Byproducts of an insomniac...

Survivor- Lynn Mari

2012-02-15T15:33:00.000+05:30

To be a survivor- first you must bleed. You bleed all that was inside of you: the pain, the memories, the fear, the wounds fusing together, the ties to what was in, all its forms. You bleed not once but several times.. And when you are empty, you either fade into a shadow or find the strength and courage to live. When you stand up again, you are for a time, hollow- empty, like a bottle of beer lying on the street, cracked and reeking of its bitter contents. Then you fill yourself up with the new, you recreate yourself- you reform. You don't have the same heart or mind. The way you see the world is forever changed.

iQuote(17/10/2011)

2011-10-17T10:50:00.002+05:30

I wish the troughs make me tough..

iQuote(07/02/2011)

2011-10-07T13:37:00.000+05:30

Practice makes a man perfect.
Because a woman is already perfect.

iQuote(29/09/2011)

2011-09-30T10:08:00.001+05:30

When u happen to meet THAT person in life, it is first important to identify that he/she is the one and then hold onto him/her and never, EVER let go..

iQuote(28/09/2011)

2011-09-28T13:18:00.000+05:30

I fantasize in my realities and realize in my fantasies..

Techonfusion!

2011-09-08T14:58:00.000+05:30

iQuote (17/08/2011)

2011-08-17T21:05:00.000+05:30

Saffron. White. Green.
Development, morality, peace?

iQuote(28/07/2011)

2011-07-28T20:58:00.000+05:30

My life is a constant battle between my love for food and not wanting to be fat(ter)!

theyQuote (21/07/2011)

2011-07-21T14:47:00.001+05:30

"There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood." -Khalid Hosseini (The Kite Runner)

theyQuote(18/07/2011)

2011-07-18T20:38:00.001+05:30

"If you make an ass out of yourself, there will always be someone to ride you."- Bruce Lee

iQuote (05/07/2011)

2011-07-05T16:58:00.001+05:30

They can't do anything as long as He is on your side :)

What if!

2011-06-03T19:26:00.000+05:30

As ever..

2011-05-26T21:39:00.000+05:30

Muahahaha!

2011-05-11T00:09:00.001+05:30

iQuote (07/05/2011)

2011-05-07T17:58:00.000+05:30

Some people are to be kept at leg's length, in order to be kicked hard right up in their asses!

Power

2011-05-01T15:55:00.000+05:30

Now-a-days

2011-04-28T16:15:00.000+05:30

The real reasons why you should date a girl who reads

2011-03-13T01:38:00.002+05:30

Date a girl who reads, because you fell in love with her, and reading is a part of who she is. Date a girl who spends her money on essentials like clothing and food, takes showers, and goes to the library for books. She’s used her parents library card since she was 12.
Find your girl. You’ll know her by her smile and by the way she waves you over to her table at a local coffee shop. It’s the only place with free WiFi — why else would she be there instead of home, reading? Sit down. She won’t glare, because you share classes, or work together, or have met several times already. Anything else would have been creepy. Offer to get her another mug of tea, because hers is cold already.

She’ll say no, and you’ll listen. Ask her what she likes to read. Don’t bring out a list of fancy authors, or drill her on James Joyce. Just listen, because you’re interested in what she has to say. Reply with your opinion, because you want to keep the conversation going. The girl who reads will have a list of books she wants to get, and she will have it in her purse for just-in-case. You’ll see it when you recommend a book.

It’s not easy to date, and it’s not easy to date a girl who reads. She’ll want to finish just that last chapter before going out — and then another. The books you give her for her birthday will find their way to the library donation pile, because she’s read them already, or doesn’t want to read them yet, and you didn’t know. She’ll laugh when you get her Cummings, or Sexton, or Pound. And when you write her poetry, she’ll pretend to love it. You won’t try again, because poetry, like self-esteem and loving, isn’t easy.

You’ve found a girl who reads, and she’ll always have an unfinished book in her bag. She won’t cry over finding a book she wanted, because she knows the world is full of books and love and it’s only a matter of waiting, working, and loving. She’ll breathe in the air of libraries and smile. She doesn’t sniff pages too much, though, unless she’s trying to pin down a suspicious odor in the room.

Let her know you understand that words and love are two different things. Show her the latter, because she too understands that books aren’t reality and there is a difference between dreaming and living.

Don’t lie to her, not about the important things. She loves you not because you try to fail her for a climax later on, not because she knows relationships end, but because you’ll get her silly book jokes.

She doesn’t want literary lies and drama and betrayals in her love. And she will always have books and ice-cream to pull her through a break-up when she ends it. You’re not sure she will survive. She knows she can.

Date a girl who reads because she wants to date you back. Live and love her. Propose to her. Have children and family story nights, and when you’ve grown old together, don’t expect her to remember Keats or where she left her book list. The love in your gazes is enough.

Date a girl you love and who loves you back, because you deserve it. That girl can share the world with you. And the next. And the next. And if she reads, remember to stop by IKEA for another bookshelf — or five — when you move in together.
Don’t date a girl because she reads.

Don’t finish your affair and say, I’d rather date a girl who writes.
Because there is no sense in that either.

Honestly, I like this one a lot more.

Date a girl

2011-03-08T17:38:00.000+05:30

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes." (Rosemarie Urquico)

And my addition- date a girl who eats, drinks and sleeps cinema! :)

Have you ever been in love~ Neil Gaiman

2011-03-08T01:44:00.000+05:30

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable.

It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you.

They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore.

Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts.

Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind.

It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.

Awakening~ Amjid Yaseen

2011-03-02T01:05:00.004+05:30

I sail to you in the ocean of my dreams

To a far away distant place

Of great beauty and tranquility

Where pain and suffering do not exist,

Where we give praise for our joy and happiness,

Where our love intertwines with a love for all things

O beloved keeper of my heart

The companion of my soul

You have reached out and touched the essence of my being

And shown me the way to a higher plane

Your love has awakened me from my years of slumber

A beckoning call to the spiritual world

Where my body is mist in the mountains

This is where my heart belongs

This is where my soul lives..

iQuote (26/02/2011)

2011-02-26T16:42:00.002+05:30

Dear Gab
Thank you for the gift!

iQuote (19/02/2011)

2011-02-19T18:36:00.000+05:30

If everybody calls you sweet, you have managed to fake it long and good enough.

theyQuote (11-2-11)

2011-02-11T01:37:00.000+05:30

"I have to keep breathing, because tomorrow the Sun will rise, and who knows what the tide will bring?"~ Chuck Noland (Cast Away)

iQuote (30/01/2011)

2011-01-30T18:09:00.002+05:30

Eventually, all your life and its meaning boils down to one feeling, one moment, one person...

