delhidreams

An advertising writer’s status update

2011-12-01T23:48:00.001+05:30

Answering facebook’s perennial query of “What’s on your mind?”

I’ve on my mind ‘The Secret of The Nagas,’ book 2 of theShiva Trilogy which a colleague is not giving to me as I finished his copy of book1 ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ in 4 hours (i.e. too quickly for his comfort) whileI was in the middle of the ‘River of Smoke’ and now that I’ve cabbaged my boss’‘Kafka on the Shore,’ I can’t wait to begin it but can’t because I’ve to startwork on a campaign which is to be delivered tomorrow.

Written at 8pm on a December evening in office. And notupdated as a status.

Harry Potter vs. Twilight

2011-11-21T18:18:00.001+05:30

a facebook discussion between my friend N and me:

N: Well if i have to vote, i'll vote for Twilight,. :). Nytime a 19 yr old vampire is way too better than a 11 yr kid wizard :)))) :P

Me:

first of all that 19yr old vampire is not so 19 yr old :P
second, harry potter doesn't remain an 11yr old kid all his life, he learns, he grows, unlike ur 19yr old vampire.
third, harry potter is more than a sickly sweet vampire love story where characters are cut outs of popular culture and never achieve anything in life.
fourth, harry potter is a celebration of friendship, of victory of good over evil, of respect for elders, of living against every conceivable odd... can twilight series ever match it :)

so what do you say? who would you chose between the two?

-adee

btw, you can check the actual winner here on Mashable, from whose shared link this post and subsequent discussion originated: http://mashable.com/2011/11/18/twilight-breaking-dawn-harry-potter/

an open letter to NASA about its open call for recruiting astronauts

2011-11-17T15:44:00.001+05:30

Dear NASA,

though i don't have "three years of relevant professional experience or 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in a jet aircraft," i still believe i'll be a good candidate for your new astronaut program. i LOVE space exploration and would go to any lengths to achieve that as a career.

as for the rest of your requirements:

i do have a bachelor's degree but its not in engineering, biological science, physical science, computer science, or mathematics. i guess you don't want literature people up there in the space.
long hours in front of every imaginable screen have left my eyes less than perfect. but yeah, LASIK can be thought of.
i'm 5 feet, 6 inches tall, don't know whether that falls into your 62-72 inch limits. and let's not talk about my BP here!
and last, but perhaps the least important, i'm not a US citizen. but if you select me that won't be a problem, right?

so when can i expect a call from you guys?

sincerely,

adee s

p.s. to my readers: if you want to know more about this job offering, please check this link: http://mashable.com/2011/11/16/nasa-astronaut-job/ thanks!

on Children's day a poem, a thought, a wish

2011-11-13T23:35:00.001+05:30

Rosh Hashanah

Even after the murder

of the child Muhammad on Rosh Hashanah,

the paper didn’t go black.

In the same water in which the snipers

wash their uniforms,

I prepare my pasta,

and over it pour

olive oil in which I’ve browned

pine nuts,

which I cooked for two minutes with dried tomatoes,

crushed garlic, and a tablespoon of basil.

As I eat, the learned minister of foreign affairs

and public security

appears on the screen,

and when he’s done

I write this poem.

For that’s how it’s always been –

the murderers murder,

the intellectuals make it palatable,

and the poet sings.

Rosh Hashanah by Aharon Shabtai

(translated from the Hebrew by Peter Cole)

tomorrow we'll be celebrating the Children's Day in India. but do we even think of the world we are creating for them? and let's not blame 'others' for it... be it politicians, big businesses or terrorists or other countries or races or religions or anyone we don't like. it is 'we' who are the world today and what we do now will become the future as well. hatred won't heal, indifference won't help, doing something about it all will.

may the world be a better place to live for children, the next time their day arrives. *amen*

For a writer everything is life… each moment verse, each breath surprise

2011-11-10T16:43:00.002+05:30

A lazy afternoon, wrapped in the lethargy of a whole night andmorning spent at office. Fortunately it is a holiday, so I can be comparativelyat ease. (Only comparatively as already new work has started piling up!) I wantto start reading the new collection of poems ‘the great enigma’ by TomasTranstromer. Had bought it a few days back but couldn’t start it because of thework load.

And at around 6 in the morning when I (finally) unwrappedthe book, I could’ve started with the foreword or the first poem, but then I sawthe bookmark in the middle and was curious to know what poem it’ll be at. Turnedout as if it was meant for me, prompting me to update my facebook status andshare it with the world: Its 6am, I’vejust reached home from office and found these words by Transtromer waiting forme. “The law of gravity presses| us| against our work by day and againstour beds by night.” For a writer, there isno work or home and day or night…

The title for the post comes from my love’s comment onthe above mentioned update. Thanks Dee! And you can read Transtromer’s completepoem here on my other blog: http://goo.gl/A4vKa OR my facebook page: http://goo.gl/05duH OR the new Google+ page: http://goo.gl/ZUow4 :)

Remembering Sardar, not forgetting Indira

2011-10-31T10:05:00.000+05:30

Today is the birth anniversary of the iron man of India,Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It is also the death anniversary of our late PrimeMinister, Smt. Indira Gandhi.

Sardar Patel was amongst the tallest leaders of our freedommovement and newly independent India. In fact, today what we know as India islargely due to his efforts. Anyways, I guess we do remember our school booksmentioning this particular aspect of our history. On the other hand, Smt. Gandhiwas one of the strongest PMs India ever had. So strong, that once she curbedthe very democracy that made her PM!

This post doesn’t attempt to be a history lesson. Though I hopethat today’s youth understands the difference between a leader who unifiedIndia versus one who despite her many strong points, subverted the very idea ofIndian democracy. (That particular episode, of forced emergency is not taughtin our govt. controlled history curriculum.)

What this post attempts is to be a brief reminder of how we,largely fed by our media are gradually relegating those who really matter(ed)to only the history books while making gods out of those well, who don’t matterthat much. See the number of ads devoted to Mrs. Gandhi in today’s newspapersversus the one ad remembering Sardar. All these ads have been carried out bythe ruling party Congress or the various government ministries under itscontrol. (And it is the taxpayers money, our money that fuels this sycophancy.)I would have been happy if it were only sycophancy on Congress’ part. Its dynasticcult is quite well-known to be talked about here.

What I’m more worried about is the gradual replacement ofour true history by the one sponsored by those who have ruled us for the majorpart of our independent existence. Contrary to what Congress’ and its mediamanagers want us to believe, Sardar and what he did for India is far moreimportant than Indira and her way of ruling India. And this little, 370 oddwords post is my attempt to set things right, in my own insignificantly significantway. Today is my day, our day, to first remember Sardar, while not forgettingIndira as well. Are you with me?

on her traveling away for a vacation

2011-10-29T15:25:00.000+05:30

i can tolerate our daily distance

who is like a familiar stranger

(me in one city

you with her neighbour)

but today it is

a feeling unfamiliar

as if i'm at sea, in landlocked Delhi

while your are away, at the old kala pani

this distance is a bridge i cannot cross

this pain, too aching to be sweet

a thousand miles is too far a distance

for my heart to go and beat

doosron ko itna padha, khud ko likhna bhoola main// दूसरों को इतना पढ़ा, खुद को लिखना भूला मैं

2011-09-27T13:48:00.000+05:30

दूसरों को इतना पढ़ा, खुद को लिखना भूला मैं
कभी तो घर आऊँगा, सुबह का भटका-भूला मैं

doosron ko itna padha, khud ko likhna bhoola main
kabhi to ghar aaoonga, subah ka bhatka-bhoola main

दुनिया के इस मेले में, रोज़ नए दोस्त बनते हैं
कितनों को मैं याद नहीं, कितनों को हूँ भूला मैं

duniya ke is mele mein, roz naye dost bante hain
kitno ko main yaad nahi, kitno ko hoon bhoola mein

रोज़ सुबह अख़बार उठाकर, दुनिया को मैं जलता देखूं
खुद की छोटी चोट बड़ी है, दुनिया भर को भूला मैं

roz subah akhbar uthakar, duniya ko main jalta dekhoon
khud ki chhoti chot badi hai, duniya bhar ko bhoola main

30 बरस के इस जीवन में, अपनों ने कई ज़ख्म दिए
तेरे प्यार के मलहम से, हर उस ज़ख्म को भूला मैं

30 baras ke is jeevan mein, apno ne kayi zakhm diye
tere pyaar ke malham se, har us zakhm to bhoola main

बाहर बारिश झूम रही है, कोयल तितली बच्चे भी
बड़े बड़े 'टारगेट्स' के पीछे, छोटी खुशियाँ भूला मैं

bahar barish jhoom rahi hai, koyal title bacche bhi
bade bade 'targets' ke peeche, choti khushiyan bhoola main

तूने ही गम दिए हैं, तू ही देगा खुशियाँ भी
छोटी-मोटी तेरी भूलें, मौला सारी भूला मैं

toone hi gum diye hain, tu hi dega khushiyan bhi
choti-choti teri bhoolein, maula sari bhoola main

Sometimes i wonder how i'll die

2011-09-26T00:16:00.001+05:30

Sometimes i wonder how i'll die. Will it be something quick and painless, or something so drawn out that waiting for it'll become dreadful and i'll wish for the darkness to arrive early. What will i be doing at the time of my death. Will i get to know beforehand if my time is near. Cos' there is nothing more shameful than leaving a task incomplete and still i'm sure i'll have many tasks before me, incomplete while i leave. Will my family be around when it's time, will i be surrounded by friends or will i cease to exist in a distant land where nobody would know my name. I wonder if they'll cry or laugh after i'm gone. Will i go quietly like the passing out of a flame or will i rage and fight like a moth caught in that flame. Will i leave the world a better place than i found it or if i'll be amongst the nameless, faceless multitude who have lived and died inconspicuously throughout human history.

Sometimes, i really think that i don't want to die at all (but then who does) and even after death, i want to live in the memories of those who i've left behind. I think death is inevitable, and it is too early to think of death, but yeah, i would really like to be missed when i'm gone.

And oh, the fact that when i'm dying, i wouldn't like to wonder how i lived...

not a good way to start the week :) posted this last night here on the blog, after reading a bit piece by Neruda. but that doesn't mean, i haven't thought about this subject before. i guess, all of us think about death at one time or more in life. have you wondered about how it will be, when it will be :)

traveling 17,000 years back in time- meeting the first artists on Earth

2011-09-12T21:33:00.001+05:30

would you like to meet the first ever artists on Earth? see what they created and how amazingly it takes us back in time? would you like to imagine how they lived and behaved. may be you would like to travel seventeen thousand years back in time :)

visit: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/fr/00.xml

from the writer's almanac: "On September 12 in 1940, four teenage boys and a dog named Robot stumbled upon Paleolithic drawings in a cave in Lascaux, France. The main cave is approximately 66 feet wide and 16 feet high, and is connected to a number of smaller chambers. There are about 2,000 drawings and engravings, mostly of animals: horses, bison, red deer, stags, cats, and aurochs — large, black cattle-like animals that are now extinct. Horses and stags are the most common subjects; there are also human figures, various geometric shapes, and the outlines of human hands — possibly the signatures of the artists. The chambers have been given evocative names: the Great Hall of the Bulls; the Chamber of Felines; and the Shaft of the Dead Man. In addition to the figures, there also appears to be an Ice Age star chart: clusters of stars that resemble known constellations like Taurus the Bull, the Summer Triangle, and the Pleiades.

Assigning a precise date to the art has been difficult. Scientists used carbon dating to estimate the age of some charcoal found in the caves, and according to that method, the drawings are about 17,000 years old. What's less certain is whether they were produced over a relatively brief period of a hundred years or whether they span a much longer period."

know more about the lascaux cave paintings here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

and if you are interested, i'll tell you about a book which took me through this journey a few months back. may be you would like to read it :)

-adee

कल शाम मैं इक़बाल भाई से मिला

2011-09-07T22:17:00.000+05:30

अजब शक्शियत हैं इक़बाल भाई भी. हिन्दू होते हुए भी मुसलमान सा नाम रखते हैं, मुफ़लिस होते हुए भी दिल बड़ा रखते हैं. कभी लन्दन में फ़ाकामस्ती, कभी कानपूर में जूते घिसाई, कभी हालीवुड की बेवेरली हिल्स के आलिशान बंगले में ऐश, कभी वहीँ के किसी होटल में वेटर की नौकरी, बड़ी दुनिया देखि है इक़बाल भाई ने.

उनसे किसी का दर्द सहा नहीं जाता, तभी तो चौथी मंज़िल से कूदी और साल भर तक प्लास्टर ऑफ़ पैरिस के सांचे में जकड़ी उस अनजान गोरी महिला से रोज़ एक घंटा निकाल कर मिलने जाते हैं. कभी अपना पेट काट कर किसी के लिए दवाई लाते हैं, तो कभी अपमान सहने के बाद भी किसी की दिली-तमन्ना पूरी करते हैं. पैसे से उन्हें कोई लगाव नहीं, झूठ बोलने से कतराते हैं, पर फिर भी गुरु-बाबा बन लोगों को रिझाते हैं!

अजब शख्स हैं इक़बाल भाई भी. मेरे अपने न होते हुए भी बेहद अपने नज़र आते हैं. कल शाम मैं उन्हीं इक़बाल भाई से मिला.
...
...
...
इक़बाल भाई, कुर्रतुलें हैदर की कहानी 'कलंदर' के मुख्य किरदार हैं. कभी-कभी किसी किरदार से मिलकर ऐसा ही लगता है न कि सच में किसी शख्स से मिलें हो हम?

reading, remembering, writing on a sleep deprived night

2011-09-06T01:53:00.001+05:30

These days, am reading 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter', one chapter at a time. I started it quite a few days back and maybe by chapter count, it should have been over by now. But due to my usual 'advertising career' timings, have skipped a few days in-between. Then there are also days when i don't feel like reading prose, so i pour through gazals and poems.

I'd bought this book a couple of years ago from the Sunday book bazaar at Daryaganj. It was in good shape, maybe only 'secondhand' and i got a very good bargain on it and others combined. I think i even wrote a blog post about the day with pics and all. Perhaps that was also the last time we'd gone to book bazaar!

And how i'm missing her now. Haven't talked to her since evening. It is our custom to speak to each other before going off to sleep. But i guess i was too late today and she already dozed off. It has been happening a bit frequently these days and it makes me sad. This and the memories of that day in Daryaganj are making me miss her even more and sleep is eluding me so well. That too despite the fact that i haven't taken my full quota of rest for past two days now.Anyways, i digress again.

