Bully the Brunt
I was avidly watching the movie “Gully Boy”. Watching that
movie and the acting in the male protagonist Ranveer Singh itself was a life
changing experience for me. I must say that it was more like a soul searching
and mirror reflecting moment for me, as in more ways than one, I could see the
effect of the actor as well as the movie boomerang on my nonchalant nature, so
much so that it created an upheaval in my mind and led to a gigantic clash of ideas
and creative juices. I intend to use this blog post as the first in the series
of a few savoury yet succinct messages that are sure to stir your soul.
I would like to start this blog by ironically two of the
last messages shown in that movie, one which was spoken by Ranveer himself, and
the other which I saw from both my eyes and that left a compelling tail effect
in between my eyes. First, Ranveer had told to his father during a heated and a
heavy slap exchanging elongated discussion that he had refused the job only
because he wanted to pursue his passion which was to be a top rap singer of
India, and that people in this world would like to remember his good deeds especially
when they look up to someone who has been raised from a stinking slum in Mumbai.
This act of selflessness seeped into my these days shallow soul and stirred me
to life. All my life, I had adored and yearned to follow such humble personalities
– mostly from the world of sports like tennis and cricket - as Federer, Messi,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Steve Waugh, Manoj Bajpayee, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid,
AB de Villiers, Usain Bolt, Mother Teresa, Brian Lara, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh,
Martina Navratilova, Kumar Sangakkara, Shane Bond, and Stefan Edberg, and of course
my father who has now become the COO of a large European multinational firm.
This is because all these men had and still have the diamond like trait of
having explored the hardest heights and the dizzying depths of staying cool in
the face of adversity yet coming across as the most humble and approachable
people. Many of these now illustrious names were not innately talented, neither
did they come from rich houses where four rooms would have sufficed but were
still having ten rooms. They all came from not so gifted backgrounds, which can
aptly be captured by my creative brain as a narrow and choc-a-bloc street,
which in the slums of Mumbai can be resonated with the Hindi term “Gully”.
The other message that I saw from both my eyes and that left
a compelling tail effect in between my eyes was the word “bblunt” with the
first occurrence of the letter ‘b’ occupying much bigger vertical space than
the remaining words in that letter. Somehow, it clicked me that I can carry forward
that alliteration of the word ‘b’ and find a three word title to my blog. I quickly
thought of “Bully the Brunt” because a bull is more positive than a bear, and
the word bully rhymes with the word gully.
I was brought up in a very normal place in Bihar, where I had
spent fourteen of my formative years next to the residence of MS Dhoni. I had spent
most of my time either playing sport or practicing painting near streets that
were often swamped with natural yet creepy creatures like crabs, dogs, scorpions,
snakes, and snails. That experience had left me ingrained with a feeling that
even though I am facing lot of adversity and obstacles in my road to success,
yet there will come a time when people would like to remember me only for the
right reasons and for having created a lasting lyrical message in their lives.
In the movie, there was a contest shown where the judge rotated
a glass bottle on the floor, and the contestant on whose side the bottle last
pointed toward, was gifted the chance to open the duel of singing rap song. At this,
Ranveer had to bear the brunt of the other contestant who belonged to a very
rich background and sang for a very long while and did not hesitate from making
some very personal jibes at Ranveer. At this juncture, it was easy to imagine
that Ranveer was being bullied. However, Ranveer picked up from that point and instead
replied in such a machoistic manner that he held that contest by the scruff of
his neck.
I am not an army man, but being passionately patriotic, it
feels to me that I have come to the culmination of my first of a series of
blogs in a manner that feels like a pyrrhic victory for me. I would like to end
by the caption “My time and your time will surely come” - I saw this in spite
of my not being a good time manager these days - because it is important to
leave my readers with a poignant image of them imagining only positive elements
in me.