Alter-ego

2011-01-26T21:41:00.003+05:30

iQuote (24/01/2011)

2011-01-24T20:52:00.003+05:30

So many men, so few gentlemen.

theyQuote

2010-12-22T18:17:00.002+05:30

“I'm tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” ~Madonna

All Leos think alike, I guess.

theyQuote

2010-12-15T23:02:00.000+05:30

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." — Marilyn Monroe

[ a quote I liked; not to be taken objectively ;)]

Small steps

2010-12-02T18:32:00.000+05:30

MR's mental gas

2010-11-15T01:01:00.001+05:30

When my mental gas bubbles beyond control, this is what comes out!
MR's very own, read on:

With great power, comes great dadagiri

I am game for a war of wits!

A-holes come and go…thankfully!

Blessed is the one who can make the perfect round chapatti.. sigh

I wonder how ‘baby’, ‘dolly’, ‘crab’, ‘spider’, etc find a place in the film-making world!

I wish Google was a guy- knowledgeable, dependable, accessible, flexible!

Handle with dare!

If you feel the spark, it's time to light the fire.

Need remedies for my growing numbness..

I secretly despise the annual reminder of the shift towards old-age..

I'm no bra-burning feminist but I have come to realize that men are quintessentially dogs. They bark and bite.

Love is blind. I am dumb. Are you deaf?

I would rather break up than break down

I had a bad mood yesterday. I have a hangover today.

Age-old: God helps those who help themselves.
New-age: I have been trying to help myself. God please lend a hand now!

Life gave me lemons. I made lemonade. How do I get sugar now? :-/

God’s favourite PJ: Life!

I am sorry but I cannot do much about my sharp eyes and a sharper tongue.

Its weird to miss somebody you hate..

Been there, need to do that!

Every-time I boo, I boo it for you..

I am currently obsessed with glitter and gluttony.

You need not be politically correct. Atleast with your own heart.

I wish I had lesser wishes..

Thats a cake!

2010-11-11T02:23:00.001+05:30

KBC cake! As chic as the show :)

Colors

2010-11-02T23:12:00.001+05:30

It started with White-

Unadulterated, spotless, pure

I was in love with the form

Lost in its undiluted, subtle disguise

Blissfully numb, I knew nothing more

Though it blinded me, misguided me, wronged me…

A streak of Gray appeared and maligned its hue

My heart lost a beat

I cursed external factors

But kept my faith..

And waited with bated breath

Gradually I was absorbed in the trans

To live in the same oblivion

Again a streak of Gray appeared and a few more

I could only see smog around

The lull before the storm

I clung on, hoping against hope

And one day it was pitch Black

I could not see myself, my world

The darkness had engulfed me

The form had blinded me again

I groped and stumbled

And stumbled more..

Bruised, anguished, pained

The tears kept streaming

I kept trudging..

The tunnel started receding

A few black strains are still stuck on me

I will get rid of them eventually

The black can not be with me for ever-

Just as ‘you’ did not..

Little celebrity-ness ;)

2010-10-30T23:22:00.000+05:30

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101030/jsp/jharkhand/story_13116197.jsp

Khanabadosh update!

2010-10-24T22:48:00.001+05:30

'Khanabadosh (Vagabond)- a nomad and spirit and reality' wins the Best Documentary Award at the Sikh International Film Festival 2010, New York City.

We call this, signing off in style :)

Moon-like Me: A reality check

2010-10-20T00:39:00.000+05:30

I guess SMSs are THE most convenient and cheapest way of interaction in today's world. We are bombarded with all kinds of SMSs everyday. Some are witty, some philosophical, some are religious, some really pathetic jokes, some are like mini slam-books, some tell us about discounts, some chained and some if-not-sent-to-10 people-then types. After reading them, we either pause and think about it, or smile, or feel like slapping the sender or at times just see the name of the sender and delete the SMS. It is the power of the written word that even a 'OK' from someone we look forward to can brighten up our day and even a 840/3 long (or something like that) from someone does not arouse our interest.

For people like me who hate to type a lot (or have started to) SMS seems passe. But even then, I dont mind if I get a SMS :)

Ok now coming to why suddenly all this attention to a thing called SMS which is generally ignored in meetings, put on silent mode in classes and has to wait to be opened till late at night, here it is.

Recently I got a rather cheesy but nice SMS:

Tragedy of Moon~

So simple but so attractive

So enlightening but so cool

So moving but so still

So quiet but so popular

So romantic but still single!!!

Considering my name means 'like the moon', I could not help but draw parallels!

No, I am not a drama queen *winks*

P.S.: This is purely a figment of my imagination. Any resemblance to anybody dead, alive, blah, blah is unintentional and co-incidental.

theyQuote

2010-10-12T03:22:00.000+05:30

All the quotes I stumbled upon of late and liked :)

“InnAllaha Ma'as Sabireen- Verily, God is with those who have patience".- The holy Quran

"Love and Photography are best developed in darkness."

"I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem."

“Baazeecha-e-atfaal hai, duniya mere aage.. Hota hai shab-o-roz, tamaasha mere aage"- Mirza Ghalib

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."- Gone with the wind

“Main paa na saka is khalish se chhutkara.. wo mujhe jeet bhi sakta tha, jaane kyun haaraa...”

“Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate”- Sandra J. Dykes

"I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but when I got older I converted to narcissism"- Woody Allen

“Shab-e -intezaar akhir kabhi hogi mukhtasar bhi...”- Pakeezah

“The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think."

“There is great need for a sarcasm font"

"When something is missing in your life, it usually turns out to be someone." -Robert Brault

‎"Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television"- Woody Allen

“Ab tak dil-e-khushfahmi ko hai tujh se ummidein.. ye akhiri shammein bhi bujhaane ke liye aa...”- Ahmad Faraz

“Diamonds and films are enhanced by what is removed”

“Ek garam chai ka pyala ho..”

‎"Zyada bokraati mat karo!"

“Aisa lag raha hai jaise koi train chhooth rahi ho...”- Jab We Met

“Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kya hai..”

"Chocolates are a girl's real best friend cz diamonds taste funny"

“Hai ye wo aatish Ghalib!”- Dil se..