Why i felt the urge to write now was that i found the first signs of this book's previous owner while reading it tonight. S/he had scribbled exactly those words that i would have if i'd a pen/pencil with me now. I wondered who the person would be, a man or a woman? Of what age and country? May be this book traveled half the world to reach me or may be it was sold to a 'kabadi wallah' in my own part of Delhi. Who knows, but what i know is that person has/had a heart similar to me. How rare this bond is!

I'm writing this post on my mobile, as i also wanted to share this with you:

And then one weekend he came home from school to find the cabin empty, still, a washrag hanging over the side of the tub and a chill in the air. He sat on the porch, hungry and cold, waiting. Very much later, near dusk, he glimpsed his mother walking down the hill with her arms folded. She did not speak until she reached the steps, and then she looked up at him and said, "David, your sister died. June died." His mother's hair was pulled back tautly and a vein was pulsing in her temple and eyes were red rimmed from crying. She wore a thin gray sweater, pulled close, and she said, "David, she's gone." And when he stood and hugged her she broke down, weeping, and he said, "When," and she said, "Three days ago, on Tuesday, it was early in the morning and i went outside to get some water, and when i came back the house was quite and i knew right away. She was gone. Stopped breathing." He held his mother, and he could not think of anything more to say. The pain he felt was deep inside him, and above that was a numbness and he could not cry. He put a blanket around his mother's shoulders. He made her a cup of tea and went out to the hens and found the eggs she had not collected, and he gathered them. He fed the chickens and milked the cow. He did these ordinary things, but when he went inside the house was still dim, the air still silent, and June was still gone.

Scrapbook of Memories

2011-09-04T15:56:00.000+05:30

Dear Word lovers,

A few days ago, i posted this thought from John Berendt on my facebook page (here):

“Keep a diary, but don’t just list all the things you did during the day. Pick one incident and write it up as a brief vignette. Give it color, include quotes and dialogue, shape it like a story with a beginning, middle and end—as if it were a short story or an episode in a novel. It’s great practice. Do this while figuring out what you want to write a book about. The book may even emerge from within this running diary.”

I thought it was good advice for me and all those who want to write and keep a diary as a starting point in their disciplined journey towards being a writer. We all know the routine, we start by promising ourselves that we'll write daily, then it changes to weekly and sooner or later these diaries make way to a hidden storage or an obscure corner of the bookshelf with many others like them.

A reader-friend of the page had other thoughts though. She read the post out to her daughters "and one of them got so inspired she started writing straight away. Result ...2 haiku poems!!" I was excited by the sheer joy and spontaniety the child showed. How quickly children come to the task at hand while we adults continue to sit and debate! The next day she wrote her first 'stoem' (her word for story poem)!

Yesterday, the proud mom shared another wonderful thought with me. And it is so good that i want to share it with you all. I think we all can learn a lot from it:

"The art of diary writing my grandfather possessed had missed me completely. I tried my best to revive it and bought new diaries for my girls every year and they invariably ended up hidden/lost after couple of months. Now I can safely say I will not be buying diaries for them ..instead we started a new tradition ...a scrapbook of memories ...the best thing about it is you can write at any time of day...and we also changed the submission requirements so it can be poems, stoems, stories, or even drawings!!! ....which suit us to the ground!!!"

Now i'm going to start my very own 'scrapbook of memories.' And i'll try to be as regulalr as possible. Maybe it'll lead me to my own published book someday!

Would you like to join me in this journey? :)

-adee

रिश्ता

2011-08-10T20:16:00.000+05:30

एक वक़्त था, जब पेंसिल रंग छोड़ती थी कागज़ पर
प्लास्टिक के बटन, आवाज़ तो करते हैं
पर रिश्तों की वो चुभन कहाँ

उँगलियाँ चलती हैं की-बोर्ड पर
नज़्म लेती जाती है रूप अपना
पर कुछ फ़ासला सा लगता है दरम्यान दोनों के

पैगम्बर

2011-08-06T00:43:00.000+05:30

चमकती तीरगी की बेरहमी
जब हद से बढ़ जाती है
चीखती खामोशियों की गर्मी
जब झुलसा देती है तहज़ीब के पनपते बीज
और कुछ कहने और सुनने को
बचता नहीं ख्याल की बंजर ज़मीन पर
...
तेरी रहमत का भेजा एक मासूम सा कतरा
जन्म लेता है इस वीरान कागज़ पर
और नज़्म कहलाता है

the other kind of emptiness

2011-08-04T22:29:00.000+05:30

the clock mentions it is 10:17 pm or as i'm used to writing 22:17 (hangover from an overdose of loads of Hollywood army movies while growing up!). i'm about to call it a day. some work was finished, some not even started, but as there is nothing that urgent, i guess i should leave. what hurts more is that in order to finish office work on tight deadlines, i happen to lose sight of some very important personal work. and now, one more day has gone!

mind is kind of empty right now. not in the literal sense. there is so much inside that all of it together is not making any sense. so while i can pick and choose and lay threadbare whatever is going inside my mind right now, i don't have the patience. this is the other kind of emptiness. when you are so full with something that it starts meaning nothing. like too much of beauty or money!

when you have too much of something, you start to drift away from it. fullness breeds emptiness it seems. what do you think?

22:25, Thursday, August the fourth, 2011

sometimes at the edge of a day i sit and... write

2011-08-03T22:18:00.000+05:30

The day is a road which ends at the cliff of the night. From the edge of it we all take a leap and drown in its unfathomable waters, only to emerge unharmed, renewed, and ready for the next day.

Sometimes at the end of a day I sit on its edge and reminisce how my journey was. I think we all do this knowingly, unknowingly. (In matters like these, we’ve not been given much choice.) And sometimes at the end of the road we are propelled with such great momentum that our only moment of reminiscing is just before hitting the warm, inky depths of the night.

We writers are generally not blessed with such a swift end to our journeys. By our very nature, we are addicted to trying and prolonging this leap, that epiphany between jumping from the cliff and hitting the waters. Though this rarely happens, the road ends sooner than expected, the precipice beckons and we’ve but no choice to end it all, then and there.

But sometimes, by some opportunistic sleight, we do manage to pause the wheels of time. On days like these, we sit on the edge of the cliff and look back at the road, trying to derive meaning out of this needless traveling and jumping and re-emerging dripping the dreams of the night.

…
This life is also a road which ends at the cliff of death. From its edge too we take the leap and drown in its unforgiving waters, only to emerge unharmed, renewed and dripping with the karmas of our previous journey.

…
Sometimes at the end of a day like today, I just wish that when my journey finally ends, I’ll be given more than a moment of recollection, that in the moment when I look back, I’ll see a life well spent and a love well earned.

Sometimes at the edge of a day like today, I just wish her to be beside me and the day… to never end.

the good or bad in us

2011-08-02T21:13:00.005+05:30

last night, i was watching this movie, Blood Diamond. fantastic movie that, but i'll talk about it some other day. (though i might or might not.) this is perhaps my favorite scene from the movie.

Danny Archer (played fabulously by Leonardo DiCaprio) has taken refuge at a local chief, Benjamin's estate who runs a shelter for war victim children and adults. there is blood and carnage all around this oasis of peace and Danny and his companions have literally escaped death a few hours ago. Danny is actually a diamond smuggler who has got entry after lying that he is a journalist.

the little dialogue between these two opposite characters is fantastic as a critique of the human nature.

Danny Archer(talking about the rebel soldiers): So you think because your intentions are good, they'll spare you, huh?

Benjamin Kapanay: My heart always told me that people are inherently good. My experience suggests otherwise. But what about you, Mr. Archer? In your long career as a journalist, would you say that people are mostly good?

Danny Archer: No. I'd say they're just people.

Benjamin Kapanay: Exactly. It is what they do that makes them good or bad. A moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life. None of us knows whose path will lead us to God.

think about it. i kept thinking about it. and i realized one thing about me. i've never been able to completely hate a person, even if s/he has done some real harm to me. i've always found some bit of good in them, not that i want to further test my patience! dear God, please don't test me anymore :)

and that is why, i want to ask you, do you, would you also believe that there are no good people or bad people, that there are only good deeds and bad deeds? should we define/brand people as good or bad, or is it about being generally good and generally bad? maybe nobody is completely good or bad, OR maybe there are a few pure souls and a few gone beyond redemption, who knows... maybe we are just supposed to forgive and forget and move on OR maybe we are supposed to fight and seek revenge... who knows?

whatever be the answer(s), what i do agree with is this, "A moment of love, even in a bad man, can give meaning to a life." actually, it gives meaning to all of humanity. do you also think so?

remembering Premchand

2011-08-01T13:31:00.000+05:30

July 31 was the birthday of one of the greatest Indian authors Dhanpat Rai, more popularly known as Munshi Premchand. this post is an attempt to compile some web resources about Munshi ji, to serve as an introduction to those who haven't read him before (especially the younger generation), and as a resource to those who would love to remember him more often.

am not writing a detailed introduction here, because one of my favorite bloggers has written this short but beautiful piece on his importance and relevance in our literature and in fact our lives. do read the post, "Premchand is important" here: http://goo.gl/yJh9w

here's a link to his page on wikipedia: http://goo.gl/1m7UE just don't read the story summaries in the end, they'll act as spoilers :)

for majority of his stories and one novel 'nirmala' click here, "Munshi Premchand's creations": http://goo.gl/awf18

and here's a link to download majority of his novels as pdf, "Munshi Premchand collection": http://goo.gl/H3j5f

these links are great resources for new readers though i would really request you to buy a collection of his stories and individual novels as paper books, there are many versions available from a variety of publishers. happy reading!

and in the end, a reminder of what we do to our artists: "Premchand's ancestral home crying for attention" a news report from the Times Of India here: http://goo.gl/ojZTU

hope you found this post engaging. thanks for taking the time.

उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी -मुंबई के लिए

2011-07-14T14:09:00.003+05:30

उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी
शहर के मक्तलों1 से उभरना है अभी

साँस रोके बैठी है हरेक रहगुज़र
उदास आँखों से बहता एक खामोश डर
संभल के चलना है, नहीं डरना है अभी
उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी

ये तेरे रहनुमा, ये नुमाईंदे तेरे
कफ़न भेजेंगे खोखले लफ़्ज़ों के
इन्हीं ज़ख्मों को मलहम में बदलना है अभी
उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी

इस से पहले के फिर से आदत हो जाये
फिर तू अख़बारों के पन्नों में खो जाये
'बस बहुत हुआ' का एलान करना है अभी
उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी

खून सड़कों पर नहीं, रगों में बहे
ख़्वाब बिखरे नहीं, आँखों में रहें
गर बदलती नहीं दुनिया, तो बदलना है अभी
उठ मेरी जान तुझे लड़ना है अभी

(1 मक़तल: place of sacrifice, killing fields)

एक और कविता

2011-07-13T18:26:00.001+05:30

रस्सी से बंधी हुयी

बोझ में दबी हुयी

बुझी आँखों से देखती

दुकानें सजी हुयी

झुलसती गर्मी में

पानी को तरसती

जनवरी के जाड़े में

नंगे बदन ठिठुरती

दिन भर भागती

सड़कों की ख़ाक छानती

सपनों की तलाश में

रात भर जागती

एक और कविता भी है

जो हमें दिखाई नहीं देती

या दिखाई दे, तो भी

मूंह फेर लेते हैं हम

जिंदा रहने की दौड़ में

थोडा जीत जाते हैं हम

At the IGA: Franklin, New Hampshire

2011-07-12T22:12:00.001+05:30

This is where I would shop

if my husband worked felling trees

for the mill, hurting himself badly

from time to time; where I would bring

my three kids; where I would push

one basket and pull another

because the boxes of diapers and cereal

and gallon milk jugs take so much room.

I would already have put the clothes

in the two largest washers next door

at the Norge Laundry Village. Done shopping,

I'd pile the wet wash in trash bags

and take it home to dry on the line.

And I would think, hanging out the baby's

shirts and sleepers, and cranking the pulley

away from me, how it would be

to change lives with someone,

like the woman who came after us

in the checkout, thin, with lots of rings

on her hands, who looked us over openly.

Things would have been different

if I hadn't let Bob climb on top of me

for ninety seconds in 1979.

It was raining lightly in the state park

and so we were alone. The charcoal fire

hissed as the first drops fell....

In ninety seconds we made this life—

a trailer on a windy hill, dangerous jobs

in the woods or night work at the packing plant;

Roy, Kimberly, Bobby; too much in the hamper,

never enough in the bank.

by Jane Kenyon, from Collected Poems. © Graywolf Press, 2005.

'what if', the biggest question in our lives. i guess a perfect life would be without any 'what if' moments. and i'm so far away from a perfect life! so many things that i wish i could change, say if i'd a time machine, i would definitely have done things differently, prevented many events before they affected me for ever.

but then i pause and think. whatever has happened has made me what i'm today. so if i do change the past, it'll definitely affect my present. and there is one aspect that i would never want to change in this present life. the fact that i've her with me, calms down my mind everytime i've this fantastical urge of going back and changing things.

and this is why i shared this poem with you all today. yes, things could have been different, maybe even better, but then they wouldn't have been what they are today. and all said and done, if you've love in your life today, you've survived all that your past could do.

because i've love, because i've her, i will live with all the 'what if' moments of the past. what i've is, is so many times more important that what i could have.

a thought about smokers

2011-07-11T16:11:00.001+05:30

she (while obviously uncomfortable with somebody smoking around her): uh! why do people smoke?

me (on phone with her): 'coz people think they look cool when they smoke

she: but that was some middle-aged uncle ji!

me: people start smoking when they are young, by the time they realize its actually not that cool, they can't let go of it!

she: hmmmm

me thinking (wow! one of those rare days when she agrees easily!) :D

'cos i'm never gonna stop falling in love with her

2011-07-04T22:12:00.000+05:30

man its 13 years! i fell in love with The Corrs, their music and of course the lead singer Andrea when i first saw this song :) how time flies! am sure i would have shared this with dee if i'd known her then.

i remember waiting for love to come to me, spending almost my entire early life in this desperate search, making many false starts, stumbling through love that i felt (then) was true, and finally when i did find her... it was as if my whole life was meant for that one moment, to be shared with her, no more searching, no more aching... just living every moment filled knowing that there is somebody whose heart sings to the same tune as mine. and if there is one song by The Corrs that i would have dedicated her then, that i want to dedicate now, it is this one... 'cos i'm never gonna stop falling in love with her

सूरज चंदा जैसी जोड़ी हम दोनों

2011-06-16T21:21:00.000+05:30

सूरज चंदा जैसी जोड़ी हम दोनों

दिन का राजा रात की रानी हम दोनों

जगमग जगमग दुनिया का मेला झूठा

सच्चा सोना, सच्ची चांदी हम दोनों

इक दूजे से मिलकर पूरे होते हैं

आधी-आधी एक कहानी हम दोनों

चारों ओर समंदर बढ़ती चिंता का

लहर लहर लहराती कश्ती हम दोनों

पर्वत-पर्वत, बादल-बादल, किरन-किरन

उजले पर वाले दो पंछी हम दोनों

मैं दहलीज़ का दीपक हूँ आ तेज़ हवा

रात गुजारें अपनी-अपनी हम दोनों

घर-घर दुःख-सुख का इक दीपक जले-बुझे

हर दीपक में तेल और बाती हम दोनों

दुनिया की ये माया कंकर-पत्थर है

आंसू-शबनम हीरा-मोती हम दोनों

-बशीर बद्र

Gate C22

2011-06-14T12:36:00.000+05:30

At gate C22 in the Portland airport

a man in a broad-band leather hat kissed

a woman arriving from Orange County.

