The incident I am going to write about took place nearly 45 days back. It was a cold and dreary morning in mid February and I was going to prepare my breakfast when my mother called me, worry writ large on her face,saying that Ali bhai, her brother and my mamu, had not reached Safoli from Lucknow even after 24 hours,though the distance between the two is not more than 100 kms. I was not really worried because I knew him well but to show amma that I was trying to locate him I tried to contact him on his mobile but none of my calls were received. Amma grew more worried after he didn’t answer the phone but I tried to assure her that Ali mamu was fine and that he would reach Safoli soon, and before she could say anything more I dashed from her room to the kitchen because I was starving.

Ali mamu had come to lucknow to meet his younger brother, he stayed at his place for two days before leaving for home at 7 in the morning,despite the fact that a light drizzle was falling at that time.When he didn’t reach home our relatives became anxious and tried to reach him on his mobile but he didn’t pick it up ,it turned out that he had locked it in his almirah, something only he could do.

As hours ticked by without any trace of him amma and my khala started panicking imagining the worst, and started making frequent visits to the toilet, worry does this to people,it upsets stomach, I have first hand experience of this. Anyway nobody had lunch. It was decided that before lodging an FIR it would be better to search for him privately.My uncle went to several police stations in Lucknow to informally inquire about any accident about an unknown man,but fortunately no such accident had been reported at any of the police stations that day.My cousin went from one hospital to another ,he even visited the mortuaries just in case but THANK GOD he was not there. It was 6 in the evening when we were going to lodge a missing person FIR when word came that he had been found in Safoli.One of my relatives had spotted him getting a shave at a barber’s shop.

Everyone felt immense relief that finally their ordeal was over.Ali mamu, instead of going to Safoli had gone to Allahabad and Banaras. As expected everyone was furious with him for his irresponsible behavior.My aunt scolded him for not informing any of his family members about his whereabouts ,and amma was beside herself with anger, even I was angry with him as I had skipped my lunch.

Ali mamu, after leaving his brother’s place had gone to Qaiser bagh bus station from where he boarded an Allahabad bound bus .He reached there at 1 pm and visited many historical buildings including Khusroo Dervaza, High Court and Sangam. To reach the point where the three rivers Ganga,Yamuna and Sarasvati are believed to meet Ali mamu hired a boat for 35 Rs ,he also spent 35 Rs more to buy coconut and sweets to be offered at the sangam (the point where three rivers meet) At the sangam tha Panda,the religious priest asked him his name, without batting an eyelid he said Satya Prakash. The panda asked what his gotra was he hurriedly said Agarwal ,which is a caste not a gotra,but still he allowed Ali mamu to offer the coconut and sweets to the Sangam. Mission Allahabad accomplished he hopped onto a bus heading towards Banaras at 9 pm.

The weather was bone chillingly cold when Ali mamu reached the holy city of Banaras at 1 am. He tried to find a room at some hotels but couldn’t get one as all the rooms were occupied. Tired, he headed towards Banaras railway station which was crowded even at midnight. He bought two old newspapers and slept on them till 4 30 am. As he wanted to witness the Kashi Vishwanath temple’s famous morning aarti he reached temple’s premises five minutes earlier and bought a small Mala of flowers and khutiya but a monkey snatched these things from his hand. He met an Austrian couple at the temple who was very impressed with his English and even gave him their email address. I can understand how hilarious it would have been; my mamu talking in English with Austrians. I can not stop laughing at the thought of it. Then he saw the aarti and the famous ghats.He returned to Safoli at 5 pm from dehra express train. And guess what, he travelled without ticket.

Burkha Dutt has been hit by an avalanche of criticism from the fans of Dr Zakir Naik who blame her for deliberately not giving the acclaimed Islamic scholar enough time to properly express his views in the 8th march edition of her weekly programme We The People . I respect Dr Naik a lot because he is a brilliant scholar of Islam and comparative religion. has a phenomenal memory, and the manner in which he clarifies Islamic view point and clears misconceptions about Islam,using the Quran authentic Hadith and other religious scriptures as a basis in conjunction with reason,logic and scientific facts but i think for the WeThe People fiasco he is himself to be blamed.Here is.why

The topic of disussion on the show was ' is popular culture stereotyping Muslims and the panel consisted of actors Shahrukh Khan ansd Soha Ali Khan,film directors Karan Jauhar and Kabir Khan,Islamic scholars Dr Zakir Naik and Maulana Asad Madni,Jamia Milia's vice chancellor Najeeb Jung and theatre personality Alique Padamsee.I tuned into the programme with some curiosity..I did feel that the panel was a bit crowded,comprising of eight people,the signs were ominous from the beginning. Though many of my relatives were quite excited about the magic Dr Naik was going to create on the show with his words but i knew he wont cut much ice with the audience because giving sermons and taking part in debates are as different as chalk and cheese,with the latter being not his cup of tea. The moment he started speaking in his sermon giving mode Burkha cut him short ,she had no other option as their was a paucity of time.Dr Naik should not have accepted the invitation to appear on the show as he could not have thrown much light on the topic of stereotyping of Indian Muslims. Perhaps he was too sure of his oratorical abilities,and paid a huge price for it.I just hope he has learnt his lesson well.In the end i would like to advice Dr Naik's fans not to judge Burkha unfairly.

Karthik Calling Karthik

Sidney Sheldon,had he been alive, would be pleased to see Karthik Calling Karthik,beccause of it's very interesting presentation of a psychological disorder.The plot is gripping and racy, and if you discount the first ten minutes,the movie's pace does not slacken even a bit right till the end. I saw Karthik Calling Karthik two days back and my advice to all those people wanting to watch a really good movie is that they should not miss it, because it's not the usual run of the mill movie,it's definitely different.

All the lead actors have performed well but it is the acting of Farhan Akhter which impresses you the most. He is getting better and better with each movie.The way he transforms himself from a submissive guy who is bullied by everyone including the office peon into a confident and outgoing one who does not hesitate to criticise his boss speaks volumes about his acting ability. Dipika has also chipped in a nice performance so have Ram Kapoor and Shefali Shah in the role of the boss and the psychiatrist respectively.

The music of the movie, composed by the trio of Shankar Ehsan amd Loy,is catchy, peppy and foot tapping and mercifully music composers have not used the voice of Farhan Akhter,who despite being a very talented director and actor, is an embarrassingly bad singer ,of course, in my opinion. uff teri ada is the most foot tapping of all scores when it was being played in the theater i felt like dancing, had Farhan sung it i would have felt like fleeing from the theater.Thank God it was Shankar Mahadevan.Javed sahab has penned some touching songs especially jaane ye kya hua.

Vijay Lalwani's direction is very good.He has very craftily handled a complex story .He deserves three cheers for this attempt. Hopefully he will continue directing movies of different genres.

In the end i have to make a complain to the owners of Inox multiplex Lucknow,there is very little space between the rows of seats,my feet still ache from being repeatedly trampled upon by people going to take their seats in my row. So please take note of this problem.