“Baat niklegi to phir door talak jayegi...”

“Wo jo hum mein tum mein qaraar tha.. tumhe yaad ho ke na yaad ho”

“Wo firaaq aur wo visaal kahaan, wo shab-o-roz-o-maah-o-saal kahaan...”- Mirza Ghalib

"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin"- Turgenev

“Revenge is sweet and not fattening"- Alfred Hitchcock

“Cast me gently into morning, For the night has been unkind..”

“Hakuna matata”- The Lion King

“Aye haye zindagi, kya dholak hai”- Ishqiya

“If you love me, let me know. If not, please gently let me go"~ Anonymous

‎"His story is history. My story is mystery" ;)

“A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend."

“People who don't know me, think I'm quiet. People who know me, wish I was..”

“Don't try to be perfect. Trust me, it's boring.”

“Bug me and see how I'll outshine u!!”

“When the person telling a joke becomes a joke himself/herself, then we call it a PJ!”

“God has given me two middle fingers for every problem”

"I have a headache in my ass"

“Hum wahaan hain jahaan se humko bhi kuchch hamaari khabar nahi aati.. maut ka ek din mu'ayyan hai, neend kyun raat bhar nahi aati”- Mirza Ghalib

Woody awesome Allen!

2010-09-24T13:09:00.000+05:30

Woody, my love! You never cease to enlighten me :)

iQuote (19/09/2010)

2010-09-19T00:41:00.000+05:30

Sometimes I fail to discern if people are genuinely concerned or simply intruding.

Sensible Sentiments

2010-09-15T23:25:00.000+05:30

Glitter

2010-09-04T01:24:00.000+05:30

iQuote (29/08/2010)

2010-08-29T01:03:00.000+05:30

I wish Google was a guy- knowledgeable, dependable, accessible, flexible!

New screenings!

2010-08-19T22:47:00.002+05:30

Manipur International Film Festival

August 18th, 2010

   Sikh International Film Festival 2010
   October 22-23, 2010
   Asia Society & Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York, USA

A Professional Love Letter (lol)

2010-08-15T22:14:00.001+05:30

My Dearest,

I am very happy to inform you that I have fallen in Love with you since the 14th of October (Sunday). With reference to the meeting held between us on the 13th of Oct. at 1500 hrs, I would like to present myself as a prospective lover.

Our love affair would be on probation for a period of three months and depending on compatibility, would be made permanent. Of course, upon completion of probation, there will be continuous on the job training and performance appraisal schemes leading up to promotion from lover to spouse.

The expenses incurred for coffee and entertainment would initially be shared equally between us. Later, based on your performance, I might take up a larger share of the expenses. However I am broadminded enough to be taken care of, on your expense account.

I request you to kindly respond within 30 days of receiving this letter, failing which, this offer would be cancelled without further notice and I shall be considering someone else. I would be happy, if you could forward this letter to your sister, if you do not wish to take up this offer.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Yours sincerely,

via : www.laughitout.com

iQuote (12/08/2010)

2010-08-12T21:04:00.000+05:30

If you feel the spark, it's time to light the fire.

Pink-toed

2010-08-04T01:03:00.002+05:30

Rockstar

2010-07-25T04:24:00.000+05:30

The lights are switched on, the instruments positioned
They have checked the sound for every god-damn condition
The hall is flooded, the crowd goes berserk
And there, in the center I stand, gripped with my pathetic fears.

Anxiety, desperation, nervousness are giving me their pangs
Zora on his guitar goes bang, bang, bang!
This illumination blinds me, the chaos makes me numb
And Kevin shakes his head vigorously while beating his drum.

I don't need no tattoos, no drugs, no crowd-surfing
Some blissful moments of music is what this phoenix has in the offing
I'm gonna make you groove to the strum of my guitar
I rise from my ashes yet again, I 'm the rock-star!

iQuote (16/07/2010)

2010-07-16T01:28:00.002+05:30

Life is war. Period.

102 [Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore]

2010-07-08T21:20:00.000+05:30

I boasted among men that I had known you. They see your pictures in all works of mine. They come and ask me, "Who is he?" I know not how to answer them. I say, "Indeed, I cannot tell." They blame me and they go away in scorn. And you sit there smiling.
I put my tales of you into lasting songs. The secret gushes out from my heart. They come and ask me, "Tell me all your meanings." I know not how to answer them. I say, "Ah, who knows what they mean.!" They smile and go away in utter scorn. And you sit there smiling.

iQuote (04/07/2010)

2010-07-04T22:48:00.000+05:30

I am glad you misunderstood me. Its your first step towards understanding me.

Things stressed women say at work (quite a read!)

2010-07-01T01:45:00.002+05:30

1. Okay, okay! I take it back. Unfuck you.

2. You say I’m a bitch like it’s a bad thing.

3. Well this day was a total waste of make up

4. Don’t bother me, I’m living happily ever after.

5. Do I look like a people person?

6. This isn’t an office. It’s hell with fluorescent lighting.

7. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
8. Therapy is expensive. Popping bubble wrap is cheap. You choose.
9. Why don’t you try practicing random acts of intelligence and senseless acts of self-control?
10. I’m not crazy. I’ve been in a very bad mood for 30 years.
11. Sarcasm is just one more service I offer.
12. Do they ever shut up on your planet?
13. I’m not your type. I’m not inflatable.
14. Stress is what you have when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven’t gone to sleep yet.
15. Back off!! You’re standing in my aura.
16. Don’t worry, I forgot your name too.
17. I work 45 hours a week to be this poor.
18. Not all men are annoying. Some are dead.
19. Wait...I’m trying to imagine you with a personality.
20. Chaos, panic and disorder...my work here is done.
21. Ambivalent? Well, yes and no.
22. You look like shit. Is that the style now?
23. Earth is full. Go home.
24. Aw, did I step on our poor little itty bitty ego?
25. I’m not tense, just terribly, terribly alert.
26. You are depriving some village of an idiot.
27. If assholes could fly, this place would be an airport.
28. Look in my eyes...do you see one ounce of who gives-a-shit?

via : www.laughitout.com

Brace up Google!

2010-06-29T00:15:00.000+05:30

Read somewhere:

A line from a South Indian movie- "I will hit you so hard even Google will not be able to find you."

The scriptwriter has some wits. Take a bow!

The grey rainbow..