They kissed and kissed and kissed. Long after

the other passengers clicked the handles of their carry-ons

and wheeled briskly toward short-term parking,

the couple stood there, arms wrapped around each other

like he'd just staggered off the boat at Ellis Island,

like she'd been released at last from ICU, snapped

out of a coma, survived bone cancer, made it down

from Annapurna in only the clothes she was wearing.

Neither of them was young. His beard was gray.

She carried a few extra pounds you could imagine

her saying she had to lose. But they kissed lavish

kisses like the ocean in the early morning,

the way it gathers and swells, sucking

each rock under, swallowing it

again and again. We were all watching —

passengers waiting for the delayed flight

to San Jose, the stewardesses, the pilots,

the aproned woman icing Cinnabons, the man selling

sunglasses. We couldn't look away. We could

taste the kisses crushed in our mouths.

But the best part was his face. When he drew back

and looked at her, his smile soft with wonder, almost

as though he were a mother still open from giving birth,

as your mother must have looked at you, no matter

what happened after — if she beat you or left you or

you're lonely now — you once lay there, the vernix

not yet wiped off, and someone gazed at you

as if you were the first sunrise seen from the Earth.

The whole wing of the airport hushed,

all of us trying to slip into that woman's middle-aged body,

her plaid Bermuda shorts, sleeveless blouse, glasses,

little gold hoop earrings, tilting our heads up.

Poem: "Gate C22" by Ellen Bass, from The Human Line

posted by a dear and erudite girl who also collects poetry and prose in her blog here: http://whilethereisstilltime.blogspot.com/

this is love, this is pure love when someone completes you like no one else does. i've felt this and believe me, it is the most amazing feeling in the world. just to cup her face in my hands when we meet... looking at her, but still not looking at her, because eyes are only one of the many sense organs, this is a feeling that goes beyond merely the physical. this completeness is heavenly and wherever there is a love like this, it makes the world a much better, wholesome place. and this is why i wanted to share this poem with you. because love like this lights-up the world, even when it is between only two.

just another weekend 5 years ago!

2011-06-10T17:44:00.000+05:30

from my blog dated June 12, 2006! when adi was not yet adee, my best friends sachin and amul both were unmarried, sapna was really the gudiya of our gang and my 'hagrid' appu was still my hagrid :)

sunday was supposed to be sachin's treat-giving-day. what a promise of free movie and fun can do to your spirits... we were supposed to have everything sorted out before i reached sachin's & amul's place, because the evening was already booked for shooting of 'we the people' - Barkha Dutt's op-ed show on ndtv india.

now, the last person in the world to be trusted making a feasible programme would be sachin, and yeah i know, i did this huge mistake by trusting him this time too. what he did, was to wait for me till i reached their place at 12 and then undeciding whatever we'd decided till then.

the next two hours were spent in utter confusion, what to & what not to do; where to & where not to go; gudiya, amul, sachin, me all taking part in one of the most hopeless discussion of our lives. their idea was to scrap the ndtv bit and go out for a movie & some useless shopping for gudiya. which i was very apprehensive to do as i'd already invited my dear hagrid for the evening show.

till 1:50 we were unsure of everything. the idea of a movie with sachin's financial backing had fallen flat on its face. the two things, movie & the shooting, were not destined to be together. i could see some sort of hopelessness shadowing gudiya's face. that was that.

with a flush of rage, the great adi, the protector of people's smiles & the master of wasteful expenditure declared, we're going to enjoy this evening like we'd never done before. and distant thunderstorms clapped up in delight.

actually nothing like that, all i was greeted was with a curious arch of gudiya's brow, a slow turning around of amul's body lying stomach-flat on the centre table and that horrible look on sachin's face which says he's not very happy with the prospect of money leaving his hands.

but gudiya has faith in me. she was up and all prepared in fifteen minutes whilst my gentle proddings had managed to get amul on his feet and sachin started wearing his smelly socks. so, we found ourselves at the auto stand thinking which movie to go now, which'll let us balance both the movie timings & the ndtv show. all for nothing. no auto-wallah would help five youngsters in need without extracting his slice of the pie, which frankly speaking we were not allowed to do with sachin controlling the purse strings.

in the end it was decided that amul and gudiya will go back home and shop in the evening, while me and sachin will go to gk1 for the shooting. and i really didn't like that dejected look on guddu's face. we'd to save the evening for her, and we were gonna do it. but how?

the movie was out of question. the heat was taking its toll. and time was running fast... but how?

bingo! got an idea. we'll all go to cp in the metro. we'll roam around till evening. from there me n mr. smelly socks would go to gk1 for the shoot and amul-gudiya wud come back home for some mall hopping. the metro will be all temperature controlled, so no hassles to the fair skinned one.

we the people landed at the regal metro station, greeted the first ice-cream wallah with tired smiles and got all the flavours we'd asked for. exccept sachin. the ice-cream he asked for was buried deep beneath 300 odd ones and in the end he'd to settle for the same one as mine. from there on we strolled on to the regal & rivoli building, still undecided what were we going to do then. the movie-fare on offer was still tempting us. on the way i'd called apsy and asked her opinion on we-missing-out-the-ndtv-and-watching-a-movie-or-play-at-nsd in exchange. and hagrid has never been more disapproving of harry. that closed it there.

god, am tired of writing this all. hope somebody will manage to go through it atleast once. and in full. no skipping around.

and i'm also tired of generating brilliant ideas like the flash of a bulb. gee, actually, am very fond of it... wonder whether 'dee' would agree.

why not we ALL go to the ndtv shooting and then as a repentace of boring them all to teeth, i'll take them to the theatre festival at nsd. i think the play did it for me. most reluctantly, i managed a sleepily-bored amul and a totally exasperated gudiya into an auto... and off we flied to greater kailash 1, that is gk1.

this was the first time i'd managed to arrive before apsy. 60 bucks for that. we roamed around in the m-block market, apsy called and we roamed around to the archana shopping complex where the studio was.

i wonder who's gonna read all this. except apsy and me. perhaps tintin because he'll have to be interested in whatever dee is readin and dee because, apsy will tell her how funny and hilarious all this was. hai na hagrid?

so, we reached the place. apprehensive, excited and tense. like the mood students are in when they know they'll have to bunk this class or else... there were lot of people around. nobody won't notice us for sure, the first thought to cross our mind. i bet, all of us thought exactly same. but we braved on. didn't bunk the class. took our positions in the audience which meant we were all separated like chickens in the stock. everything nice and settled, we were waiting for the moment barkha will arrive and the recording will commence.

can anything normal happen with me? just at the last couple of seconds, i got this strong urge to pee. that strong urge which you can't control for an hour on the stretch. that too when u r already tense and excited.

so i'd to answer the nature's call and when i came back, shooting had already started. till the first break, i'd to sit in the shadow on the director's & camerapersons side. which was nice in way, i viewed it all from the technical aspect also.

after the first break, i scampered around to my original seat with apsy. the show was a discussion, about drugs, the rahul mahajan case and all. it was a good, well-informed audience that decided to keep its mouth shut and hands clapping. i wanted to ask a question, got my hands several feet up in the sir, but barkha was somehow not convinced by my new french cut. in the end, all i'd to do was to talk with apsy and be contented with being the 'passive audience'.

the end result? sachin is not completely out of it yet. still keeps saying, 'yeah definitely' in his sleep. which is what all he did during the show. gudiya, well wouldn't mind coming again as long as the weather is not hot and there is a new dress to wear. and amul would like to wear a more formal shirt next time. as for apsy, she is fairly experienced in these kinda matters. and yours truly will make it sure his voice is heard above all the next time around.

we came out of the shoot which went very well and decided straight to head towards nsd. which seemed highly improbable cause of the half hour gap left for the show to start. but no stopping adi that day. so we all grabbed a few samosas, piled us in to another autorickshaw and went flying to mandi house.

reached just enough in time to miss all the cheap tickets and be left with empty tummies and hearts. but there is a thing about this lady, apsy wonder is her name. she arranged a few cheap tickets, using baba's clout and we got to sit in the aisle at 'abhimanch'.

and if you think that is it, whosoever you are reading this, the story is still on my dear friend. the pace is going to be a little too much to handle now onwards. there is still one more franctic auto ride to follow. and you thought mission impossible III was racier.

halfway through the play, apsy managed to get some severe stomach cramps. so much that i cud feel her pain in my stomach. what to do now? sachin, amul & gudiya were asked to continue the play and i was handed the big and heavy responsiblity of taking apsy to home.

another auto, from mandi house to mayur vihar phase I, at breakneck speed and while trying to avoid pothole shocks. with a crying and swearing hagrid and a scared, but trying-to-look-composed harry in the back seat, we carried ourselves to apsy's home.

ma was worried, baba appeared calm and tintin fairly like the weasly twins combined. tintin, as he has not been introduced on this blog before, is apsy's kid brother towering above us all. and he is directly in competition with me over hermoine, with a third mysterious personality hovering around in the vicinity like ron. wonder when i'll find my ginny. *sigh*

stayed at apsy's place for a while. had a little chat with ma and baba, glossing over the very excited tintin about dee's coming visit the next day. but that all is very healthy competition.

reached home a bit tired. had my dinner. and talked to dee on phone till around 12. sleep came around five minutes later and monday greeted me with a shrill reminder of all the pending jobs in the office.

if anyone has managed to stay with me, greetings dear, we both must be exhausted by now. so, i take your leave and don't know what. still missing ginny somewhat. take care.

today is the birthday of Aleksandr Pushkin and Miles Davis

2011-05-26T20:17:00.000+05:30

"Love passed, the muse appeared, the weather

of mind got clarity newfound;
now free, I once more weave together
emotion, thought, and magic sound."

- Aleksandr Pushkin
26/05/1799

- Miles Davis
26/05/1926

बस यही मेरी सज़ा, मेरा नसीब भी है

2011-05-19T18:22:00.000+05:30

बस यही मेरी सज़ा, मेरा नसीब भी है

मेरा साया ही मेरा रकीब भी है

मुझे न समझाइये इबादत के मानी

वो ही दुआ मेरी, वो ही सलीब भी है

कुछ ऐसा रिश्ता रहा दरम्यान तेरे-मेरे

तू ही दूर सब से, तू ही करीब भी है

अजीब शख्स है, जो आईने से झांकता है

पूरा वहशी सही, थोड़ा अदीब भी है

हरेक लिहाज से तू बेहतर सही मुझसे

बिना मेरे, तू थोड़ा ग़रीब भी है

what were you doing the night Osama died?

2011-05-03T19:44:00.001+05:30

this is an interactive post, an attempt to document history from the eyes of common men and women. please do answer the question above and post it in the comments box. i'll pick the responses from the comments and make them a part of the post.

wouldn't it be fascinating to see our personal, daily histories mixing and mashing with this world changing historical event?

also, do remember to write your name and the corner of the world you are writing in from. hope to gather as many responses as possible. and please do share this page/link with your friends! :) thanks in advance.

this is my answer:

i was getting ready for office, feeling unusually high spirited for a Monday morning. (it was already Monday morning in India). i updated my status on facebook and went to the home screen to see what other friends were saying. two updates were about Osama being killed in a military operation. from across the house, i called my dad and asked him to switch on the TV, saying "Pa, Bin Laden mara gaya!" (Pa, Bin Laden is dead!). watched TV for the next half an hour, yes got late for office and congratulated every one in the team when i reached :) -adee, New Delhi, India

so what were you doing the night Osama died?

मौला

2011-04-27T18:52:00.000+05:30

कैसी लिखी तक़दीर मौला
पानी पे खिंची लकीर मौला

हँसते-हँसते भूल गया वो
अश्कों की तासीर मौला

मुझ में, तुझ में, सब में वो है
गाता गया फ़कीर मौला

जितना बाँटू, बढ़ता जाये
दिल तो बड़ा अमीर मौला

26 बरस की सीधी गुड़िया
आँखें बड़ी शरीर मौला

अबके बरस वो मिल जाये मुझको
कर कुछ ये तदबीर मौला

today - writing a day in the diary of life

2011-04-21T18:12:00.000+05:30

a page from my diary, dated October 12, 2009 at 07:29pm

today.

such a short word can have so many different connotations. (today i met dee.) such a little word and the experiences, the emotions it generates! (today i went to the book bazaar with her.) the single word that captures everything done or thought of, things or thoughts long forgotten as if they never happened. (today we bought so many books and left so many more behind.)

perhaps the very purpose of writing a diary is to record these many 'todays' that happen one after the other and suddenly you've a lifetime of them looking back at you, making you wonder where has all the time gone. (today we dared to go upstairs in a shady little restaurant that turned out to be a gloriously kitsch example of the 80s middle-class India.) perhaps the idea of writing a diary is to dare yourself, because at the ends of the day when you'll put pen to paper, you won't like to be reminded of how badly you spent your allotted time. (today we lost dee's wallet due to our foolishness.) it is said that when people are dying, they remember their life in detail, what went wrong, what was right, the agony, the ecstasy, all of it rolls by as in a flashback scene from an old Bollywood movie. (today, we laughed, we shopped, we hoped, we dreamed, we loved, we hated, we smiled, we unsmiled.)

so writing a diary entry at the end of the day, something that starts with the word 'today' is almost like being those dying individuals, reminiscing about their lives, maybe wishing for one more chance and preparing for the long night ahead, because no matter what, tomorrow will be another 'today'. (it was a wonderful day, with almost everything that life could throw at us was accepted and lived through, it was a day worthy to be remembered always.)

i don't think i'll ask for one more chance to relive this day. (may our lives be full of many such 'todays'.)

