Kodak Moments - Bade Acchhe Lagte Hain

This movie 'Balika Badhu' came on television many times when I was a kid. It never mattered much to me until Dad got posted to West Bengal.

In a tiny little place called Bengdubi in Darjeeling district I entered my pre-teens. Cumbersome love songs suddenly started to mean something. This particular song from the abovementioned movie was like divine intervention. A supernatural power telling me to imagine that I was the heroine of the film.

Rajni Sharma (the actress) was 14 yrs of age in the film. I was going to be that age very soon. She was in Bengal. So was I. She had no clue what love was all about. Nor did I. She wore smock frilled blouses, I wore smocked frocks. She looked simple and plain. So did I. I was meant to be the one sitting next to Sachin (the actor) and resting my head on his shoulder by the end of this song. If not him, I had to find someone like him. The whole purpose of the universe plotting to get my Dad posted to West Bengal was that I could feel, live and be like Rajni Sharma! (Of course this was much before Tele Series like 'Bade Acchhe Lagte hain' came into the picture and took the charm of this song away.)

Not to forget 'Qayamat se qayamat tak' that followed which was to soon give way to 'Maine Pyar Kiya'. Which way were young girls like us to swoon? Speak Hindi using "Hum & Aap" all the time (now you know why Dad got posted to Lucknow right after Bengal?? God wanted me to be Juhi!!!) or wear 'Friend' caps and go for 'save the pigeons' campaign everytime mom shooed them away??

I am sure a lot of women felt like Sadhna in search of their Joy Mukerjees in the hills or Madhuri Dixit & Amir at an NCC camp or Kajols in search of their Shah Rukhs on college campus. To put it more recently, Katrinas yearning for their Ranbirs at Airports.

Years pass by. We all settle for our Sachin, Joy, Amir, Shah Rukh, Ranbir replicas. I am sure our husbands have settled in well with their Sadhna, Madhuri, Kajol, Katrina trade offs as well.

Then suddenly, one day, just for a moment, out of the blue - your mundane non-filmi life turns into a scene from your most favourite movie. You live one tiny moment that you have always dreamt of, thanks to those celluloid dream merchants. Your 25 fps life suddenly runs like a slow motion song in complete lip sync. It comes and goes in a whiff. Blink of an eye. It happens so quickly that you have to replay it in your head over and over again to know what just happened. The rewind and play buttons must curse you, but you live them again and again.

Those are the moments we treasure. Those are the moments we wish lives of our friends and families to be filled with. Now I know why they are called 'Kodak Moments' :)

Such a short life. May Kodak never run out of such moments to print!