2010-06-25T04:03:00.000+05:30

Small town symptoms

2010-06-18T03:04:00.001+05:30

It’s interesting to realize that even though the Silicon Valley is thickly populated with our guys, we are still called the land of snake-charmers. The westerners see us as this exotic, orient (read backward) land of elephants and monuments. It is only when we roam in CP in Delhi or Marine Drive in Mumbai do we wonder how much of the rustic-ness still remains.

In this striking contrast between the skyscrapers, flyovers and McDonalds of metros and the bullock carts, mustard fields and dhabas of villages, is an interesting hybrid- small towns. Many of us living in these small towns (preferably developing cities) are, kind of, lucky enough to get the best of both the worlds. While treading this middle path, these towns have evolved, let’s say, their own distinct flavor. My observation on some of them:

1) A 20 min distance is like really far.

2) There is one main market/cinema hall in the city.

3) The fashion trend followed (by the majority) is dated almost a decade back.

4) If you are not an engineer/doctor, you are worthless.

5) You know the names of people living in your colony and also the next one.

6) You have to make it clear that you prefer watching films made in the English language and not ‘English’ films.

7) Your mother thinks your city has the heaviest and the most dangerous traffic of the world.

8) Eating at Café Coffee Day is considered royalty.

9) Strangers are ready to help you at the drop of a hat, so much so that after a point, it seems irritating.

10) There is one famous park/lake/monument where you take all outstation guests.

11) Problems of protagonists in soap operas are discussed like family issues and you draw a blank each time.

12) If you speak an ‘extra’ English word, you are acting smart.

13) There are no traffic lights, policemen, rules.

14) Your relatives/neighbors are equally concerned (read interested) in your marriage as your parents.

15) Your maid is absent only twice a week.

16) Colleges have uniform.

17) You still get to eat ‘real’ fruits.

18) You see a few too many women driving scooties.

19) There is one celebrity of whom everyone boasts.

And my personal fav

20) You will still find guys who sport Salman Khan’s Tere Naam haido!

iQuote (07/06/2010)

2010-06-07T23:45:00.001+05:30

It's a phase. Shall pass. Like gas.

Mystic Odes 833~ Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi

2010-05-31T01:55:00.000+05:30

Our death is our wedding with eternity.

What is the secret? "God is One."The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;It is not in the juice made from the grapes.

For he who is living in the Light of God,The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.

Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,So that he may place another look in your eyes.It is in the vision of the physical eyesThat no invisible or secret thing exists.

But when the eye is turned toward the Light of GodWhat thing could remain hidden under such a Light?Although all lights emanate from the Divine LightDon't call all these lights "the Light of God";It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,

The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh....Oh God who gives the grace of vision!The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire.

iQuote (24/05/2010)

2010-05-24T17:39:00.002+05:30

Like death and fart, gossip is inevitable.

Bihariman :)

2010-05-19T18:19:00.000+05:30

Dont know who the writer is. But an auteur for sure. Thank u Mimansa for sharing such masterpieces. Hum to padh ke bargala gaye. Baki ee ek tho cheez bhool haye. Gate tadapna :P

LE BALAIYA, ee ka hua?

Kahe albalaye huye hain ? Etna narbhasane se kuchchho nahin hoga.

O-mi-gosh, what's this? Why are you so flustered? Such nervousness won't

help matters.

The inveterate linguist may scream at such an apparent contamination of

Hindi language but the average Bihari simply loves to throw all narrow

parameters of grammar to the winds. For them, the funnier they are, the

better their adaptability is into their inimitable lingua franca. Over the

years, Biharis have invented a language, which has an unmistakable stamp of

their own.

In recent times, its popularity has traveled far and wide beyond the borders

of the State many screen heroes, including Amitabh Bachchan, have mouthed

Bihari clichés with characteristic élan - a far cry from the days when it

was thought to be an infra dig of sorts for anybody other than country

bumpkins and unscrupulous politicians to perpetrate such "verbal

atrocities".

All that, however, is passé now. Bihari Boli is sweeter than honey now not

only in Bollywood but also on the campuses of prestigious universities and

IITs across the country. Words like harbaraye, garbaraye, bargalaye,

thartharaye and dhanmanaye which would have sounded Greek to outsiders

earlier are being used with gay abandon by the hep youngsters there.

Sobriquets laced with double entendres like "garda", "bawaal" and "dhuan"

denoting the varying degree of a girl's beauty can be heard not only in

Patna University colleges but also faraway Fergusson College in Pune.

Moreover, a-go, dugo, teengo and chaartho type of numerology that was a

matter of disdain not long ago is being accepted even by the stiff

upper-lips without any qualms. So, notes sarka do (pass on the notes),"batti

buta do (put out the lights)", Principal ko harka do (bamboozle the

principal), burbak kahin ka (you stupid fellow!), hum to biga gaye (I was

thrown out) and Hum to huan thebe kiye the (I was very much there) are some

of the expressions which have conveniently made their way into the otherwise

prim-and-propah St Stephens, New Delhi. Similarly, coinages like dhakiyaye

(shoved), mukiyaye (punched), and latiyaye (kicked)are the current rage.

Hiyan (here),huan (there), kahe (why), enne (this way) and onne (that way)

are some of other typical words, which are spoken rather nonchalantly by

so-called educated lot.

One, therefore, does not get surprised if one hears tanikke for little,

nimman for good, anhar for darkness and ejot for lights. For them,

colloquial language need not be tied to any narrow rules. E topicwa par

maatha khapane se kuchchho nahi hoga (nothing is to come out of this topic),

as one wit commented. Among many characteristics of this language are its

terms of endearment. Seldom does one hear people on the streets calling each

other by their real names. Raju automatically becomes Rajua, Pappu turns

into Pappua, Rajesh into Rajeshwa and Shatrughna at best Satrohna.

This potpourri of all Bihari dialects has also coined new terms for human

anatomy which would baffle an FRCP if he were to land here straight from

Edinburgh. Here gor means legs, moori is substitute to head, ongree is

equivalent to finger, thor denotes lips and kapar is synonymous with

forehead. This language also has more onomatopoeic words than probably any

other.

Words like tapak se, gapak se, and japak se can be understood by listening

to their phonetical sounds. No longer is Bihari language associated with a

few howlers like eskool (school), teeshan (station)and singal (signal) only.