Delhi, Goa and the six-pack

2011-04-15T17:48:00.003+05:30

In a world where everything has been explained and discovered, some part within us still craves the feeling of adventure that comes from stepping into the unknown. Perhaps this is the sole reason why people travel, to experience something new, to be out of the routine of their lives, and maybe in the process discovering something new about them.

Little wonder that when the bosses at Delhi McCann Healthcare asked the team “who would like to go to Goafest 2011” many hands shot-up in the air instantly! After a few meetings, huddles and approvals, finally a list of six was prepared. I call them the six-pack, aligning more to a certain refreshing drink than to a set of perfectly formed abdominal muscles.

Taking the metaphor of drink a little ahead, let me introduce the six to you. First comes the senior most member of the pack, Mr. Peace, who continues the glorious traditions of the flower children well into the new millennium, he is the age old, classic Guinness. Then we move on to the other ‘senior’ amongst us, Mr. B. Although his name also kind of links to peace, I’m choosing the alphabet B for him as he loves the words starting with it, like beach, beer, babes and yeah, you can let your imagination build on from here ;) He is the ‘Fosters’ amongst us. And now we move on to the ladies. First up, the always chilled, sophisticated Ms. Dusk, let’s name her that demi-goddess of beers, Heineken. Next amongst the women is our earthen Ms. Brown, never to be the one caught slipping off the stairs. She is the Carlsberg of our pack. Ooooh, and the next one is well, wait, I don’t think Punjab has a beer brand associated with it, so what do I call this bubbly, vivacious Ms. Sunshine amongst us. Ummmm, let’s call her the party special Tuborg! And in the end, let your humble narrator call himself Mr. Blue, based on his always brooding countenance, a preference for the Blues and this being his favorite color! So he becomes the Kingfisher Blue of the pack.

Let me tell you something about Goafest, the Indian advertising industry’s biggest awards festival. It is the meeting ground of the best minds that our industry has to offer. This year, it was the sixth edition of Goafest, I’ve been there before in 2008. The five other members of the six-pack were attending it for the first time, so naturally the overall excitement level was high. Apart from the fun one has there, Goafest is also famous for the many sessions conducted by industry leaders. You get to meet a lot of your friends from different regions and agencies, many a new friendships are built over drinks and you emerge with a broader perspective of life and work in Indian advertising. And of course, the overall appeal of the fest increases manifolds due to its location, Goaaaaah!

Our journey started early on Friday the 8th morning and ended earlier on Sunday the 10th. All in all, we got to spend less than 48 hours in Goa, but the sheer amount of fun we’d in such little time was amazing. We learned, we interacted, we danced, we drank, we traveled, we cheered those who won, felt sad for those who didn’t (especially for our TAG teammates), we met most of our Mumbai mates and they made this whole time so much more enriching. Thanks to Ulka, Puro, Ganesh, Sanjay, Yogeeta, Prasad, Rohit, Deepa and all others!

Back to our desks and mundane lives, I’m sure all of us will cherish the moments we spent together at Goafest 2011. And because the girls are after my life to upload the pics, I won’t say much now, and let the pictures below do the talking :) Do read the captions to travel the journey with us! You can watch it in full screen here: click click!

Here’s to Goafest 2012!!!

Goa calling

2011-04-07T22:30:00.002+05:30

once again, Goa is calling, for Indian advertising industry's biggest annual show, Goafest.

i'm going there with five of my team members from the McCann Healthcare Delhi office. joining us will be our Mumbai team and many from other divisions of the Delhi office. and of course the whole of industry will be there.

meeting the Mumbai guys will be cool, so will be the beaches and the beers! there are some wild elements in our troupe who've been planning some interesting things. i on the other hand am looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the best in the business and just going along with the flow.

whatever the spirit, we all are definitely looking forward to having some fun. and a bit of learning too :D

will keep you updated with things as they happen. we are not going to be there for a long time, but as my dada Shantanu said, "it is not the number of days, it is the number of hours that i'm looking forward to!"

see you in Goa, soon!

p.s. if i get good network connectivity there, u might also get regular tweets from my twitter account @delhidreams and/OR my facebook page here.enjoy!

when mortals become gods

2011-04-04T21:35:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, 02 April, 2011
some time before 12 in the night

Mortals have become Gods
We've won the Cricket World Cup 2011

i was down at the temple corner. they had put up a giant screen with a live DJ and hundreds of men, women, boys and girls gathered there, cheering each and every run team India made. it was electric. each shot, each run, each break celebrated with bhangra and madness. and we won, we won, we won!

the image of Sachin rushing on to the ground (later i read that he had not watched the winning runs as he was praying inside the dressing room!), his time-stopping hug of Yuvi, the victory lap with youngsters carrying him on their shoulders, Dhoni - the humble leader making the back of the procession, these images will stay with me forever. the brightest moments of my cricket viewing career ;)

but i also felt very lonely. there i was, surrounded by hundreds of strangers, desperately needing someone to hug, someone to share my tears of joy with. missed her so much that i can't even explain. joys or sorrows are worthwhile only when shared with someone you love.

later we did get to talk, and we couldn't. it was overwhelming. i must have went on and on about what this cup meant for India, for the team, for Sachin... but she had already converted over to the cult of the 'God!'

and for me, it was an affirmation, my belief in destiny doubled; that yes, there is somebody up there who writes such scripts, that yes, there is redemption, that patience pays, that i should never-ever lose faith, because hard work and sheer dedication always pays, that the universe is with Sachin and me and with all those who believe...

...it is only belief that converts mere mortals into all conquering Gods

this is a video of the last few runs of the match, each ball cheered, music and dance at every step, it was sheer madness to be a part of this crowd on the streets of New Delhi.

remembering Virginia

2011-03-28T19:51:00.000+05:30

"Then a little before noon, she walked out, taking her hat and her walking stick and her overcoat, in the pocket of which she placed a large stone, and drowned herself in the River Ouse, near their home in Sussex."

(from this http://bit.ly/g9kH0f wonderful tribute at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/)

it was seventy years ago that she killed herself, unable to continue her struggle with a restricted life. she has left a legacy of unparalleled works, that i feel should be read to understand life that little bit more passionately than we normally do. in her memory today, i'll start reading Mrs. Dalloway. have tried reading it before, but every time i come to the second page, describing the day of June Classisa finds herself in, i put the book down with a sigh.

"life; London; this moment of June."

which work of hers would you recommend most to a friend :)

the last free people in the world

2011-03-07T22:23:00.000+05:30

in the outer reaches of the universe, it is just another morning in an advanced world. an advertising agency writer is having his morning stimulant beverage and thinking about a news clip he saw last night at office.

not that he goes anywhere physically for work, his pad turns into a workplace, home, hangout zone at the flick of a button. in his world, traveling is limited only to the discovery of exoplanets in the far reaches of the known universe. and this is exactly what the video was about.

just when they thought that the whole world was known and conquered, in a distant and minor spiral galaxy millions of light years away, a tiny blue planet has been recently discovered. and it is teeming with primitive bipedal life forms!

"the last free people in the universe" their discoverer said about them. he wonders for how long they'll remain free. soon his civilization's vast machinery will move-in to claim its right on their lands, their resources and even their lives. many reasons will be given for this, that 'they' are primitive and must be civilized, that they will go extinct if we don't go and help them out, that their mineral wealth (if any) is needed for the continuation for his own civilization.... but underlying all of them will be the notion that his is a superior race and being superior, it can do anything with an inferior race.

he ponders what being civilized and advanced really means? meanwhile, as he's getting late for that urgent campaign he was supposed to deliver last night, he flicks the button and enters his office. as he starts typing, a thought sneaks into his mind, what if his own world was some other world's primitive world?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a fictionalized account inspired by this video featured on BBC's YouTube channel. the questions it generated in my mind are not fictional though.

"What the hell is going on in this country?" -Supreme Court

2011-03-03T19:02:00.003+05:30

"SC pulls up Centre for slacking on money launderers", says a headline. A guy who is alleged to have stashed around USD 8 billion in foreign banks, was served a notice for a tax demand for about Rs 50,000 crore!!! Our government is not bothered about where and how he got this huge amount of money, whether he has anti-national connections, nothing, as if he is just a tax offender! No wonder the honorable court had to show its exasperation!!!

Another order by the Supreme Court today, quashed the appointment of P J Thomas as CVC, slamming the Prime Minister-headed High-Powered Committee for the appointment of a person facing a criminal case. Just think about the sheer brazenness of our government. Here is a post which is supposed to upheld the highest standards of probity in the country, and the person you are appointing for it is already facing a corruption case against him! Still he was chosen by the three member HPC in which the leader of the opposition was vehemently against this appointment! And now our PM will say that we looked only at his bio-data!!! C'mon guys, even in a normal corporate job, a thorough background check is done to see whether the person you are hiring is good for the post or not. Even for a housemaid the police advices us to check her background and credentials! Who are these guys trying to fool?

And these two are amongst the few issues in the news. I shudder to think of the many more future headlines still under wraps, waiting for a whistle-blower or diligent media person to uncover, like in the case of 2G scam.

How in the world can our so-called 'honest' PM be ignorant of these things happening right under his nose? Ignorant will be the wrong word, actually he and his party are just dismissive of these things now.

I wonder what the Indian voter is thinking or doing. I'm asking the same question as the honorable judges asked, "What the hell is going on in this country?" Are you too?

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू

2011-02-22T12:22:00.000+05:30

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू

माँ हुयी है मम्मी बाबू

काँटा-छुरी के हेर-फेर में

छुटी हाथ की ममता बाबू

कुरते से पायजामा बिछड़ा

माथे से तिलक है उजड़ा

जींस-टॉप के फैशन में

बिंदिया हुयी परायी बाबू

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू...

देख ज़माना कैसा बदला

त्योहारों का रंग-ढंग बदला

valentine day के चक्कर में

बसंत पंचमी भुलाई बाबू

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू...

खेत से नाता टूट गया है

गाँव पीछे छूट गया है

इंडिया के संग भारत भी है

पर देता नहीं दिखाई बाबू

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू...

माना अंग्रेजी बेहद जरूरी

दुनिया से मिटाती दूरी

पर अंग्रेजियत के नशे में

भारतीयता क्यूँ भुलाई बाबू

ये कैसी अंग्रेजी बाबू...

disclaimer: more than a comment on the so-called westernization of the Indian society, it is a personal statement on loss of the traditions that make us Indians what we are. and the irony is, i'm writing this in English :)

हमारी गिनती हो गयी है! we've been counted!

2011-02-16T20:23:00.002+05:30

9 से 28 फरवरी 2011 तक, डी और उसके जैसे हजारों स्कूल शिक्षक एड़ी-छोटी का ज़ोर लगायेंगे, हमारे घर आएंगे, दुनिया के सबसे बड़े जनगणना कार्यक्रम में. हमारा फ़र्ज़ बनता है की हम इन मेहमानों का स्वागत करें और हर तरह से इनकी सहायता करें. और फिर गर्व से दुनिया को बताएं, हाँ हमारी गिनती हो गयी है! :)

from 9th till 28th of February, Dee and thousands of teachers like her will run from pillar to post in the biggest census exercise in the world. friends, let's welcome these guests to our homes, help them to the best of our abilities and tell the world with pride, yes we too have been counted :)

this time, there are 2.5 million enumerators this time with thousands of teachers amongst them.

i feel more concerned for the women teachers because they are the really hard-pressed ones. sending them after school, on holidays, to complete strangers' houses where they are not even welcome... and we know how thankless we all can be :(

that's why this little attempt to spread some awareness. hope it'll be of some help :)

कहानियों की नगरी

2011-02-14T18:00:00.001+05:30

बहुत बड़ा शहर है दिल्ली, और जितने लोग, उतनी कहानियां! अपनी रोजाना की ज़िन्दगी में तो हम एक set pattern follow करते हैं, सुबह घर से उठते हैं, काम पर जाते हैं, उन्ही पहले मिले-मिलाये लोगों से मिलते हैं, घर वापस आ जाते हैं. पर अगर थोडा सा दायरा बड़ा कर लें हम अपना, रुक कर रास्तें में अगर देखें आस-पास तो पाएंगे के चेहरों के भीतर कितनी कहानियां छुपी है इस शहर में.

कहानियों के इस शहर से चुन कर कुछ आधे-अधूरे व्यक्ति-चरित्र पेश करने की मेरी ये कोशिश उम्मीद करता हूँ आपको पसंद आयेगी. किरदार बहुत हैं, और मैं कहानी के सूत्रधार की तरह सबसे जुड़ा रहूँगा, और हम सबको बांधे रहेगी ये महानायिका, मेरी, आपकी दिल्ली.

पहली कहानी - नानी

मेरी पहली कहानी एक बूढी नानी की है, जो दिल्ली के सैकड़ों मोहल्लों की हजारों दादी-नानियों की तरह बेनाम है. उन्हें सिर्फ अम्मा के नाम से जाना जाता है, रास्ते में दिखने पर पाँव छू लिए जाते हैं और फिर भुला दिया जाता है. sunday के दिन ऐसी ही एक नानी ने अपने घर से ऊपर वाली मंजिल में रहने वाले दो लड़कों से उनकी छत पर रहने की इजाज़त मांगी!

नानी की भाषा थोड़ी अबूझ है, वो दोनों सिर्फ इतना समझे के समधियाने से कुछ लोग उनके यहाँ रहने आ रहे हैं तो अपनी बेटी के घर रहने वाली वो नानी अपने ही घर में नहीं रह पायेगी. अब जब तक वो लोग बेटी के घर में रहेंगे, नानी छत पर अपनी खाट डाल के रहेगी, वहीँ अपना चूल्हा-चौका करेगी और अपने पंछियों को दाना डालेगी. बस सुबह नहाने-धोने के लिए वो उन दोनों लड़कों से उनका toilet इस्तेमाल करने की इजाज़त मांग रही थी. आपको क्या लगता है, मना कर पाएंगे वो नानी को?

