I see you after a complete year. No! It was not planned. Just the way it was meant to be. And this how I logged in today. When I see the date of my last post, it is exactly a year back in time: Nov 02, 2008. It is just 2 days after Oct 30th. There are some days which pass by without leaving any significant impact on our lives. And there are some which change your life. I decided whom I would marry on Oct 30, 08.
During the last 365 days, so many of my friends got married, an equal number got engaged and I got married!! This is a new phase in each of my friend's lives. We were kids, playing around and now my friends are themselves bearing kids. And this is the talk all around. Who is getting married? It makes me feel so out of this world. Not that I am not married, but I want move beyond this, if you know what I mean!! For me, Marriage is personal, of course after "BIG FAT WEDDING" is done with. I am not very sure if I like flaunting it. This is the reason why my orkut profile doesn't even have a picture.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Fatalism or pure co-incidence
Fatalism - A belief that means men are as powerless as we can be when it comes to shaping ones life. Having a strong platform in the belief that all events are pre-planned and are executed on us, fatalism is strong contender of the following: Nothing is in our hands, there is no free will, events are affected by a a plethora of external stakeholders that we dint even know existed.
Well, I am not sure if I believe in this philosophy. Nevertheless, I take the liberty to narrate a particular incident that occured 15 years ago.
My mother has a cousin. Well, it does not really matter whether first or second, lets just assume that she is her cousin. As a part of a the marriage package, an eligible bachelor and his family had come to see her. This was roughly 15 years back, as I earlier stated. Anyway he refused to marry her, so did his family. They went ahead, saw a few more girls, and got him married to the one they thought was the most desirable. The man and wife began their life, as any couple would, with the wife bearing him 3 children.
Good, And life would have gone on for all of them, if not for a tragedy that struck him. His wife died, leaving behind her 3 children and a distraught husband who was little at ease to take care of his children. As all men are socially entitled to take a second wife, as against a woman taking a second husband, his family decided to get him a new wife. And he agreed. They found a gal who was never married and tied them together for the rest of their lives. The tragedy has been forgotten now, the new wife has all replaced the old one and life has moved on...
Wait, I did not tell you a twist here. The second wife that he took was the lady he had refused to take to be his wife, 15 years ago!! She was still unmarried for the want of a suitable groom for her and was nearly 45 years old when she was married to the widower. Phew, strange, if he was destined to marry her only... then why had fate to get him married to someone else before killing her!!
Well, I am not sure if I believe in this philosophy. Nevertheless, I take the liberty to narrate a particular incident that occured 15 years ago.
My mother has a cousin. Well, it does not really matter whether first or second, lets just assume that she is her cousin. As a part of a the marriage package, an eligible bachelor and his family had come to see her. This was roughly 15 years back, as I earlier stated. Anyway he refused to marry her, so did his family. They went ahead, saw a few more girls, and got him married to the one they thought was the most desirable. The man and wife began their life, as any couple would, with the wife bearing him 3 children.
Good, And life would have gone on for all of them, if not for a tragedy that struck him. His wife died, leaving behind her 3 children and a distraught husband who was little at ease to take care of his children. As all men are socially entitled to take a second wife, as against a woman taking a second husband, his family decided to get him a new wife. And he agreed. They found a gal who was never married and tied them together for the rest of their lives. The tragedy has been forgotten now, the new wife has all replaced the old one and life has moved on...
Wait, I did not tell you a twist here. The second wife that he took was the lady he had refused to take to be his wife, 15 years ago!! She was still unmarried for the want of a suitable groom for her and was nearly 45 years old when she was married to the widower. Phew, strange, if he was destined to marry her only... then why had fate to get him married to someone else before killing her!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Like a flowing river... serene and placcid
Like a flowing river the words flowed flawlessly into my soul. I am not the only one who will be feeling this at the end of a journey called, "Like a flowing river". But still, I may a few among those to write about it.
Because it has lived its life intensely
the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by
The flowers merely flower,
and they do this as well as they can
The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley
Does not need to explain itself to anyone;
It lives merely for beauty
Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'
If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous
i am always amazed
that so many people concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous?
You don't always have to pretend to be strong
there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,
you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking
cry if you need to.
its good to cry out all your tears
(because only then will you be able to smile again)
Mitsuo Aida (1924 - 1991)
This is the 25th year of my life. Not a very good one if you look at it from the view of pragmatists. No work, no work and no work. Waiting to let my parents to let me start studying. I have been reading a lot, writing a lot and of course sleeping a lot.