There are certain words which carry the precise meaning but which cannot be

properly substituted by any word in other languages. Machchar bhamhor liya

is probably is one such example. Bhamhorna is a super word, which means the

collective assault of mosquitoes to "bhamhor" you. But then, one might

argue, where else do you find so many mosquitoes to bhamhor you. Similarly,

routine sariyana (to arrange one books and notebooks in the schoolbag

according to the class schedule), Dupatta lasiyana (when a girl's dupatta

sweeps the floor as she walks unknowingly)give the exact word for which

other languages will take a sentence to convey the meaning. Right from Laloo

Prasad Yadav, who emerges as the best speaker of his ghar ki boli to the

inimitable Shekhar Suman, everybody loves to flaunt his native command of

the language. Earlier, Biharis were notorious for atrocious gender sense and

shoddy pronunciation.

Now, the same traits have become the tour-de-force of their conversation.

The time has certainly come to raise ek-adhgo (one or two) toast to the

longevity of the Bihari language.

'Khanabadosh' at the '3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala' :)

2010-05-16T02:48:00.000+05:30

This blog has become more of a personal diary to me. Scribbling in it whatever is happening to me- to come back to it later when I am far removed from this reality.
Well, as for today, Khanabadosh-Vagabond got selected to be screened at the 3rd International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, one of the most reputed film festivals of the world.
May we win again, inshAllah!
*Fingers crossed*

Fragments/ Flashes

2010-05-13T01:31:00.002+05:30

Someone, supposedly wise, has said, "When one door closes for you, a hundred others open."

But what do you do when you have been sitting long enough, choked, breathless, hopeless..
Waiting for that streak of hope..

Every time you think its that ray and try to touch it, it burns you up.
Every time it dawns that its that door, you deduce that its a dead end, again-
Or that it leads to another long, dark tunnel

Like the mouse trapped in a jigsaw puzzle to get the cheese before the bell goes off
Or like the lion who has to roar the loudest to prove itself as the king of the jungle..

And if this was not enough, a string of liars and deceivers throng you.
People who use you emotionally, mentally, metaphorically to fill the voids in them
And how because of enriching them, you are devoid of love, hope, faith, life..

And you ask a thousand effing questions to yourself:
What am I looking for?
Why does it happen with me?
Was I meant for this?
Where am I to go?
What am I to do?

And since you are living a thing called life, it again absorbs you in its mundane glitterati
And you are left to bounce in this sea of insecurity and loneliness..

Hoping- if not for a red-carpet treatment-
At-least an emergency exit.

iQuote (02/05/2010)

2010-05-02T00:52:00.002+05:30

If you are falling in love, you better get down on your knees.

The golden globe

2010-04-27T02:04:00.002+05:30

iQuote (18/04/2010)

2010-04-18T02:15:00.002+05:30

I am sorry but I cant do much about my sharp eyes and a sharper tongue.

Requiem for a nightmare

2010-04-02T20:22:00.000+05:30

There is black, there is white.

And there is grey.

It is here or there.

Or at times, lying somewhere..

Real, virtual

Treading the thin line in between..

What happens when you wake up but are still dreaming?

Or living the real with eyes wide shut?

Where life is not linear

It is divided vertically into episodes

Blurring between the conscious and subconscious

An account where fact merges with fantasy and forms fiction…

It was the last week of my stay in Delhi. As a ritual, I was meeting up friends and collecting moments to be locked up in my treasure box of memories. That evening after a wonderful dinner and an even more wonderful time with some of my close buddies, I was returning to my hostel. Nostalgia, excitement, sadness- all running in the same vein.

Suddenly, the roar of an engine disrupted the stream of my thoughts. A motorbike zoomed past my rickshaw meandering on the road like a serpent. While I swore under my breath at the two men, the motorbike slowed down on the side where I spotted a girl walking down the road. She was over her phone unaware of what loomed behind. And within the batting of an eyelid, the pillion rider had molested the girl in full public view. She let out a loud shriek. People turned around and looked at her. Nobody looked at the men, nor did anyone try to stop them. While moving away, the rider made a gesture at her which simply meant, “See, what I did to you.”

I was stoned for as long as I can remember. The shriek kept echoing in my head.

I reached my hostel- numb and cold.

For an hour or so, I sat at the corner of my room, lights switched off, windows shut, pulling myself together. The incident kept flashing in front my eyes and the shriek kept re-sounding.

Gradually, a lump of guilt rose up to my throat. I wished I had a ‘back’ button where I could jump out of the rickshaw, abused the men at length, consoled the girl and escorted her back to her place. But I did not. I was this little coward who preferred to go my way. In fact, in my heart of hearts, I was relieved that it was not me the guys picked. I was glad that I was leaving this place in a few days. Bloody escapist.

All I could do was to narrate the incident to a few friends and warn them to be cautious.

The next day, I meet a couple of friends again. Because of what happened a night before, I ask one of them to escort me. Just as I am about to enter my hostel, somebody gags me and pulls me to the dark corner of the street.

Silence.

I open my eyes.

I see the ceiling reeling above me.

A drop of tear is welled at the corner of my left eye.

It was a nightmare.

Or a requiem for my dead conscience.

Heaps of faith

2010-04-01T01:18:00.003+05:30

iQuote (27-03-2010)

2010-03-27T01:43:00.001+05:30

Even God loves cracking PJs. One of them is called 'life'.

My beloved beard ~ Anonymous

2010-03-04T20:36:00.000+05:30

Life has really changed.
Gone are the days…
Where people used to say
'Aww your face is so sweet and smooth'.

Gone are the days…
Where it took ages,
To shape my sideburns
And shave all the facial hair.

Gone are the days…
Of beauty, charm and attraction
As the beard is now,
A symbol of terrorism and backwardness.

People see me now,
As something strange and weird.
My relatives often make fun of me,
By asking … who broke your heart?

My distant friends ask me,
Did you join any terrorist camp?
My close friends at times make fun of me
'Hey man, blades are very cheap nowadays'

Women often ask me,
Why don't you shave that ugly beard
And be like a charming superstar?
You look boring!

I feel sorry for my sisters
As their minds are now totally corrupted
Inside the web of clean-shaved star icons,
As they're the new age 'trend setters'.

But very few know
That I follow a superstar.
His name is Muhammed,
The forgotten hero.

And I have no regrets
As he has taught me,
'This world is prison for a believer
And paradise for a non-believer.'

So wake up, O muslim youth !
Remember our heroes – The Prophets and the Sahabahs
Remember, this world is a testing place
And don't let your senses to deceive you.

So be proud to imitate,
The Prophetic style
For he has commanded us,
'Grow your beards and trim your moustaches'.

