between EI and earnings is so direct that every point increase in EI adds $ 1300 to an annual salary. EI is the ability to recognize your emotions, to know what they are saying. Our emotions affect others; so they have to be wisely used. Getting upset and angry, showing displeasure, talking negatively, shouting, crying, cribbing, arguing, writing harsh mails, all these can have a detrimental effect on you and your colleagues. Similarly, if someon...

In the stillness of my soul, I find tranquillity. The white swans of peace gather around me but my eyes focus on the solitary black swan that is swimming far away from them. Sometimes the obvious is unseen. A smiling person may not always be genuine. Impostors are everywhere. We should bond rather than break. All may not think like us but we may also have some defects. If we forgive others, others will forgive us. Allowing insignificant things to enter our heart and then letting them stay is like cutting off our limbs and then ruing our action. The sky is sometimes blue, sometimes grey and sometimes black but when the sun is setting it is a riot of colours. So, when the chips are down, do not worry. Glad tiding maybe just around the corner. Whenever anger builds up inside, imagine you are at the receiving end. We are all boss of our own self only; in the organization we are just playing a role. Stars also fade and die. The light that illuminates also extinguishes. We...

Love at first sight or love after first fight. Love while being together or love while staying away from each other. Love while the going is good or love when nothing is going for the two. Love that bonds or love that binds. Love that makes you go in frenzy or love that makes you serene. Love that rocks or love that becomes the rock. Love that shows you your true self or love that makes you put on a mask. Love that fills in the cracks or love that cracks. Love, that is everything, or love, that is also something. Love that gives you a kick or love that makes you kick the other person. All looks so rosy and bright when you fall in love but somewhere down the road the magic of love begins to fade. When you fall in love it is because Dil Toh Pagal Hai but after some time you start blaming the dil saying that Dil Toh Pagal Tha that I fell in love. Love is a sensation that cannot stay forever in the same intense form. But love sustains because of that sensation . Love is not abou...

Alone, lonely, isolated, the traveller in the desert searches for shade from the sun. Something shimmers in the distance. No, it isn’t the oasis! The mirage disturbs the traveller so much that he throws up his hand in despair. God thinks that the traveller is asking for respite from the sun. He commands the clouds to shower raindrops. The heat of the desert dissipates. It becomes cool and comfortable. He sits under a leafless tree and unties a small bundle that he is carrying. He eats some dates and almonds. Then he stretches himself on the sand and falls instantly asleep. When he wakes up, he finds himself in a cave. His hands and legs are tied with a rope and his mouth is stuffed with a cloth. It is dark except for a faint light emanating from a candle that is slowly burning away. Some men are sitting and talking loudly in a language that he cannot understand. One of the men abruptly gets up, removes the cloth from his mouth and tells the man to call him ‘Taana Shah.’  Wh...

Soul mates are forever. The earth is the place where they meet. And once they meet, they bond, and once they bond, they don’t separate. As long as they are on earth, they are inseparable. After death, they meet again in the cosmos world, and then they soar high above the heavens like angels do and continue their romance. The saga of their love is a never-ending epic. They make melodies out of mayhem and turn the thorns in their life into roses. They weave dreams in their dark moments and in idyllic times they build a nest of love and comfort for their old age. They whistle a tune of togetherness and write odes to memorable moments of their life. They move on whatever the challenges. Plato writes in his The Symposium that there is ‘ an unspoken understanding between the soul mates and that they feel unified and know no greater joy than that .’ Soul mates don’t merely exist. They live life. They find joy in every small thing. They find sunshine in even the bleak...

Though small in number, the contribution of Parsis to the development of India is considerable and without them India ’s history is incomplete. They are basically a peace loving, close knit community, preferring to keep a low profile and they generally avoid getting into any kind of controversy. As a tribute to them, here is my personal list of 10 greatest Parsis; but believe me I had a tough time finalizing the 10 names because what I thought would be a simple task actually turned out to be a difficult one as so many names emerged that I was unable to decide whom to include and whom not to.  The list is personal so all my Parsi friends can excuse me if they don’t find their favourites here. 1.     Homi Jehangir Bhabha: Pioneer of India ’s nuclear programme. One of the most renowned scientists that India has ever had. 2.    Dadabhai Nowroji: First person to publicly demand independence from the British. First Asian to be ...

10 Qs when asked by any woman, the answer should always be  NO 1.        Am I putting on weight? (never ever say yes; for if you say yes then you will be under so much stress that you will start putting on weight yourself). 2.        Do I look old? (it’s an irrelevant question. She is merely testing you. As per scientific data available with me women stop growing once they reach 16). 3.        Is the food badly cooked? (sometimes it is but don’t say yes; the woman of the house has thousand things on her head, so consider that and say, no, the food is not badly cooked).   4.        Is ‘that’ woman beautiful? (all women are beautiful; some of them just don’t know how to look beautiful. Anyways when a woman asks ‘is that woman beautiful’; then you have to simply say ‘no’, species rivalry can kill, so don’t be a ...

  I am hungry and the food is not ready. My stomach is growling and hence I can’t think of anything except food. My mind is floating in a world where a limitless buffet is laid out and the aroma of different food items is adding to the visual experience. And suddenly a thought strikes me: how about listing down the top 10 food combinations? So, here are my favourites:  1.     Daal-Chawal: Nothing can beat this all-time fantastic combination. And especially if the daal is black masoor. 2.     Vanilla Ice-cream & Alphonso Mango Cubes: Wow! An absolute mouth-watering dessert; the mango cubes, soft and delectable, coated with vanilla ice-cream, the taste just lingers. 3.     Jalebi-Rabdi: Hot jalebis and cold rabdi, ooh la la la. 4.     Aloo Paratha & Sweetened Yoghurt: A perfect weekend breakfast. 5.     Fish n rice (Saas ni machchi): The typical Parsi cuisine. Yellow rice with...

A house of memories, an edifice of dreams, and a cottage in the serene wood where fat partridges flutter their wings to attract the butterflies that flit from flower to flower but the dazzling sun blinds the emotions of the bumble bee that has gone crazy after drinking the sweet nectar. The dove with clipped wings sings a sad song but the nightingale startles one and all with a dreamy, hypnotic call that freezes the lonely traveller in his tracks. Stars hang from the sky like expensive chandeliers and night waltzes like a ballet dancer giving the performance of a lifetime. The rhapsody of the wind propels the mind to an ecstatic level. Where there are ruins, there are moments also; and where there are moments, there are ruins also. The detached soul is still a soul and the atmosphere becomes lively when the soul merges with the cosmos. I dwell in a world where only fantasies live; sometimes when I emerge from it, I look like the citizen of a lost world. Sweetne...

There’s Brando, there’s Al Pacino. There’s Dilip Kumar, there’s Amitabh Bachchan. There are stars and there are superstars. Some are phenomenon, some are prodigious and some are exceptionally extraordinary.   And then there’s Rajnikant!   To say that he is amazing will be the understatement of the century. His screen presence pushes everyone else into oblivion. That guy is super. Superheroes are like kids in front of him. Bond wouldn’t qualify to be his disciple also.   He can do everything. He can defy gravity. He can run faster than a supersonic jet. He can fly without wings. He can stir up a dust storm with a mere twitch of his leg. He can light a cigarette with a bullet. In Sivaji-The Boss, he fishes out a packet of chewing gum from his pocket, removes the gum in such a way that it bounces off his palm right into his mouth. Gosh! How the hell can such a thing happen? Natural laws mean nothing to him. He is a law by himself. His neare...