Because it has lived its life intensely
the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by
The flowers merely flower,
and they do this as well as they can
The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley
Does not need to explain itself to anyone;
It lives merely for beauty
Men, however, cannot accept that 'merely'
If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous
i am always amazed
that so many people concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
what's the point of making yourself look ridiculous?
You don't always have to pretend to be strong
there's no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,
you shouldn't be concerned about what other people are thinking
cry if you need to.
its good to cry out all your tears
(because only then will you be able to smile again)
Mitsuo Aida (1924 - 1991)
This is the 25th year of my life. Not a very good one if you look at it from the view of pragmatists. No work, no work and no work. Waiting to let my parents to let me start studying. I have been reading a lot, writing a lot and of course sleeping a lot.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Malashri, shreedevi, Kajol, Madhuri?
On a lazy monday afternoon I was watching the movie Stranger starring Jimmy Sergill KK and the female support system. I was competely engrossed in the movie, when I faintly heard the the tinkling sound of ringing bells. Hearing this sound, I had to to veer myself away from the movie. And just as I was concentrating towards identifying this sound, It struck me like a bolt of lightening. I realised that they were the bells tied round the neck of cows.
Such bells had the characteristic sound as against the bells tied elsewhere. The ding dong of the bells were a result of the rhythmic walking of the cows, left foot forward; ding dong, right foot forward; ding dong, though neither of the sounds were cleary distinguishable. The cows did not wait until the first pair of sounds completed their journey to the listeners ear drums.
The moment I identified the owners of this sound,I jumped off the couch and ran to the main entrance, to save our newly planted saplings.
I do not have any reason to like the cows grazing at the green grass in the playground in front of my house. Dad has reccently planted some saplings that are destined to become flowering trees in near future. And these cows love to eat away the tender leaves of the stil-infant saplings. And I detested this audacity.
"Nod pa, iva yen anara illi gida tindra, na sumna iranglilla noda!" (To the cowherd, "Listen, if these eat away the leaves of the saplings I wont stay quiet", Well, I really could not do much. All I could think of was to shout at the cowherd, as the cows could not understand anything any expletives I hurled at them.
"Illari akkara, hanga yenu madangilla iva. Gidakka yenu agangilla bidri" (Dont worry, They wont do anything like it)
"Yaaka, yenu madangilla?? Manne ee gidadda tinda hogyavu noda" (Why do u think they wotn do it? Look at this sapling. All its leaves are gone!!) I was angry now!
As I was turning towards the door, I heard him shout... "Le Malashri, Shreedevi, Kajal... barri.. Le..." And the cows came running towards him, away from my saplings..
Such bells had the characteristic sound as against the bells tied elsewhere. The ding dong of the bells were a result of the rhythmic walking of the cows, left foot forward; ding dong, right foot forward; ding dong, though neither of the sounds were cleary distinguishable. The cows did not wait until the first pair of sounds completed their journey to the listeners ear drums.
The moment I identified the owners of this sound,I jumped off the couch and ran to the main entrance, to save our newly planted saplings.
I do not have any reason to like the cows grazing at the green grass in the playground in front of my house. Dad has reccently planted some saplings that are destined to become flowering trees in near future. And these cows love to eat away the tender leaves of the stil-infant saplings. And I detested this audacity.
"Nod pa, iva yen anara illi gida tindra, na sumna iranglilla noda!" (To the cowherd, "Listen, if these eat away the leaves of the saplings I wont stay quiet", Well, I really could not do much. All I could think of was to shout at the cowherd, as the cows could not understand anything any expletives I hurled at them.
"Illari akkara, hanga yenu madangilla iva. Gidakka yenu agangilla bidri" (Dont worry, They wont do anything like it)
"Yaaka, yenu madangilla?? Manne ee gidadda tinda hogyavu noda" (Why do u think they wotn do it? Look at this sapling. All its leaves are gone!!) I was angry now!
As I was turning towards the door, I heard him shout... "Le Malashri, Shreedevi, Kajal... barri.. Le..." And the cows came running towards him, away from my saplings..