नानी को अपने पंछियों से बड़ा प्यार है. रोह सुबह मूंह-अँधेरे उठ कर, छत पर दाना दाल कर आती है. और उन्ही पंछियों की वजह से छत पर रहना मंजूर है, पर किसी रिश्तेदार के यहाँ जाना नहीं! कहती है, जिस दिन मेरे पति की मौत हुयी थी, उस दिन भी मैं ऊपर पंछियों को दाना दाल कर आई थी और उनसे माफ़ी मांगी थी, "अब तो घर का खर्चा चलाने वाला चला गया, अब सेवा न कर पाऊँ तो माफ़ कर देना!"

ऐसी नानी को भला वो दोनों कैसे मना कर पाते?

Delhidreams’ Weekly Digest: Vol. 4, 13/02/11

2011-02-13T14:41:00.073+05:30

CREATIVITY
Google "Art Project" Brings Great Paintings and Museums to You
"Google is rolling out a new tool called "Art Project," which gives you access to more than 1,000 works of art appearing in 17 great museums across the world."
You can also create your own museum, own the artworks of your dreams. Read the full post here: http://ht.ly/3ORdW

Short Film "AASAI"
"Selvam, a little boy who works in a grocery shop is fond of Telephones. His aspiration was to speak in Telephone to his mother who is at Tirunelveli (district in Tamil nadu) that too from his hard earned money. Near b y STD booth lady helps him to find out how much money is needed for Selvam to speak to his mother for five minutes. Selvam practices what all he wishes to speak to his mother within that five minutes by speaking with himself. Selvam speaks to his mother or not?"
Watch the movie here: http://ht.ly/3Od0k Don't worry, its only 11 minutes! You'll like it :)

Brilliant thriller of a short story featured in Tehelka
"Is he fresh? aka Kaula hai? http://ht.ly/3PfKD

HEALTH
India can achieve zero transmission of polio in 2 yrs: Gates
"India could see zero transmission of the crippling polio virus in the next two years, according to business magnate turned philanthropist Bill Gates."
Read the full report here: http://ht.ly/3OK8y

Every year, 3000 die due to air pollution in Delhi
http://www.hindustantimes.com/3-000-people-die-in-Delhi-prematurely-because-of-exposure-to-air-pollution/Article1-660897.aspx
I'm sure all big cities face this problem!

Infertility in women rising due to lifestyle disorders
http://www.themedguru.com/20110211/newsfeature/infertility-women-rising-due-lifestyle-disorders-86143626.html

CRICKET
When Sachin played under Imran!
http://ht.ly/3SXte

'I'm no celebrity'
http://ht.ly/3UFP9
Harsha Bhogle's interview

MISCELLANEOUS
The road to the past
On a trip from Bangalore to Ooty, Kestur Vasuki discovers tradition, art and a lot of life. Nice, pretense free, travel article, and that is why am asking you to read it here:
http://ht.ly/3OFGQ

Fashion simplified for you!
This girl has started a blog on fashion, and I like it very much. Do check this recent post: 5 myths about the fashion industry here: http://ht.ly/3SeSd

340 Free Movies Online!!!
http://t.co/oXOaBIm
Now this is called stumbling upon a treasure!

Each person is inundated with 174 newspapers' worth of information EVERY DAY via television, emails and post
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1355892/Each-person-inundated-174-newspapers-worth-information-EVERY-DAY.html
Now I know where my day goes!!!

ENVIRONMENT
The Real Price of Fashion
PLEASE DO WATCH THIS VIDEO ONCE: http://ht.ly/3OG7o and share with all those around you.

ADVERTISING
Now this is called product placement!
http://adsoftheworld.com/media/dm/diesel_kneej
Sheer brilliance :) loved the idea, and the guts of the agency!

"Advertising Pick-Up Lines"
http://ht.ly/3T74M
The Best Thing I Discovered These past few days!

The new MacDonald's ad – how it is promoting stereotypes!
http://blog.livemint.com/livelounge/let-kids-be-kids/
And I completely agree with the writer's views!

news flash: my first published article

2011-02-12T13:22:00.000+05:30

"As a part of my New Year resolutions, I decided I’ll start writing a diary about my favorite sport - cricket. You see, while growing up I was dubbed the ‘Rahul Dravid’ of my mohalla cricket team. Though my playing career didn’t go any further, I feel am as much a student of the game as the esteemed Mr. Dravid. And now that life has brought me into a position where my main job is daydreaming and writing advertisements that not many like to read, I can devote ample time to writing about my passion that cricket is."

So here it is, my first cricket related article in a mainstream website.

Childhood Memories

Do click on the title and leave a comment or two at the page. I'll be really glad if you share it with your friends as well :) Hope you'll like it enough!

Delhidreams’ Weekly Digest: Vol. 3, 31/01/11

2011-01-31T21:52:00.001+05:30

New ad for Oliver Peoples. Really loved the gorgeous video though I won't say that it's an ad J

Must check the video here: http://vimeo.com/17013920

Who knew throwing paint in the air could be so beautiful? J

Watch 'Highspeed footage of flying paint' : http://vimeo.com/16052801

Incredible idea: Making the world a better place with every credit card swipe!

SwipeGood is a credit card service that rounds your purchases up to the nearest dollar and donates the difference to a charity of your choice: http://ht.ly/3FalZ

OMG! i've never seen anything like this before!!! 'Civilization' http://ht.ly/3FaNe

"Civilization, a video mural created for the new Standard hotel in New York City, by Marco Brambilla, depicts a journey from hell to heaven interpreted through modern film language using computer-enhanced found footage. This epic video mural contains over 300 individual channels of looped video blended into a multi-layered seamless tableau of interconnecting images that illustrate a contemporary, satirical take on the concepts of Heaven and Hell. One of the most impressive and fully realized affect effects projects you will ever see. Bravo Marco."

A very useful infographic on Facebook and how it is affecting our lives.

Soon, your life will be nothing but Facebook http://t.co/5xU4bSe

No one like Steyn

A beautiful article by Cricinfo Assistant Editor, Dileep Premchandran. Must read if you are cricket fan!

"He's the only one today who matches up to Lillee, Thommo, Maco, Wasim, Waqar and the other fast-bowling greats of the past." Click here: http://ht.ly/3HbB5

A timely message from Greenpeace on the need to save our oceans.

"Time is running out. Evidence shows that the oceans cannot sustain this level of abuse and remain whole. They are not the inexhaustible supply that those who profit from them would have us believe. They are living, breathing, incredibly complex systems which, miraculously, if left alone and not abused, have the ability to recover."

Read the complete post and please share it with all you can: http://ht.ly/3HbOl

Is a clean energy world possible in next 40 years?

A carbon neutral solar and wind powered world in 20 to 40 years?

"Is it achievable? You bet! All it takes is the political and social will to make it happen says two California based researchers who have just published a study of the material resources and technology required to power the world 100 per cent by carbon emission neutral alternative energy technologies. It would also save 2.5 million to 3 million lives a year through slashing water and air pollution and simultaneously slow global warming and the problems of climate change, and develop secure, reliable energy sources and at costs comparable with what we spend on energy today."

Read the full report here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/01/26/18670313.php

Why don't we truly value poetry?

"Yet again, a major literary prize has been won by a book of verse, and the genre has rarely been more popular. So why does it feel as if poetry is losing its way, asks Philip Hensher."

A brilliant and timely article, read it in full here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/poetryandplaybookreviews/8284846/Why-dont-we-truly-value-poetry.html

Music review of Saat Khoon Maaf

As I wrote in the comment to his post, this gentleman makes me love reading about the album more than actually listening to music J do check the fabulous post at: http://ht.ly/3NmX7

Another year of life begins

2011-01-28T20:25:00.003+05:30

It is the 26^th of January, 2011. He is at his bachelor pad relishing a morning of calm. It is a holiday, the nation's Republic Day, and thus there is no hurry to get up early and get ready for the office. Like a rare Sunday morning when he has nothing to do and no one to meet. He loves this solitude.

But this will not last for long. In a few hours from now, the girl he loves and a few close friends will come over to celebrate his birthday which was two days ago. 31 years! He is thirty one years old now! The feeling is still to sink in though. He wanted to write how he's feeling for the past two days. But he couldn't. Maybe because he doesn't know what to write.

And he is writing this with a new gold and silver ball point pen in a new notebook made of handmade sheets of paper. Both of them being his birthday gifts. Also, this morning he started reading Damon Galgut's 'In a strange room.' This book was also a (belated) gift for his last birthday.

He is enjoying the book. It is written in short, clear but somewhat broken sentences. And there are lots of pauses in between. This is exactly like how he likes to talk. To talk less and, to think more. By the way, these pauses of his are legendary by now. (And he takes a pause at the use of the word 'legendary'. He realizes that it has crept into his vocabulary due to Barney Stinson and the amazing proclivity of youth to use superlatives. Youth?) This was an example of the way he talks with lengthy pauses in-between. And that's why he is liking the book.

The maid comes. After doing her chores, cleaning the floor, the balcony and the bathrooms, she is out quickly. He thinks that labor class doesn't get any holidays. What is the meaning of the Republic Day holiday for a maid working in a middle class locality? Last night, when coming back from the office, he saw a guard's cabin outside the swanky and huge DTC millennium park depot. Rows and rows of big green and red buses locked inside the gates while outside in a tiny cabin, a solitary guard sat under the light of a single yellow bulb. He wonders who was guarding whom.

Anyways, he has to start getting ready now. In a few hours, the people he loves will start showing up. He has to get his room in some sort of order, have a bath and preferably something to eat as well. Oh, she is calling him now and he'll talk to her, enjoying the prospect of meeting her today.

Maybe today he'll get a sense of a year gone by, of another new diary, written by a new pen. Maybe he'll write well this year.

traveling back in time, notes on Raja Deen Dayal photography exhibition

2011-01-19T17:18:00.002+05:30

images swirled around my head and i amongst them, a few moments ago i was in 2011 and when i landed at the bottom of the rabbit hole i'd traveled almost 125 years in time, to the India of the late 1800s!

medieval forts and palaces, long abandoned even 100 years ago; new cities of Bombay and Kolkata, unspoilt and uncrowded; Red Fort's Diwai-e-Khas and the Jama Masjid of Delhi, 'only' 28 years after the mutiny/revolution; the Nizams of Hyderabad, their noblemen and their families in all their royal splendor; the hunting parties; the foreigners who traveled to catch a glimpse of the exotic; the Kings and Queens and Princes lording above the poor natives who sadly still remain in more or less the same condition- all of this seen through, photographed and recorded for posterity by the keen eye of India's pioneering photographer, Raja Deen Dayal.

this Sunday, i went to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) where an exhibition of Raja Deen Dayal's extensive oeuvre is on till February. for three hours i roamed amidst these hundred of images framed on walls, images of a distant yet vaguely familiar India, because the more India changes, the more it remains same.

the Kings and Princes are long gone, but a new royalty is seated in their place; these days tigers are not sported as trophies, business deals are the sport; SUVs are the new elephants; corporate houses and political parties are the new kingdoms; and still, the common man is as common as he was a 125 years ago.

only the veneer has changed, the world Raja Deen Dayal a hundred years ago still is the same, bafflingly contradictory, sanely insane.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
created a slideshow out of the images i clicked there. do keep in mind that the image quality is quite low as there was a lot of reflection and all these were clicked by my Nokia C-6 only :) and here you can watch it full screen

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related links:
Raja Deen Dayal's Wikipedia page

two pages from the IGNCA digital archives, Raja Deen Dayal Collection and the legacy of Raja Deen Dayal

Delhidreams’ Weekly Digest: Vol. 2 15/01/11

2011-01-14T19:42:00.000+05:30

NG Photo Gallery: How to Take Camera Phone Pictures

Brilliant tips for all of us mobile phone camera pros: http://ht.ly/3AVLI

Gas - Microscopic (Ambient Electronic Space)

MUST WATCH!!! Brilliant! amazing, puts our universe sized egos into a much-needed perspective!!! http://ht.ly/3Cldu :)

A Light in India

By DAVID BORNSTEIN NEW YORK TIMES

A small company's innovative system is turning rice husks into electricity and illuminating India's poorest state: http://ht.ly/3Co4R

What the company illustrates is a different way to think about innovation — one that is suitable for global problems that stem from poor people’s lack of access to energy, water, housing and education. In many cases, success in these challenges hinges less on big new ideas than on collections of small old ideas well integrated and executed. “What’s replicable isn’t the distribution of electricity,” says Pandey. “It’s the whole process of how to take an old technology and apply it to local constraints. How to create a system out of the materials and labor that are readily available.”

Justice, System and Jessica

A good blog post on the now ‘ever relevant’ topic in urban India, No One Killed Jessica. Do read here: http://ht.ly/3CoXE and share your feedback.

Diesel's SFW XXX Party Clip

This is old but this is good! Diesel rocks the advertising world with whatever it does. Check the safest xxx video to watch in workplace here: http://www.break.com/index/sfw-porn-clips.html

Smart, eco-friendly sanitation for all

The technology choice that China made for sanitation and wastewater management has led to not only blistering economic growth but also rapid urbanisation as it helped Beijing reduce GDP loss that poor sanitation brings.

Read the full report here: http://ht.ly/3Cpop

10 Amazing Uses For Toothpaste

Yeah you read it write ;) and here they are: http://preventdisease.com/news/11/010411_toothpaste_uses.shtml

Earth project aims to 'simulate everything'

“An international group of scientists is aiming to create a simulator that can replicate everything happening on Earth - from global weather patterns and the spread of diseases to international financial transactions or congestion on Milton Keynes' roads.”

Movies, Music, Books and all that...

New blog I discovered by a twitter friend @rohwit I respect a lot for his knowledge of and zeal to share to good music with us. Do check http://almostareview.blogspot.com/

Swami Vivekananda and the social networking generation

2011-01-12T21:38:00.000+05:30

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success." - Swami Vivekananda.

It is Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary today. But does this matter to we the facebook, twitter generation of young Indians? Pity is, many amongst us don't even understand what he was and what he did for our nation, for our spirituality. That our government has labelled this day as National Youth Day is ironic at best!

