Mujhse Ek Nazm Ka Wada Hai Milegi Mujhko
Dubti Nabzon Main Jab Dard Ko Neend Aane Lage
Zard Sa Chehra Liye Chaand Ufaq Pe Pahuche
Din Abhi Pani Main Ho Raat Kinare Ke Qareeb
Na Ujala Ho Na Andhera Ho
Na Ye Raat Na Ye Din
Jism Jab Khatm Ho Aur Ruh Ko Jab Saans Aye
Mujh Se Ek Nazm Ka Wada Hain Milegi Mujh Ko ....
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Ignorant... who?
This is one incident which I m just not able to put off my mind. I think putting it down in words may release my soul of the burden which I have been carrying for over a few months now.
I had just returned back home from office and was relaxing with a cup of tea after a long tiring day. My maid – recently wedded, a twenty something woman with a penchant for non stop chatter when in mood , was as usual chit chatting about her family. I was half listening to her and half watching the vegetables she was chopping.
Somehow the conversation or the monologue so as to say turned to the days when she was at her parents home. I just happened to mention “shaadi ke baad to azaadi khatam” (sailing in the same boat as her on that front). I knew she had not been to school ever but I was shocked when she asked “azadi kya?”. I tried to explain the meaning of freedom to her as best as I could but saw that she was not able to comprehend. So to make the meaning clearer I thought of explaining by means of “swatantrata divas” that we celebrate on the 15th august of every year. But I was in for probably the biggest shock of my life as the words “swatntrata diwas” and the date 15th august did not make any sense to her. She could not even pronounce the words let alone the meaning of the context.
“It is Ok”, I thought. May be she is jus not able to recall. So I asked her “Mahatma gandhi ka naam to tu har saal sunti hai tv par yaad kar”. I felt I had been slapped and slapped hard on my face when she asked, “kaun?”. With frustration I said “ arre Gandhi ji tv par dikhate to hain”. “Who lambe balon wala?”, she asked. I was taken aback with “lambe baal” and then it dawned that she was talking about the then president Mr Abdul kalaam.
That was all she knew about her country, she did not want to know more. It did not matter. I had never before come across such ignorance before. I had always known that it existed but here it was right in front of me in the form of a person I suddenly detested.
I don’t mean to sound like a patriot, nor do I consider myself to be one but this episode took me by a jolt.
Then as I thought more about it I realized there are so many of us who are on the same plane as that poor innocent maid. We have been to schools, have sung national anthem every day in the assembly and yet how much do we know about our own country.
The only difference is that she did not even know the name “Mahatma Gandhi” and we just know the name “Mahatma Gandhi”. It does not matter or does it. Probably it does to most of us but in our struggle for life, for money and for survival we have forgotten “India”. I could have educated her, told her a lot more than she knew but I did not. I am living with the guilt and each time anyone mentions “Gandhi ji”, I remember this episode , give a sigh and then move on as if nothing had happened.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Saanwariya...
Saanwariya- The soul touching fairytale of a young boy, who has a heart as pure as pearls, who has eyes as twinkling as stars and who has a voice as sweet as a canary. It is the story of a young girl whose laugh matches the tinkling of her anklets.
The fairytale begins with the hero performing a song in a restaurant. And that is where begins a 3 hour nightmare. A nightmare which will remain etched in the memory of every movie buff for years to come. The beginning is like a play being performed and u wait for the play to end and the movie to begin. You wait and you wait a little more (till the next 3 songs) still the movie does not begin. You go out to have a pack of popcorns (before interval itself) hoping that when u come back the real plot would have begun, but the play continues. Through out the movie, u keep waiting for the night to get over and day light to fall, but it seems sanjay leela bhansali decided to cut down on electricity cost by not using flood lights at all. Entire movie is shot in black and blue lights for reasons best known to the makers of the film.