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The last sunset of my summer holidays
I have had many worse days in my life. But the worst days of all hase invaribly been the last day of all the summer holidays. The day when all happiness ended. The day when waking up late ended. The last day when I had no homework to do.
I usually played very hard on the last day of May. I played till the sun set and long after it, until my the last of my friends were yanked towards their homes. Not that I was not dragged home, its just that I do not remember it. Maybe I am disinclined to remember memories that do not add any bliss.
The new academic year began on June 1st. The last day of may was the one I prayed to be the longest. I prayed hard, like a fervent devotee... Let the day not die, let the sun not go, let the light be there :) I would avoid looking at the sun after 5 in in the evening. I did not like the failing rays, the glare turning from a bright, golden yellow to a ruddy crimson. I only concentrated hard on the game I was at.
But the sun always set. All my friends were pulled home. I screamed to myself loud an clear, "Come on guys, lets stick together. If we all are at the playground, kicking the ball around, the sun won't set. Trust me, it will be day and there wont be a night!" :) Maybe, I thought that the sun set because we all went home, and not that we went home because the sun set. :)
I usually played very hard on the last day of May. I played till the sun set and long after it, until my the last of my friends were yanked towards their homes. Not that I was not dragged home, its just that I do not remember it. Maybe I am disinclined to remember memories that do not add any bliss.
The new academic year began on June 1st. The last day of may was the one I prayed to be the longest. I prayed hard, like a fervent devotee... Let the day not die, let the sun not go, let the light be there :) I would avoid looking at the sun after 5 in in the evening. I did not like the failing rays, the glare turning from a bright, golden yellow to a ruddy crimson. I only concentrated hard on the game I was at.
But the sun always set. All my friends were pulled home. I screamed to myself loud an clear, "Come on guys, lets stick together. If we all are at the playground, kicking the ball around, the sun won't set. Trust me, it will be day and there wont be a night!" :) Maybe, I thought that the sun set because we all went home, and not that we went home because the sun set. :)
Saturday, September 06, 2008
ROCKed on
Some stories are meant to be recited. And some, are meant to be brought up on celluloid. Man needs his dosage of visual tonic, periodically. Be it, in the form of words or a theater... After a long spell of gaudy cinema, a movie comes along, which erases the I-have-lost-hope-in-hindi-movies feeling.... An elixir to bad cinema. Yes, ROCK ON could be one such. It is a good movie, but it left me waiting for something...
I wonder, how the story could have been told if it was written as a novel. Undoubtedly, it would be more intense.
Every story whether on screen or in words, every performance, be it any form, will be characterised by that one high point; the zenith of intensity and passion, the climax that encompasses in itself the kernel of the entire story, the apogee which carries the weight of the enactment... ROCK ON lacked only that. The entire movie was on a high... From the start till the end, it was driven by adrenalin, pumping into the veins of the movie and setting its tempo on a high.
ROCK ON was on a perpetual high, never letting its audience soak in the characters. They came (with a bang), they sang (on a high) and they left (just like that). The characters of the movie were not projected enough to immortalise them. I can barely remember their names now. I do remember the names of Siddharth, Akash and Sameer. Maybe the intention of Farhan Akhtar was to only tell a story of MAGIK and not to eternalize himself as Aditya. Maybe he did not want to do to ROCK ON what he did to Dil chahata hain.
ROCK ON lacked the camaraderie that was the selling point of Dil Chahata hain. All love was lost between the protagonists. I wanted Aditya to break down when his wife berates him for living his life grudgingly. I wanted him to seek solace in his friends and use music as a nostrum. But, I was left waiting. However, I still remember the scene when Akash leaving the garb of his ego goes back to Siddharth and Shalini... Aditya never did that. ROCK ON only lacked this.
I wonder, how the story could have been told if it was written as a novel. Undoubtedly, it would be more intense.
Every story whether on screen or in words, every performance, be it any form, will be characterised by that one high point; the zenith of intensity and passion, the climax that encompasses in itself the kernel of the entire story, the apogee which carries the weight of the enactment... ROCK ON lacked only that. The entire movie was on a high... From the start till the end, it was driven by adrenalin, pumping into the veins of the movie and setting its tempo on a high.
ROCK ON was on a perpetual high, never letting its audience soak in the characters. They came (with a bang), they sang (on a high) and they left (just like that). The characters of the movie were not projected enough to immortalise them. I can barely remember their names now. I do remember the names of Siddharth, Akash and Sameer. Maybe the intention of Farhan Akhtar was to only tell a story of MAGIK and not to eternalize himself as Aditya. Maybe he did not want to do to ROCK ON what he did to Dil chahata hain.