I'll keep this post short, very short. All i would request you, my young friends is to study some works by him. Because if you are an Indian, if you've to know and understand the idea of India, and if you are interested in the spiritual aspect of Hinduism (though you don't have to be a Hindu to appreciate him!) you've to know, understand, study, the life and works of Swami Vivekananda. I've read some of his works, that's why i can say this with surety.

And maybe, by the time we celebrate the next youth day, we'll have better understanding of him and his contribution towards the making of India.

आजकल नहाते समय, गीता की बड़ी याद आती है

2011-01-10T14:53:00.000+05:30

आजकल नहाते समय,

गीता की बड़ी याद आती है

पानी के प्रथम स्पर्श से ही

देह तो नश्वर है की गूँज आती है

आत्मा का क्या है,

वो तो अजर है, अमर है

न उसे पानी भिगोता है,

न आग जला पाती है

पर बाथरूम की

महीन झिर्रियों से आती हवा

इस देह को

बेहद सताती है

हे कृष्ण, तुम तो कह गए:

कर्म करो और फल की चिंता न करो

पर इस मौसम में देवी रजाई की सिखाई,

अकर्मण्यता ही ज्यादा भाती है

आजकल नहाते समय,

गीता की बड़ी याद आती है

आत्मा अमर, देह नश्वर,

तो नहा के क्या होगा का पाठ पढ़ाती है

कहत कवि 'आदि'

नहाना तो सिर्फ है बहाना

मन साफ़ रखने की कला,

अब किसे आती है

Delhidreams’ Weekly Digest: Vol. 1 08/01/11

2011-01-08T15:18:00.004+05:30

Coke signs Sachin for Rs 20 cr; will feature in corporate ads
Ace batsman Sachin Tendulkar has finalised a three-year endorsement deal, estimated at around Rs 20 crore, with Coca-Cola India. PepsiCo had dropped Tendulkar about two-and-half years ago as part of its strategy to phase-out aging brand ambassadors.

Read the full report at: http://ht.ly/3zfaS

Injured Kallis out-thinks India

Jacques Kallis faced more adversity on the fourth day than he did in the first innings and came up trumps again, winning the mental battle against the Indians

Read the full report at: http://ht.ly/3zfev

England on the brink of series glory

England were three wickets away from an emphatic 3-1 series victory after more superlative all-round cricket left Australia in tatters on 7 for 213, still 151 runs short of making the visitors bat again.

Read the full story at: http://ht.ly/3zfh4

Fat World

A study shows species across the board putting on weight. Is there something in the environment contributing to it?

Read the full story at: http://ht.ly/3zpDs

No risk, no reward for South Africa

South Africa made sure they wouldn't lose this Test by not declaring in their second innings, but in the process might have missed out on winning it too

Read the full story at: http://ht.ly/3zMzB

England complete crushing Ashes victory

England ended 24 years of hurt in crushing style at the SCG as they secured an innings-and-83-run victory to take the Ashes series 3-1. The crowning moment came shortly before noon when Chris Tremlett found Michael Beer's inside edge to bowl him leg stump. It was the first time in their history that Australia have suffered three innings defeats in a series and left nobody in any doubt where the balance of power now lies.

Read more at: http://ht.ly/3zMGo

Yet another GoM!

January 07, 2011 7:08:44 PM

Soon a full-time Minister will be required to keep track of and coordinate with all such groups that have been set up to deal with the problem of corruption.

Read the full editorial at: http://goo.gl/9PFhl

Floppy disk art

Nick Gentry is a British artist who uses obsolete media formats, such as floppy disks, VHS tapes, polaroids and cassettes, to create his unique portraits.

He is also using his art to make a comment about waste culture, limited life cycles and identity in general. His works have been exhibited in the UK, USA and Europe, and his book, Obsolete, is available for sale. All proceeds will go to Oxfam, a global movement of people working with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

The complete post with visuals at: http://ht.ly/3AnXz

Amazing Kinetic Typography Examples

Kinetic typography the technical name for "moving text" is an animation technique mixing motion and text.

It's a cool way to add motion to your words! Do check it at: http://goo.gl/60Pwc

When...

When did it become ok, fashionable even, to hate? When did tolerance and co-existence become "weakness"? When did pride in one's culture, faith, or language start being based on hatred for another faith, culture or language?

Read the complete post at my friend N's blog here: http://goo.gl/WQlVH

Kawah Ijen by night

Photographer Olivier Grunewald has recently made several trips into the sulfur mine in the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano in East Java, Indonesia, bringing with him equipment to capture surreal images lit by moonlight, torches, and the blue flames of burning molten sulfur. Covered last year in the Big Picture (in daylight), the miners of the 2,600 meter tall (8,660ft) Kawah Ijen volcano trek up to the crater, then down to the shore of a 200-meter-deep crater lake of sulfuric acid, where they retrieve heavy chunks of pure sulfur to carry back to a weighing station. Mr. Grunewald has been kind enough to share with us the following other-worldly photos of these men as they do their hazardous work under the light of the moon. (30 photos total)

See them all at: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/kawah_ijen_by_night.html

खबर आई है के बड़ी अम्मा मर गयी!

2011-01-07T20:37:00.001+05:30

खबर आई है के बड़ी अम्मा मर गयी! अम्मा, यानि दादी, बड़ी अम्मा यानि दादी की भी माँ. पूरे 105 बरस की थी बड़ी अम्मा. स्वाति कहती है, "50 हज़ार रूपए, एक जोड़ी कानों की बाली और एक भैंस छोड़ गयी है मेरे लिए! मुझे नहीं पता के मैं रोऊँ या खुश होऊं!"

105 बरस! एक पूरी सदी गुज़र गयी आज. और कुछ नहीं, लोग सुबह उठेंगे और काम पर चल देंगे अपने-अपने. सभी बढ़ जो रहे हैं अपने बरस पूरे होने की तरफ.

बड़ी अम्मा मर गयी. मेरी दोस्त स्वाति की, मेरी नहीं. फिर मैं क्यूँ लिख रहा हूँ ये सब?

जैसे बच्चे पूरे समाज की ज़िम्मेदारी होते हैं, वैसे ही बड़े-बूढ़े भी तो इसी समाज के साझा अनुभव का पिटारा होते हैं, वो सबके होते हैं न? पता नहीं कितने किस्से, कितनी कहानियां, जीवन के खट्टे-मीठे अनुभव बड़ी अम्मा के साथ ही चले गए!

न जाने क्यूँ, पर स्वाति का मेसेज आया तो लगा जैसे मेरी ही दादी गुज़री है. दादी चाहे दोस्त की हो, होती तो अपनी ही है न?

Remembrance

2011-01-04T21:40:00.000+05:30

They are talking about people from the past. A young, male relative who one day made such delicious and evenly fried pakodas* that even the ladies of the household couldn’t stop envying him; a long forgotten neighborhood aunt whose clothesline was the embodiment of middle class organizational skills; their always grumbling mother/mother-in-law and how she was not happy with the way the young male relative made those pakodas.

They are talking about them, remembering them from their last storehouse of memories, because when they left home, their relatives and snapped ties with that old life forever, they ceased to make new memories about it. So now until they themselves cease to exist, the now old male relative will always be young, forever cooking delicacies for the extended family, freshly washed clothes will continue to drip proudly in the backyard of that neighborhood aunt and the now (presumably) dead matron of the house will continue to grumble away forever. This is the fate shared by everyone who has left something behind in a hurry, more so of the refugees of fate itself.

As if time is a river which though doesn’t stop for anyone, it is we who drop the anchors of our memories and linger on, sometimes for a moment, sometimes forever.

A *Pakora (पकोड़ा; پکوڑا; பஜ்ஜி;); is a fried snack found across South Asia. Pakoras are created by taking one or two ingredients such as onion, eggplant, potato, spinach, cauliflower, tomato, chilli or occasionally chicken and dipping them in a batter of gram flour and then deep-frying them. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakoda

joining the resolution bandwagon

2011-01-03T16:11:00.000+05:30

the first two days of the 'new' new year are coming to an end. not only is this the beginning of a new year but of a new decade as well. agreed, these divisions of time into moments, months, years, is just a facilitating tool and memory doesn't always follow its cold, logical precision, nevertheless by compartmentalizing our life in time, we can compare where we stand today in relation to our past(s).

normally, my personal favorites for this pensive task are the two days of my birthday and the festival of Diwali. the universally applicable new year resolutions mania doesn't affect me much :D this time though, i'm making an exception.

now, i want to start collecting, transcribing my memories, capturing the swirling sounds and images with my magic wand and storing them in clear glass vessels, one page at a time. the purpose is twofold: a written record of my experiences will help me gather my thoughts better, hopefully help me journey constructively towards my goals (not in the chaotic, haphazard manner i've all my life till now) and secondly, help sow the seeds of discipline and craft that i so desperately require to succeed as a writer.

hope i'll be able to stick to this resolution and bug you with more regular posts throughout the year :)

welcoming the new year

2011-01-02T16:05:00.001+05:30

the real lover

2010-12-30T19:07:00.000+05:30

at any given time in life, we all are carrying the best and the worst of us within us. the noblest of our thoughts co-exist with the excreta in our small intestine, the purity of the heart with the cunning of the mind. and only a person who is in love with both these sides of ours can be said to be truly in love with us.

taking lives

2010-11-22T10:59:00.000+05:30

death is all around me

the dead, undead

they eat, laugh, procreate

traveling bed to bed

the sun gives dark

the night sheds light

each moment a dilemma

whether stay or take flight

who created this world

this life full of debt

made me sign my death certificate

when i drew in first breath

someday i'll meet Him

my maker well bred

and ask why He creates life

when all He gifts is death

the unreview - "Our taken for granted lives : thoughts on the movie Cast Away"

2010-11-16T14:33:00.001+05:30

"We both have done the math. Kelly added it all up and... knew she had to let me go. I added it up, and knew that I had... lost her. Because I was never going to get off that island. I was going to die there, totally alone. I was going to get sick, or get injured or something. The only choice I had, the only thing I could control was when, and how and where it was going to happen. So... I made a rope and I went up to the summit, to hang myself. I had to test it, you know? Of course, you know me. And the weight of the log, snapped the limb of the tree, so I-I - , I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over *nothing*. And that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. I knew, somehow that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. And one day, my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back in Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass... And I've lost her all over again. I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly. But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I got to keep breathing. Because tomorrow, the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?" -Chuck Noland, played by Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away.

to have ice in the glass, to be back home everyday, to watch a sunrise once again in life... it is plainly ridiculous how much we take for granted in our lives!

perhaps each one of us needs to be marooned on an island of either sickness or relationship breakdown or job loss or something like that to realize how fortunate we are to have the kind of life we are living now. because all we do is keep cribbing, complaining, crying that this is not right and this should have been mine and always looking up to the next guy who has just a bit more than us... we all want more... more money, more attractiveness, more knowledge, more this more that but never realize that what we've have is a hundred million times more important that what we don't have!

to have breath in our lungs, to have love in our hearts, to be alive, just aware of this life within is the biggest joy in life. let's be grateful for what is given to us, and let us spread the joy that this awareness provides, let us not take our lives as taken for granted anymore. *amen*

the secret life of a tree

2010-11-09T12:07:00.002+05:30

now that you've felled me
chopped me down
i am still one with earth
to which i belonged

even the axe you used
was wood and metal
one part, a neighbour deep
the other, ancestral

and when i burn
i'll be set free
to converse with the wind
eternal friend of my leaves

to you it looks
as if i'm alone
little do you know
that i've a life beyond

the trunk, the roots, the leaves
and much beyond what you see
i belong to you, you to me
and this, the secret of a tree

written a few weeks back, inspired by this image (click here: http://ht.ly/36BC1 ) and its title from one of my most cherished blogger friends, coyote: http://singingmoon.blogspot.com/ :)

diwali mubarak

2010-11-04T19:50:00.000+05:30

Diwali is my favorite festival and i wish all of u, my dear friends a very very happy and enjoyable year ahead :) May your homes and heart always be filled with the light of love *hugs*

sometimes i feel...

2010-10-28T23:36:00.001+05:30

...that this wretched, desparate struggle with time that i call my life is nothing but a dream and soon i'll get up and find myself in the utopia of my fancies. That in one supple, succint moment of magic all that is wrong will be set right and i'll live happily ever after.

And somehow, i know that i'm not alone in having this kind of feeling. Do you also feel like this sometimes?

a day at the Durga Puja

2010-10-20T18:16:00.000+05:30

October-November are the months of festivals in India. and one of the most important festival in northern and eastern India is the Durga Puja. the little Bengali dominated enclave of C R park is the heart of Durga Puja celebrations in New Delhi, the capital of India and the city i call home :)

Bengali's are the people who take their festivals seriously, with the Puja being their biggest and most important festival. The arrival and stay of Mother Goddess Durga during nine days of Navratri is celebrated in many other parts of the country, but nowhere with this fanfare and
passion.

If you are in Delhi at around this point of time, it is highly recommended that you pack one day of your life visiting different pandals (venues) and pay obeisance to the Goddess. gaily dressed crowds, lots to eat, lots to click and yeah, so much to observe and marvel at, these are the
things that make my Durga Puja celebrations.

hope you'll like a few glimpses of my day in these pics :)

i'm busy reading the glass palace

2010-10-16T23:01:00.001+05:30

and want to finish it tonight. Its another thing that around 200 pages still remain. Finally, there is some action in this long, lethargic storyline and i don't want to keep the book down at this point of time.

Talking of action, i'd a day packed with it. The Navratri fasts were over today and i gorged upon sinfully rich food. Then, in the afternoon, half asleep i went to be a part of the Durga Puja celebrations at C.R. Park. Had a great time with Amrak, Abhi n SD. Roamed around quite a wee bit, clicked some pics, took Ma Durga's blessings, talked a lot... but in all of this, kept missing Dee.

So all in all, a day brimful with activities and i would have loved to go on and on. But you already know that i don't talk too much and anyways, have a book to finish as well ;)

c ya soon!

some days are like this only

2010-10-15T21:49:00.001+05:30

Had a blissful day in her company. Out of the blue we decided to meet and watch a movie. We reached the theatre and found two options suiting our timings. And you know what, we left the choice of the movie on the ticket counter girl. All we asked her was, "any of the two shows which has the option of corner seats!" ;)

After the movie, while having lunch, we remembered the first movie we'd watched together. It was at the same theatre, same time of the day and almost the same time of the year. We were not even going out then. But i do remember that i missed her a lot after saying goodbyes that day :)

Its been four years, well almost. And from Munnabhai to Do dooni chaar, this magic of stolen moments, of planned-unplanned meetings, of days well spent in the company of each other just never seem to end. And may it never end. *Amen*

on time and photographs

2010-10-08T17:40:00.000+05:30

Yesterday i was wondering about photographs. And how they alone have the ability to stop time in its tracks. So much alike in this power as the portrait of Dorian Gray... but opposite in the effect.