The one thing that keeps you intrigued though is the location of the plot. It is a Mumbai red light area, London suburb with that epitome of love “the bridge”, Venice the city of gondolas, a Tibetan monastery with the statue of Buddha, all rolled into one. One day there is rain and the other day the bliss full onscreen pair is bathed in snow fall.
One more link in the movie which ties to nowhere is the story of friendly but tragic story of the neighborhood prostitutes. Rani mukharjee as gulabji, the mentor and guide to the hero leaves u all the more confused. The “pari” which was supposed to come and relieve these women of their miseries (as promised by the hero in the second song) does come. But she is all too tied up with her own love story to bother with their woes.
The one who steals the show is our “sallu” bhai. With nothing much to do, he does evoke a loud cheer and whistles from the crowd the moment he appears on screen.
Overall a film that sprung from out of nowhere, no story line to support, not a single moment that touches the heart. The poor audience is left with no option but to move out of theatres sighing not out of empathy for the love stricken hero but for the 3 hours wasted utterly.
The fairytale begins with the hero performing a song in a restaurant. And that is where begins a 3 hour nightmare. A nightmare which will remain etched in the memory of every movie buff for years to come. The beginning is like a play being performed and u wait for the play to end and the movie to begin. You wait and you wait a little more (till the next 3 songs) still the movie does not begin. You go out to have a pack of popcorns (before interval itself) hoping that when u come back the real plot would have begun, but the play continues. Through out the movie, u keep waiting for the night to get over and day light to fall, but it seems sanjay leela bhansali decided to cut down on electricity cost by not using flood lights at all. Entire movie is shot in black and blue lights for reasons best known to the makers of the film.
The one thing that keeps you intrigued though is the location of the plot. It is a Mumbai red light area, London suburb with that epitome of love “the bridge”, Venice the city of gondolas, a Tibetan monastery with the statue of Buddha, all rolled into one. One day there is rain and the other day the bliss full onscreen pair is bathed in snow fall.
One more link in the movie which ties to nowhere is the story of friendly but tragic story of the neighborhood prostitutes. Rani mukharjee as gulabji, the mentor and guide to the hero leaves u all the more confused. The “pari” which was supposed to come and relieve these women of their miseries (as promised by the hero in the second song) does come. But she is all too tied up with her own love story to bother with their woes.
The one who steals the show is our “sallu” bhai. With nothing much to do, he does evoke a loud cheer and whistles from the crowd the moment he appears on screen.
Overall a film that sprung from out of nowhere, no story line to support, not a single moment that touches the heart. The poor audience is left with no option but to move out of theatres sighing not out of empathy for the love stricken hero but for the 3 hours wasted utterly.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
prologue
This has been pending for over a year now. Each time i read someone's blog i would be inspired to write one of my own. I love reading and have been nurturing a dream that one day i wanna be a writer( we will delve deeper into that later on). But being the lazy bum that i am, i never got around to really doing it.
Today i don't really know what has taken over me and before this zeal dies down i would rather make my first post. I dont realy know much about blogging but for now i m here to talk to myself rather than talk to the world.
There was a time i would talk to myself day in and day out(i hope this does not give the notion of an ever murmuring lunatic ;)). That brought me closer to myself if that makes sense to u. Of late i seem to hav forgotten myself, am cofused about my identity or rather am trying to establish an identity. Through these posts I embark on to a journey of rediscovery, a rediscovery of my inner being, my passions and my priorities. I am in search of myself.
Today i don't really know what has taken over me and before this zeal dies down i would rather make my first post. I dont realy know much about blogging but for now i m here to talk to myself rather than talk to the world.
There was a time i would talk to myself day in and day out(i hope this does not give the notion of an ever murmuring lunatic ;)). That brought me closer to myself if that makes sense to u. Of late i seem to hav forgotten myself, am cofused about my identity or rather am trying to establish an identity. Through these posts I embark on to a journey of rediscovery, a rediscovery of my inner being, my passions and my priorities. I am in search of myself.
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