ROCK ON lacked the camaraderie that was the selling point of Dil Chahata hain. All love was lost between the protagonists. I wanted Aditya to break down when his wife berates him for living his life grudgingly. I wanted him to seek solace in his friends and use music as a nostrum. But, I was left waiting. However, I still remember the scene when Akash leaving the garb of his ego goes back to Siddharth and Shalini... Aditya never did that. ROCK ON only lacked this.
PHOONK was PHOONKed away
Why did RGV name it as PHOONK, is it because we could PHOONK it away? We actually did... It could have been aptly named, let me say
1) Naasthik bana aasthik -- you know Rajeev turned over a new leaf
2) Baccha khatiya se chalang mara -- oh, remember the crassiest scene of the movie. Did RGV think we would be scared?
3) Budiya ka sar vibration mode par -- Watch out for Rajeev's mother.Her head is always in tremors, like a 1100 in vibration mode
4) Bhagwan ya Doctor -- Poor Lillete Dubey took away the achievement of the almighty
5) Ped pe Kavva -- That ubiquituous crow.
6) Ram Gopal Verma ka PHOONK -- just like Ram gopal verma ki AAG
Ram Gopal Verma, the man who immortalised Urmila as Mili in Rangeela, who did to GOD FATHER, what A R Rehaman did to 'Vande Mataram'... this was the most weakened form of cinema that RGV can dish from his kitchen. Has he become mentally decrepit to spend on such a gross movie and to believe that the audience will lap it up?
1) Naasthik bana aasthik -- you know Rajeev turned over a new leaf
2) Baccha khatiya se chalang mara -- oh, remember the crassiest scene of the movie. Did RGV think we would be scared?
3) Budiya ka sar vibration mode par -- Watch out for Rajeev's mother.Her head is always in tremors, like a 1100 in vibration mode
4) Bhagwan ya Doctor -- Poor Lillete Dubey took away the achievement of the almighty
5) Ped pe Kavva -- That ubiquituous crow.
6) Ram Gopal Verma ka PHOONK -- just like Ram gopal verma ki AAG
Ram Gopal Verma, the man who immortalised Urmila as Mili in Rangeela, who did to GOD FATHER, what A R Rehaman did to 'Vande Mataram'... this was the most weakened form of cinema that RGV can dish from his kitchen. Has he become mentally decrepit to spend on such a gross movie and to believe that the audience will lap it up?
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Match fixing at my place...
Matches are fixed at my house. I has never realised the intensity of the activities that are carried out, but when I sat through one such session, it was rather unsettling. The key person was my Tayaaji, a very senior personality and a luminary in my family circle. As you must have guessed, I am not talking about cricket, there are many other not so important people doing this job. Here I a very respectfully referring to the gal-guy match, yea, marriages.
My Pa is known across the length and breadth of the rectangle comprising all near and very far relatives. Let me take a very typical situation here. Tring, tring.. tring tring... I answer the telephone, My voice trails across the house, "Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, your phone" Pa walks down the stairs of his room towards the hall. "Hello, araam ri, Neevu? Henga call madidri? Haudenri? Henta hudaki beeka? hmmmmmm, hmmmmm, aayita bidri. Nale phone madtini"... To summarise, some called up asking for a bride for his son. Pa gets into a very contemplative mood. The decision has to be made. A select request runs down his database, query returns a number of gals. Phew... memory overload. Too many gals. He redefines the query adding a (where) clause. Bingo, A few very good hits. Then the dialogue begins in our house. Pa tells mom the entire scenario. Mom may or may not add more where clauses. Again the query runs. You see, my mom's suggestions can never be overlooked. You will definitely repent if you do not heed to them. Ask my dad! He has paid a huge price for not listening to her. My mom advised him against marrying her. He did not heed to her. He is still repenting.. :) JOKES APART... Let me continue.
Its day 2: Pa calls back to the bride hunter. All details conveyed. Rest is HIStory. I have been a very amused witness to such plotting scenes. The only feeling that passes me at the times when such events are occuring is, what are the gal and boy doing at their respective residences or offices at that moment of time. Their fate is being sealed at the living room of my house...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)