And he who loves his Sunnah,
Has indeed loved him.
And he who loves him,
Will be with him in Paradise !

iQuote (01/03/2010)

2010-03-01T03:19:00.002+05:30

Life gave me lemons. I made lemonade. How do I get sugar now? :-/

All that glitters...

2010-02-27T03:20:00.002+05:30

Random babbling..

2010-02-20T17:00:00.000+05:30

This blog started when I did not know what to do in those uncountable nights which kept me awake for absolutely no reason at all and continue to do so.. Little did I know that one of my random babblings would find a place in one of the leading magazines in the country. It feels good but also with a silent prayer that my strange case of insomnia, which has neither its roots in love nor in any kind of thoughts which tend to bother, is cured soon :)

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=hub270210personalhistories.asp

Ishq-day

2010-02-14T22:53:00.000+05:30

More than two decades back, my parents got married on 14^th Feb, little knowing the fact that later on, this day would be celebrated as the day of love. I don’t know how much of getting married on 14^th Feb has contributed to their togetherness, but I know that it gave them a wonderful daughter (I am at it again :D)

Over the past few years, V-day has gained a lot of importance or rather footage. Perceived as aping the west, it has irked the wrath of many a ‘religious’ groups in India who are the so-called ‘thekedaars’ of our culture. They will drink western liquor, smoke western cigars and well.. love to sleep with western women but when it comes to culture, they claim to be the most passionate guardians! And they do it so well- by dragging women out of clubs, insulting couples in full public view and breaking down shops. What a way to safeguard Indian culture! I guess they have forgotten all the lessons Mahatma Gandhi gave about peace and non-violence.

This V-day, because all their previous strategies to be in news had failed, they resorted to a new means- tarnish SRK’s image. And who said SRK needed publicity?! LOL. SRK-Kajol coming together after eight long years with Karan Johar would need publicity, what joke man!! And the reason for the entire hullabaloo, SRK expressed his desire for having Pakistani players in his team. Any Muslim who says anything for Pakistan has to prove his ‘Indian-ness’ to the country. Why do Muslim-ness and Indian-ness have to clash? It takes a little gray matter to realize that SRK is famous globally as an ‘Indian’.

Well, let me not spoil the fun of the day by discussing about these losers. Let me talk about love. Over the years I had heard about how people expressed their affection and admiration to their dear ones. Getting married in air, giving a truck-load of roses, gifting an entire island! There is no end to the ways people can make their loved ones feel special. I guess there are a very few lucky people who are made to be loved in such a unique way. But we, as mere mortals, can make people feel special in our small little ways. A rose, a touch, a mail, sometimes a smile is enough to make one feel loved and wanted.

Yes, there are no fixed days to celebrate love. Love should be spread and felt everyday because that is precisely what humans lack now.

For all people in love, may more love blossom and for people like me, prince charming is still collecting roses ;)

My name is M

2010-02-13T21:42:00.001+05:30

'Khanabadosh' at MIFF 2010

2010-02-05T02:30:00.000+05:30

'Khanabadosh' finally got screened at the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival!
We are thrilled, our first film has got international recognition. Renowned film-makers all over the globe have brought their films and to be considered worthy enough to be competing with them, is an honour.. Our film got a lot of appreciation and it has humbled us all the more..
Choosing to do Mass Communication among the other entrances I had cleared had not made my parents very happy then. They had said it does not suit "our" culture. Film-making, by and large, was considered a 'bad' thing and anyone into films was simply wasting his time. But I am hopeful that a change is coming, although a new fear has gripped my mother, how will she get a guy for me..lolz..
I dont know whether I will be continuing with film-making (I have stopped both long and short-term planning, for the simple reason that they dont work). But I know that it will keep me enamored all my life. Anything that stimulates the brain to think and helps us exercise our mental faculties is commendable and what better way than 24 frames/second :)
Now when the feeling has sunk that the film has been screened and that there are much better films in the festival, we are happy for the fact that our film got such a platform to be screened, winning would be like a trip to dreamland!
I take this opportunity to thank all the people who have been associated with 'Khanabadosh' directly or indirectly. It was over whelming to see so many of my friends and acquaintances wishing me luck through calls/sms/facebook.. thank u all!! It really worked for me when I was giving the introductory speech for our film and also for the screening :) For those who did not, well, may God bless u!

(I am both very sleepy and very excited= not in my senses.. bhawnao ko samjho :D)
Cheers!

From "The Box"

2010-02-02T03:06:00.000+05:30

In the silence between your heartbeats hides a summons.
Do you hear it?
Name it if you must, or leave it forever nameless.
But why pretend it is not there?

What in your life is calling you now?
When all the noise is silenced, meetings adjourned,
The lists laid aside.
And the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest,
What still pulls on your soul?

iQuote (27/01/2009)

2010-01-27T17:25:00.000+05:30

Age-old: God helps those who help themselves.

New-age: I have been trying to help myself. God please lend a hand now!

Baiyan pakad dhar leeni re...

2010-01-18T17:50:00.001+05:30

2010: Bang!!

2010-01-13T20:34:00.000+05:30

Year 2010. Another year of new resolutions, new promises and new hopes. Channels are filled with learned pundits and astrologers who predict our future according to the placement of the stars. (I remember reading once that 2006 would be a great year for P. V. Narasimha Rao. He died in 2004. May his soul rest in peace! Say ‘Amen’). I am not here to write anything against pundits or astrology or whatever. Let them be happy with what they are doing. At least they are happy and making people happy.

I’m sure many of us started our new year watching ‘3 idiots’. We went out with our group of friends, had a nice time, partied and kept saying ‘ALL IZ WELL’ for a few days after that. Now we are all back to our old routine- school, college, office, deadlines, clients, spouses, assignments, bosses, bills, traffic- all of which sucks! It’s not even mid-way through the 1^st month of the New Year and we seem to have started complaining. We seem to be mocking, huh! What new year?! It’s all the same. Freaking same old monotonous life. Forever!

Yes, it’s the same mundane, boring old life! Same sordid schedule, nauseating set-up and repulsive faces! (I am sure during meetings, or classes or during discussions, all of us have these moments when we look around at people and think, “I wish I could kill them!”) We know we cannot change anything around us but we can at least attempt to change ‘us’.