The portrait took everything upon itself while Dorian remained young. Our photographs remain beautiful and timeless, while we keep ageing outside their frames.

Posted as a comment on this amazing blog i deeply cherish: http://ht.ly/2QxvX . Thought it was good enough for an individual post :) Tell me if you liked it.

एक ख़त टाटा इंडिकॉम के नाम

2010-10-06T11:33:00.001+05:30

अभी रहते हैं वो दोनों
दूर एक दूसरे से
दो शहरों का
दो घरों का
फासला है दरम्याँ उनके

बस एक अनदेखी सी डोर है
बांधे रखती है जो उन्हें
डोर बातों की
और बातें दुनियाभर की
आज का दिन कैसा रहा
बातें स्कूल, कॉलेज, ऑफिस, दोस्ती, ज़िन्दगी की

अभी दूर रहते हैं वो दोनों एक दूसरे से
मिल पाते हैं हफ्ते में सिर्फ एक बार
तभी वो लड़का और वो लड़की
रोज़ रात को बात करते हैं फ़ोन पर

तुम अगर 'नेटवर्क' ठीक कर लो थोड़ा और अपना
तो ये डोर टूटे न कभी

i'm entering this poem under the Share Life blogger contest by the newly launched Tata DOCOMO OneTouch Net Phone at IndiBlogger. you can know more about the phone by clicking here. and please do vote for me here if you liked the poem. thanks :)

when an artist dies

2010-10-01T20:08:00.000+05:30

"When an artist passes away, some bits of him start living in his works. till the time he was alive, he was this other self, roaming around the streets of this world, but now that he is dead, his works take an inner glow, as if they hold some bits of his soul... shining from behind the canvas and the frame, in a soft, translucent glow."

Posted as a comment on this post by my blogger-senior Ennyman, http://ht.ly/2MWTM . thought it was good enough for an individual post :) tell me if you liked it.

On the upcoming Ayodhya verdict

2010-09-30T11:59:00.002+05:30

A tense, nervous India is waiting for the Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land title verdict today. Unprecedented security measures have been taken by the governments at both centre and state levels, political parties have urged their supporters to maintain peace and respect the law of the land, media is spreading messages of peace and brotherhood continuously. Nobody wants a repeat of what happened in '92 and afterwards.

It is an important day for India. Let us remember we are Indians first and then only a Hindu or a Muslim. And as a poet, as a person of faith, as a human being, let me share with you what Kaifi saa'b wrote years ago. More than any day, this nazm is important and relevant for us today...

सोमनाथ

बुतशिकन कोई कहीं से भी न आने पाए

हमने कुछ बुत अभी सीने में सजा रक्खे हैं

अपनी यादों में बसा रखे हैं

दिल पे ये सोच के पथराव करो दीवानों

के जहाँ हमने सनम अपने छिपा रखे हैं

वहीँ गज़नी के खुदा रक्खे हैं

बुत जो टूटे तो किसी तरह बना लेंगे उन्हें

टुकड़े-टुकड़े सही दामन में उठा लेंगे उन्हें

फिर से उजड़े हुए सीने में सजा लेंगे उन्हें

गर खुदा टूटेगा हम तो न बना पाएंगे

उस के बिखरे हुए टुकड़े न उठा पाएंगे

तुम उठा लो तो उठा लो शायद

तुम बना लो तो बना लो शायद

तुम बनाओ तो खुदा जाने बनाओ क्या

अपने जैसा ही बनाया तो क़यामत होगी

प्यार होगा न ज़माने में मुहब्बत होगी

दुश्मनी होगी अदावत होगी

हम से उस की न इबादत होगी

वहशत-ए-बुत-शिकनी देख के हैरान हूँ मैं

बुत-परस्ती मेरा शेवा (आदत) है के इंसान हूँ मैं

इक न इक बुत तो हर एक दिल में छुपा होता है

उस के सौ नामों में एक नाम खुदा होता है

-कैफ़ी आज़मी

Somnath

Let no idol breaker arrive ever

a few idols are preserved in my heart

and in memories old

Before you cast a stone on my heart, o believer! remember

that the hiding place of our loves

and of the God of Ghazni

is the same

Should these idols break, i will recreate them

pick up the pieces, hold them in my arms

and establish them again, in my once vanquished heart

But if it is God that breaks, there will be no re-creation,

and no picking up of the pieces

You, however, may be able to pick up the pieces

and create a new God

But God alone knows of the God you will create

God save the world should He be like you

There will be no love in our world,

Just a lot of hatred, a lot of enmity..

I will not be able to worship that God

I am amazed at this madness of idol breaking

Idol worship is my habit, for a human i am

because every human heart houses an idol

one of the million names of which, is God

-Kaifi Aazmi

thanks to 'How Do We Know' for helping translate it into English

meri aawaz hi pehchan hai

2010-09-28T20:35:00.001+05:30

a compilation of 140 songs as a tribute to Lata ji on her birthday.

you can watch these songs right above, though they'll look better here: http://ht.ly/2L5Rq

A day in pacific rim

2010-09-27T20:36:00.000+05:30

"The sounds of silence!"

first i thought, i've seen all of this umpteen times on Discovery and NGC, why now. but then i realized one major difference, that there was no narration here, nobody telling me this and that and what is meant to be what!

it is a 12 year old film, so the quality is a bit jaded, but do watch it just for the silence it cocoons you in and then you'll realize how beautiful our world becomes when we let nature speak for herself.

Revolutions that are still unpaid for: On reading 1984 and Kaifi Aazmi, together.

2010-09-20T17:17:00.010+05:30

"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

Sept. 19, 2010, sometime near the clock reached 1pm

A reader, reading a text is a unique phenomenon. That is, there is no other equal for this act of reading a particular piece by an individual followed by and preceded by some other text or sensory experience. For example, this morning I finished reading Orwell's masterpiece '1984'. But last evening, while I was coming to the book's end and while my mind was already abuzz with a lot of 'doublethink', I was craving to read some poetry also. While going through a number of volumes in my collection, I picked up the collected works of Kaifi Aazmi titled 'Sarmaya'. By the time I completed '1984', I also went through more than half the verses of this collection.

In other words, what I meant by my opening statement was that, I'm sure I'm the only person in the world who has read or started reading '1984' after reading the poetry of Faiz and Gulzar; and ended it while reading Kaifi sahab's poetry. And this is what makes my reading 1984 (or any other text) a truly unique phenomenon.

Same is the case with any reader who picks up a book, following and preceding any experience that only s/he could have had. So any poem, novel, play, essay does not remain what was written by the author. Every reader brings a part of him or her to the table. What was written by the author continuously changes shape, color, texture, and intensity as per that individual reader's past and future experiences.

Reading Kaifi Aazmi with 1984 was rare even by these unique standards. While on one hand, Orwell denounces any type of oligarchy, whether socialist, nazi, or western-capitalist, Aazmi on the other hand is an avowed socialist. More than half of his book is filled with verses of/about revolution, of failures of the then current political order and of dreams of a common brotherhood.

I, on my part didn't read much of the revolutionary verses. It is his other work, about the position of man in this hierarchical society, about Hindu-Muslim unity, and a few poems with a touch of romance was what I liked more. Kaifi the poet is disillusioned, but still hopeful of a revolution, of a better, equal world. Though I stopped myself at his disillusioned best.

Orwell, the author gives a warning, a forever timely one, that the world at any moment could slip into the hands of those few who might have more power, more control over humanity than it has ever been attempted before. He is the voice of the 'negative utopia', wherein the very revolution that the poet Kaifi dreams of, has dehumanized, debased, degenerated the common men and women it was supposed to raise to a better level.

Reading these two together I realized that they both are talking about the same subject, though one has dreams of a better world 'before' his revolution; the other has nightmares of a worsened world 'after' that revolution. The sad part is, that the people on whose behalf they dream or the people they want to warn, those people will always remain in the same state of affairs, whichever side the coin falls.

"कोई तो सूद चुकाए, कोई तो जिम्मा ले

उस इन्किलाब का आज तक उधार सा है"

"At least somebody step forward and pay the interest
of the revolution that is still unpaid for"

by the way, you can read this complete gazal at my other blog, here: http://dhaiaakhar.blogspot.com/

in moments like these

2010-09-14T11:31:00.002+05:30

i wrote this in my diary, this Saturday morning. haven't edited it much :)

it is a grey Saturday morning. there is a faint drizzle going on outside for the past two hours or so. i'm waiting for her at home and we've a lot planned up for today.

her phone is unreachable because of the daily worsening Tata network and i've no idea by when she'll be arriving. till then, it is quite a lazy beginning to the day. just had my tulsi-ginger tea and as had been my 'ritual', was searching for Vikram Seth's book of collected poems to savor it with. Swati's Gulzar book caught my eye, but i wanted to read something in English. couldn't find Seth, but found a collection of Tagore's poems translated in English. the first and only one that i've read till now (its been half an hour) is titled 'Gift'. it is about the poet thinking about a true gift to give to his love, his friend. he thinks about many options, like a morning song, an evening light, flowers, gems, but then he feels everything will wither and lose its charm eventually,

"...And fall forgotten to the dust

To turn into dust"

later, he finds a solution in nature and offers fleeting moments of epiphany's as gifts to them because,

"Truest treasure is fleeting

It sparkles for a moment, then goes

...No hand, nor word can reach it

Friend, whatever you take of it,

On your own,

Without asking, without knowing, let that

Be yours.

Anything i can give you is trifling

Be it a flower, or a song."

(you can read the complete poem on my other blog, here)

it was this poem that prompted me to record these moments here. moments of Shiva's hymn playing in the background (gifted by a dear friend), of green wet parrots creating a ruckus outside in the faint sunshine of a rainy morning, of warm tea and careful unwrapping-wrapping of a packet of biscuits lest they get stale, of a hundred things to do that are now coming back to my mind as the magic of the moment fades but most of all, i wrote here today, for the beauty that carefully chosen words create, as a thanksgiving to God to be allowed this experience and somehow (i don't know how it all connects!), and somehow to tell her, that i love her, that her love is a miracle which i feel coming true in moments like these.

झूठ / the lie

2010-09-09T16:48:00.003+05:30

अभी-अभी
तुझसे झूठ बोल कर हटा हूँ मैं
नींद का बहाना बना
फ़ोन रखवाया ही है तेरा

सच तो ये है
के नींद भरी थी तेरी आवाज़ में
और मुझे भी है इंतज़ार तेरे सोने का

जब सो जाएगी तू
तो चाँद की खिड़की से तुझे रात भर निहारूंगा

have just
lied to you love
feigning sleep
asked you to keep the phone down

the truth is
brimming with sleep, your voice was
and i too was waiting
for you to doze off

because when you do
fall asleep
i'll watch you the whole night
from moon, that window steep

इंतज़ार / the wait

2010-08-30T18:37:00.000+05:30

वो बैठा-बैठा
रात के तालाब में
सितारे फेंक रहा है

बहुत बरस हुए अब
रात भरने को आई
मगर इंतज़ार
ख़त्म नहीं हुआ उसका

तुम किसी दिन
सुबह जल्दी उठकर
चूम लेना माथा उसका
शायद,
उसकी थकी आँखों को
सुकून आ जाये

sitting there, on the edge
of the pond that is the night
he picks and throws stars, one by one

its been ages
the night is now brimful with stars
but the end of his wait
is still afar

if some day
you got up early
and kissed his forehead sweet
then,
maybe,
his tired eyes
will find some relief

metropolis

2010-08-20T11:20:00.000+05:30

they, who have loved this place

are long since gone

leaving behind, empty shells

hungry, moving freely around

many others, rush in daily

pouring in this overfilled void

and so many, eventually

seep underground

she welcomes all

to her still loving bosom

now poisonous with

the filth that surrounds

not anymore this is

the city of hearts

but of a lust for power

that knows no bounds

the poet laments

his eyes run dry

waiting for the time, when

what was lost, will be found

a tribute to Mohammad Rafi

2010-07-30T17:03:00.001+05:30

tomorrow is Rafi Saab's death anniversary. here is a compilation of 60 of his most well known songs. i'm sure there are many favorites that have been left out and no single compilation can do justice to the versatility and talent of this amazing playback singer and a truly human, human being.

you can watch all the songs here in the post itself. though they will look much better on the big black screen here: http://goo.gl/SHvMf

अपने घर का

2010-07-27T13:15:00.001+05:30

न रहा नामो-निशाँ अब अपने घर का
अजनबियों से पूछता हूँ, पता अपने घर का

इश्क ने मुझे दो जहाँ की दौलत वारी
आफ़ताब* अपने घर का, महताब** अपने घर का

अजब लोग इस शहर के, अजब आशनाई^
वक़्त पर न खोला किसी ने, दर अपने घर का

हर एक शख्स की चाहत अपनी, इबादत अपनी
शेख^^ अपने घर का, रिंद*^ अपने घर का

ज़मीन पैरों तले और आसमाँ ऊपर
बस यही है रक्ब^* अब अपने घर का

ये न समझे खुदा, के भूला हुआ हूँ मैं
मुझे पता है असली, पता अपने घर का

तुझसे मिला जब, महसूस हुआ मुझे
पूरा हुआ है ख्वाब, अब अपने घर का

*आफताब- सूरज, sun ; **महताब- चाँद, moon ; ^आशनाई- मेल-मिलाप, cordiality ; ^^शेख- धार्मिक व्यक्ति, religious individual ; *^रिंद- शराबी, drunkard; ^*रक्ब- क्षेत्रफल, area

Mukesh lives for ever in our hearts

2010-07-22T16:17:00.001+05:30

very early in life, Pa instilled in me a love for good words and quality writing. more often than not, it came by in the form of lyrics written by Shailendra for mostly Raj Kapoor movies, composed by Shankar Jaikishan. and Mukesh was the voice of many characters played by Raj sa'b.

in an age glittering with gems like Md. Rafi, Kishore, Talat, Hemant Kumar and Manna Dey, Mukesh holds his own for the sheer simplicity and sonorous quality of his voice.

on his birthday today, here is a compilation of some of my favorite songs sung by him. hope you'll enjoy this ride back in time :)

sometimes you are not supposed to do the things you were supposed to do!