Wow wow! Hold on!! Its not a sneak-peak into the philosophical ‘me’. Or me trying to make an impression of being a ‘thinking’ individual. ( I shall fail at it however hard I try ;) ) Lets just put it that it’s a piece of my mind for the new year.

We all loved Rancho (‘3 idiots’ is a metaphor for this write-up). We have always wished we had somebody like him or like SRK in ‘Kal ho na ho’ or like Munnabhai in our lives. Someone we could talk to, someone like a dear friend with whom we could share everything, someone who would not judge us according to certain parameters. Someone who could understand the inner workings of our hearts and minds. Someone who could show us the brighter side of life. Someone who could connect to our psyche. Someone with whom life is a ball, is fun. Someone we look up to, take inspiration.

And so, we keep looking around, searching for that ‘someone’. I too, felt like this for a long time and was searching for that someone all along, until I found- myself :D (I know I know, I am a narcissist but at least this one is not about how much good I think about myself) It is about realizing, well- a Rancho in me. I have come to know that ‘I’ am the only person who understands me the best. The only one who can cheer me up is ‘me’. ‘I’ am the bright side of my life. Its only ‘me’ who can bring happiness to myself and people around me.

Life, well, is never beautiful. But I can make it at least bearable. I can make every moment fun. I will be doing good and spreading radiance. I will be doing all things I enjoy and in a way make many others enjoy.

So folks, I will not say that, like you know, stop thinking about tomorrow, or don’t worry things will be fine, or look at the grief of others, or thank the miseries which eventually made you realize happiness, or suicide is not the solution, or there is light at the end of the tunnel, or count your blessings. We have all heard this crap before, isn’t it? But how many of us have actually tried giving a chance to this crap?

So 2010 will NOT be about new promises or resolutions. It will be about a whole new ‘me’. Trust me, it works J

P. S.: Life is neither a tragedy nor a comedy. Life is a party!! Oye balle balle balle :D

Waiting to bloom..

2010-01-02T00:49:00.003+05:30

Packing bags ..and memories…

2009-12-24T05:46:00.000+05:30

She is packing memories…

Of sunny laughs caught in a photograph

Of silent tears captured in blotted ink

Of secrets tucked away in worn-out cards

And pride, through faded metal, glinting..

She is discarding…

A few crumpled letters… finally…

A half-made painting which could never be

A broken promise.. heartache

Some glass bangles.. a pendant sans image…

She is zipping…

The coffee sessions over gossip, a pair of gloves..

A few precious books, droplets of rain, a hug

Blessings, celebrations, victory,

Anger, sarcasm, betrayal.. all in one…

She is forgetting…

The darkest night that shrouded her dreams

The autumn that shed all her hopes

The blue-colored mood of the day

Swollen eyes, smudged kohl..

She is forgiving…

The holocaust of her life-time

The demons of thoughts.. and flesh…

The harbingers of anguish and pain

And herself.. for falling prey…

She is praying…

For that smallest entity which gave her a smile

For the fragrance which filled her being

For every goodness that made its way

And made her better.. and glow…

Yes she is smiling now

Also unknowingly crying..

For she is blessed to have it all

It’s so difficult to leave, and to go…

Out-of-focus

2009-12-23T00:47:00.003+05:30

Way back into love

2009-12-22T03:14:00.000+05:30

I've been living with a shadow overhead
I've been sleeping with a cloud above my bed
I've been lonely for so long
Trapped in the past, I just can't seem to move on

I've been hiding all my hopes and dreams away
Just in case I ever need them again someday
I've been setting aside time
To clear a little space in the corners of my mind

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love

I've been watching but the stars refuse to shine
I've been searching but I just don't see the signs
I know that it's out there
There's gotta be something for my soul somewhere

I've been looking for someone to shed some light
Not somebody just to get me through the night
I could use some direction
And I'm open to your suggestions

All I wanna do is find a way back into love
I can't make it through without a way back into love
And if I open my heart again
I guess I'm hoping you'll be there for me in the end ..........

I fall in love with this song every time I listen to it...

The nomad..

2009-12-19T22:51:00.001+05:30

iQuote (16/12/2009)

2009-12-16T21:16:00.000+05:30

I had a bad mood yesterday. I have a hangover today.

Ud jayega hans akela..

2009-12-11T05:59:00.001+05:30

This one's for u.. Darling Dil-li

2009-12-09T12:04:00.000+05:30

As a youngster, I loved reading names of places in my Atlas, circling them with color pencils in the hope of visiting them some day. While locales like New York City, Bermuda Triangle, Switzerland and Trinidad held me in awe, there was one place closer home, which caught my interest, time and again. The capital of the country- Delhi.

Whether it was reading names like Chandni Chowk, Daryaganj and Paharganj (as addresses of publishing houses on various books), or learning about historical monuments and kings in history texts, or seeing photographs of relatives who visited Delhi, I was sub-consciously making myself aware with the geography of the ‘walled city’.

When everyone else was packing bags for Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata as their desired locations to study further, I knew I had to come to Delhi. Like the gushing waves of the seas attract you menacingly towards them, there was something equally magnetic about this city which pulled me.

When I landed in Delhi, for the first time I realized that I was actually a ‘Bihari’. From questions like, “What do you eat in Bihar”, “How come your pronunciation is so good?” and to top it all, “Are you really from Bihar?”, I heard them all.

Initially I took offence of all these questions. I was flabbergasted by what these Delhi-ites thought of Biharis! We produce the maximum number of IITians and IAS officers, I would defend. And come on Jamshedpur is mini-Mumbai and blah and blah and blah!! There was this undying urge in me to keep my identity intact. I would invariably break into my Bihari mode of talking- which many of my friends still love listening to ;D

Gradually I realized there is nothing which is quintessentially Delhi’s- be it culture, people or even the weather. They have all come here from different parts of the world at different times and Delhi has made them their very own. Forever.

I have hated Delhi for many reasons. Weather being definitely one of them. I cannot stand such extremes of temperatures and as a result, I fall ill every month. Traffic, is another factor for which I have cursed and abused Delhi at length.

And do I have to mention the long standing ills of this place like bureaucracy, red-tapism and that it is unsafe for women and it has a good population of fake people and so on and so forth.

But in between waiting for hours in the queue to get my passport made, to haggling over auto-drivers, to watching umpteen movies in PVRs, I fell in love with this city. And did I say with the weather, the traffic and the people…?

I dint quite realize when the ‘Bihariness’ in me took a back-seat and the the Delhi-ite in me started growing.