2010-07-19T17:23:00.001+05:30

this weekend was like that. had made a lot of plans, will do this, will do that, but nothing turned out the way it was supposed to be. and i'm surprised i'm not sulking about it! :)

hadn't planned on coming to office, but was in the office for a few hours before heading out home. there is lot of work going on at home, and had planned revamping my room and all, but it didn't happen. had planned on calling my dear friends home and having a good time fooling around. instead, went out and met them in the Kamla Nagar market and roamed around there. had planned about spending some quite time at home with my love but instead the evening found us debating and discussing a book (that apparently we both are scared of) over cups of delicious cardamom tea, at the stairs of Vishwa Vidyalya metro station.

sometimes you are not supposed to go as per the plans, sometimes you are supposed to go with the flow, sometimes, and the ever cautious me says 'only sometimes' :) you are not supposed to do the things you were supposed to do in the first place.

electrified!

2010-07-15T18:27:00.000+05:30

last week an electric pole in front of my house caught fire. while people were busy removing their cars from beneath the flaming wires and melted plastic falling down, i thought it'll be a good opportunity to capture my first YouTube upload ;)

strangely, nobody thought of calling the NDPL (electricity) guys! somebody did call the police and fire service though and i'd a memorable video :D

weekend, health and good wishes

2010-07-13T17:50:00.000+05:30

it is a sad commentary on my health status that i missed just one day of office and everyone around assumed that i must have been ill! morning onwards, have been warding off questions regarding my health and illness. sudden sniffles after last night's weather turnaround in Delhi also helped create an additional effect! people worried so much about my health through the day that i actually am not feeling well now :(

had an amazing three day weekend! though Monday was spent majorly in renovation work going on at home. lots of roaming around, shopping, meeting a dear friend, eating out, and most importantly- spending quality time with her and making plans about our future. there was also a fabulous electric pole fire right in front of my house that i've recorded and will share with you soon.

till the next update, wish me good health ;)

of mental notes

2010-07-09T16:24:00.001+05:30

the office is calm today. a whole department that sits across the aisle has left for a hilly retreat. my team, is silently slogging under the weight of unrealistic client expectations. we are seeing another weekend going up in smoke. if this happens, it'll be my third working weekend in a row. haven't met her for around a month now.

just two cubicles ahead of me, two of my senior teammates are busy discussing a work, that i hope doesn't involve me. apart from them, there is just two much calm. like thoughts and ideas in my head, things are strewn across my desk. an almost empty water bottle (which reminds me that i still don't drink as much water as i should); a single chapati neatly squared and folded in the foil it came in from home; a silent pair of desktop speakers, mobile, pen, two empty glasses of chai on a piece of paper that has a client's de-brief note printed on it; a pencil lying on top of it with which a friend was writing a poem on a loosely bound notebook of one side printed A4 sheets given to me by our photocopy machine operator.

the friend wrote my name, department and subject of the 'roughbook' on the top right hand corner, just like we used to do in our school days. beneath it, on the left hand side he wrote the names of people who went with me to Khajuraho this March. (seems like a long time ago, and i make one more mental note to finish my Khajuraho blog!) he has also written a poem beneath all of this and has asked me to complete it. to which i'd replied, please do finish it yourself as i'm not in the mental state to do it.

and now that somebody is playing a song from 'Jab we met' i'm out of this sweet reverie of sorts i was having. its time to go back to slogging once again. and making more of mental notes of and about life yet to live...

new blog!

2010-07-08T23:01:00.000+05:30

it is almost 11 in the night, while m still in the office, waiting for an extremely frustrating day to get over. the only bright point in my day was this: http://theillusionalreality.blogspot.com/ a new blog that i've started and will dedicate to photography.

i love photography and had been neglecting my passion for it for a long time now. but last week, i saw a program on NGC, about their top ten photos of the year and it gave me a big jolt. here were people who would go to any length to get that perfect photograph and here was i, not clicking anything for months on end!

at the end of the program, while different photographers were talking about things that move them, shoot after shoot, year after year, i realized that i too wanted to be a photographer some day (well, amongst many many things), that i too wanted to capture moments (whether by being a photo artist or a poet or a painter) and store them for eternity.

this blog is a result of that epiphany.i hope i'm able to rekindle and continue with my love of photography. of course, your support is more than required.

wish me luck and perseverance :)

How do you exorcise your grief?

2010-07-07T14:25:00.001+05:30

my dear friend n erudite blogger, Mo wrote a delightful verse 'How do you exorcise your grief' here: new poem by Mo!

after i wrote this in the comments section i felt that it is good as a stand alone poem too! please read the original one at the link above and then only read this. ur comments, at both the blogs will be eagerly awaited :) thanks!

How do you exorcise your grief?

i welcome my grief
to sit beside
and (we) share our joys
lest foes we become
.
.
.
because i found out
very early in life
grief when made a friend
is grief exorcised

a note on yesterday's Bharat Bandh

2010-07-06T16:31:00.000+05:30

for the first time since late 80s, the Opposition Left and Right in India united against Congress I party's misrule and gave a call for complete 'bandh' (total shutdown) of the country. a lot has been and is being said in favor or against this. while the opposition parties say it was a resounding success, the ruling Congress I says it was anti-people. and this cockiness of the riling party is what i didn't like.

whether a success or not, it was important for the Opposition to get united and forcefully tell the Government, that price rise is an issue that gravely affects the people and cannot be brushed under the carpet anymore. yes, any kind of bandh affects the day to day life of people involved, yes, it extracts a cost, but sometimes, disruption becomes important to draw the attention of the ruling Government towards the plight of common people.

if a peaceful, democratic, bandh is so anti-people, as the Congress I today claims, then the Satyagraha and the Civil Disobedience movements of Gandhi ji and the original Congress party against the British raj were equally anti-people, 'cos they also disrupted so-called normal life, financial transactions and functions of the Government of the day.

the fact is, whether a bandh or no bandh, everything, including the most essential commodities have seen run-away inflation in the present misrule of UPA-II (of which Congress I is the head). and the most affected by this are the very segments of society whose beneficiary Congress promises to be. it is very easy for some media houses, commenting from their air-conditioned spaces, to write this bandh off only as a disruptive attempt by the opposition parties, to write that this bandh was anti-people, to say that India 'lost' 13 thousand crores in a single day... it'll be very difficult for them to highlight the agony of the same 'common-man' on rest of the non-bandh 364 days of the year!

India's voting public possesses a notoriously short-term memory, and Congress I has highly skilled media managers, and that is why i hope that the Opposition keeps this issue on the 'front page' for as long as possible. we need not go back much to understand this, look where the Bhopal tragedy is in the news these days! Bharat Bandh's and Opposition's next trial will be in the monsoon session of the parliament, let's hope it doesn't become another Bhopal story by then!

i'll close with Bhagat Singh's words, "If the deaf are to hear, the sound has to be very loud." and this present Government has not only been deaf, but dumb and blind too. lets hope for salvation.

बेगानी शादी में अब्दुल्लाह दीवाना

2010-07-05T14:55:00.002+05:30

हमारे कहावतें लिखने वाले पूर्वज बेहद गुणवान, प्रतिभासंपन्न लेखक रहे होंगे. आज कल के लेखक कहाँ ठहरते हैं उनके सामने. अब ऊपर लिखी कहावत को ही लीजिये, भारतीय क्रिकेट टीम के कप्तान ने शादी करने की क्या सोची, पूरा मीडिया 'बिन बुलाये मेहमान' की तरह उनके यहाँ पहुँच गया. ये हुई एक और कहावत :)

खैर, दुनिया भर की जरूरी खबरें छोड़ के हमारा मीडिया पूरे दिन धोनी की शादी कवर करने में लगा रहा. और किसी के पास कुछ नहीं होता कहने के लिए, बस एक भेड़चाल है जिस पर हर चैनल, हर अख़बार चलता रहता है.

सच में, जब सिर्फ दूरदर्शन होता था तभी खबरें देखना अच्छा लगता था. अब तो टीवी पर खबरें देखने का मन ही नहीं करता.

on a completely different note, a use of the same idiom in this hit song from the movie, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai

मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

2010-07-01T16:50:00.000+05:30

आँखों में नमी, होठों पर हंसी, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं
यूं घुट-घुट कर जीते जाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

है वक़्त एक साया क़ातिल का, साथ मेरे जो चलता है
क़ातिल से करूँ मैं याराना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

वो शोख हसीं जब नज़रें उठा, यूँ तीर निशाने पर छोड़े
दिल मेरे तेरा अब बच पाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

ये रंग बदलती दुनिया है, यहाँ रोज ही यार bichadte हैं
ऐसे में तेरा मुझे मिल जाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

कुछ अंजाना सा रिश्ता है, मेरे खुदा, तुझ में, मुझ में
इस रिश्ते को झुठला पाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

हम इश्क-तबीयत वाले लोग, कलम कहाँ साथ में रखते हैं
आहों से ग़ज़ल बुनते जाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

यहाँ मीठी सलाखें सपनों की, और दाना-पानी रिश्तों का
इस क़फ़स* से यूँ उड़ कर जाना, मुश्किल तो नहीं, आसाँ भी नहीं

*पिंजरा

कब होता है

2010-06-18T17:55:00.000+05:30

जो हम चाहें कब होता है

सब पा जायें, कब होता है

चलते चलते बीतें उम्रें

दर आ जाये, कब होता है

पोथे-पत्री कर्म-काण्ड में

रब मिल जाये, कब होता है

जीवन हो चाहे कितना लम्बा

मौत न आये, कब होता है

दौलत-डिग्री-ओहदे देखें

दिल दिख जाये, कब होता है

खुद को भूलूँ, है आसाँ लेकिन

तू याद न आये, कब होता है

अच्छा हो या बुरा हो लम्हा

बीत न जाये, कब होता है

making of an AV

2010-05-12T13:56:00.000+05:30

for life

2010-04-27T11:55:00.001+05:30

शीशे के सामने बैठीं तुम
और तुम्हारे बाल बनाता मैं
बातें करते
कुछ नया सीखते
ज़िन्दगी बांटते
कितना कुछ, सुलझाते जाते हम

little, simple, everyday things are much more important than yearly celebrations and shopping trips to the mall. sadly, we don't realise this often. this poem saves one such moment about life, for life...

in front of the mirror you sit

a comb through your hair i flit

talking

learning

sharing

untangling life, bit by bit

image copyright Chandrasekhar Acharya

on Sachin's 38th Birthday

2010-04-24T12:50:00.001+05:30

we all sing paeans for Sachin, put Him on the pedestal of a living God, but then what do we learn from Him? do we inculcate His humility, His commitment to work, His love and pride for the country...believe me, if we did any one of these things, we would be closer to the God He is then only remaining his fans for life. On His birthday today, i promise to myself (and to nobody else) that i'll try n inculcate these and many more learning from the only individual i've 'idolized' in my life.

thank God that i've Sachin to look up to. i wish Him all the best in everything He does.

today is Earth Day

2010-04-22T13:38:00.000+05:30

The day to think about our impact on Mother Earth, and how through the littlest of things, we can make a difference. Visit the website of the Earth Day here: http://www.earthday.org/ and see what the world around you is doing. Take a pledge, make a conscious effort and believe that you can, yes you also can be the change in the bigger scheme of things.

These are some of the things that we can do to make sure we’re a part of the friends of our environment:

01.   Use rough, one-sided printed paper for writing.

02.   Print as little as we can. Pdfs, e-books and an MS Word files do quite good.

03.   Switch off all the unnecessary lights and electrical equipment. And if you’re the last one leaving the office, make sure that all the computers are properly shut down (in addition to blinking monitors and comp speakers!)

04.   Use your home AC on power saving and sleep mode.

05.   Do not put electrical equipments like TV and Comps on prolonged stand-bys.

06.   Try to use only that much water as required. Living in Delhi, I’ve known what water scarcity is and try my utmost to save as much as I can.

Above are the few things that I consciously attempt to make a difference to the environment. And I’m sure you too will be doing something for Mother Earth. Little habits leave a big impact. Let’s come together, share our common wisdom and together be the difference that only we can be.

Green Regards,

Adee

search / खोज

2010-04-09T18:09:00.000+05:30

a dear friend and erudite blogger, posted this delicate poem 'Underground' on her blog:

"If you stay underground too long
I’ll send poems to seek you out"

do read the complete poem here: http://southwestsun.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/underground/

inspired by her, n m so glad that she messaged me to visit her page, i wrote this poem. hope you'll like it.

अगर तुम छुपी रहोगी ज्यादा देर
मैं खोजने के लिए तुम्हें, कवितायेँ भेजूंगा अपनी
फिर चाहे तुम छुपी हो सागर में, आकाश में
या पृथ्वी के किसी अबूझे कोने में
ये कवितायेँ ढूंढ ही लेंगी तुम्हें
जैसे सपने ढूंढ लेते हैं आँखों को
...
जैसे पंछी, ढूंढ लेते हैं आसमानों को
...

if you'll stay hidden for long

i'll send my poems to seek you out

then, even if you are hidden in the sea or the sky

or in some unsolved corner of the earth

find you will, these poems of mine

...

like, dreams find the eyes

...

like birds find the skies

make health your middle name

2010-04-06T10:10:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

Health is an issue most often ignored by us. We all know that we should take better care of our health, but then who does? This World Health Day (7th of April), let's make a promise to ourselves, that we won't ignore our health anymore. I've attempted a little initiative, please do join me to make health a part of our collective identity. All you have to do is to follow these simple steps:

01. Think, and really think about that one health goal you must achieve. It could be as simple as just being more active or complex as achieving 8 pack abs.

02. Write it in the middle of your name and update it on the Facebook page I've created for the initiative. Here is the link to it: http://ow.ly/1uK5r (do become a fan of this page, we need the numbers!)

03. Spread your new health goal or status through e-mail, facebook, twitter, blogs etc. You can also copy and paste this as your e-mail or blog post.

04. Make sure to get in touch with your close friends and family at the very least. Ask them to make health their middle name!

Hope to see you in your new 'healthy' avatar soon :)

Adee 'Active' S