Delhi has given me a lot. She offered me the best university I could study, where I met some of the best people of my life. People who did not know me, but have been with me through every thick and thin, ever since I put my foot here. Friends- who gave me a hug when I was feeling low, a shoulder when I was missing home and fed me with lip smacking non-veg food when I was craving for it to death.

Delhi has given me numerous opportunities- to learn, to travel, to explore. She has nurtured my potential and made me a better Bihari- to say the least.

Echoing Arvind Adiga sentiments in ‘The White Tiger’, Delhi has been my best friend in Delhi. She has cried with me when I would sit up at nights and suffer the pangs of insomnia. She has laughed with me when I jumped on her after winning a competition. She has caressed me, patted me, kissed me, I know I will never be able to leave Delhi, figuratively. A part of me will always be in Delhi and a part of Delhi will always be in me. And since clichés have to be used, Delhi- you will always be my home away from home…

iQuote (09/12/2009)

2009-12-09T03:01:00.000+05:30

I would rather break up than break down

Is this a miracle or plain black magic?

2009-12-07T03:51:00.002+05:30

To Photography~ my first love..

2009-12-05T00:40:00.000+05:30

As words flow from the recesses of my mind and take a concrete shape, at times I wonder, is there any mode of expression which describes 'exactly' what one feels?
May be none. Yet.

We struggle through various modes of communication to make ourselves more comprehendable.
Writing, speaking, sculpting, painting.. to name a few.. But one art form which has fancied man from its very inception is..undoubtedly.. Photography.

It is concrete and abstract, tactile and ethereal, still yet in motion...

Thats why they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words."

Some words for an art form I totally adore.. call it my first love :)

Read on..

A photograph is memory in the raw.
~Carrie Latet

Photography is the beauty of life, captured.
~Tara Chisholm

You don't take a photograph, you make it.
~Ansel Adams

Photography. The best cure for a bad memory.
~John E. Burkowski

Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst.
~Henri Cartier-Bresson

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.
~Ansel Adams

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.
~Eudora Welty

You don't take a photograph. You ask, quietly, to borrow it.
~Author Unknown

All photos are accurate. None of them is the truth.
~Richard Avedon

A photograph is like the recipe - a memory the finished dish.
~Carrie Latet

Photograph: a picture painted by the sun without instruction in art.
~Ambrose Bierce

Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.
~Ansel Adams

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
~Ansel Adams

If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.
~Lewis Hine

Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.
~Matt Hardy

Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.
~Imogen Cunningham

I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.
~Anonymous

There are two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer.
~Ansel Adams.

The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.
~Ansel Adams

Unlike a painter, a photographer starts with something finished and works backward.
~Anonymous

Our pictures are our footprints. It’s the best way to tell people we were here.
~Joe McNally

You cannot depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus.
~Mark Twain

When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.
~Ansel Adams

No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film.
~Robert Adams

Beyond...

2009-12-01T02:07:00.002+05:30

The Dark Night..

2009-11-29T01:11:00.000+05:30

You..

2009-11-26T04:22:00.000+05:30

Caged in a thousand illusions
Chained in figments of imagination
Fed upon a dose of fairy tales..
The caricature
Of my dreams hails

Linked to every random spark around
Signs I look for; I hear sounds
Blurred, hazy,
Too good to be true
Yet I have hope, I will find you...

iQuote (22/11/2009)

2009-11-22T13:48:00.000+05:30

Love is blind. I am dumb. Are you deaf?

I am..

2009-11-21T14:46:00.001+05:30

I am poised, numb, strong

In a state of trance

I am loud, soft, fierce

Scattered

Like a fragrance

I soothe, comfort, give hope

I too crave for a touch, to cope

I am bitchy, observant, humorous

I am free-willed, fun, adventurous

Like a drop of paint, I travel the canvas of life

To get absorbed in the right hue

Like a breeze, I lull the leaves to sleep

Like a petal in the offing of a dew

Like a note of music thrown in air

I wait to be caught at the next resonance

Like a tear welled up in the corner of the eye

About to roll down those dark lashes

I am everything a man wishes

I am everything he does not want

I am my world

I am my man

I am

A woman

Wounded...

2009-11-18T03:09:00.000+05:30

Kabhi jo ehsaas ho tumko..

2009-11-04T19:05:00.000+05:30

Kabhi jo ehsaas ho tumko

Ke tum achha nahi karte

Jo mujh ko yun rulaate ho

Lahu mera jalaate ho

Agar is aag mein jal kar

Main ek din raakh ho jaun

Mujhe dil se bhula dena

Samundar mein baha dena

Magar ye yaad rakhna tum

Khuda se ye dua karna

Ke jo achha lage tumko

Wo tum jaisa na ho hargiz

Warna tum bhi ro ge

Mujhe jaise rulaate ho

the trap

2009-10-12T15:10:00.000+05:30

iQuote (12/10/2009)

2009-10-12T11:02:00.000+05:30

I'm no bra-burning feminist but I have come to realize that men are quintessentially dogs. They bark and bite.

A Cinde-real-la Story

2009-10-09T10:16:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time (clichéd) not in a very far off kingdom, lived a beautiful princess called Cinderella. She was sweet, adorable and sensitive (very clichéd). She loved reading poetry, going for walks and feeding squirrels. Blessed with a doting set of parents, Cinderella was basically having loads of fun in her life. Her father would fulfill all her wishes while her mother would tell stories of a handsome prince, who would come from some far-away land and take her with him, forever…

So Cinderella, right from her cradle days, fantasized about this knight in shining armor, riding a white horse. He would, she thought, come to her, bend down on his knees and ask for her hand (typically SRK’s look in the title track of ‘Baazigar’)

Cinderella would dream day in and day out how he would sweep her off her feet (while ‘andekha anjana sa’ played as the background score). She had read ‘Pride and Prejudice’ several times and was close to completing the M & B series. Now Cinderella’s mother passed away and as the fairy-tale has it, after a few years, her father remarried and died too (I guess her step-mom poisoned her father. Err…I better keep my soap-loaded brain from stinking)

Anyways, Cinderella’s position transformed, in the palace, from that of a princess to a maid. Her step-mother and step-sisters would give her every possible grief so much so that they have become the ideal step-mom and step-sisters (their efforts paid off eventually!!)

But Cinderella, besides all her princely attributes was quintessentially thick-skinned. She still kept thinking about the mysterious prince to come and rescue her. Well.. the fairy-tale has to move on (yawn) so the prince of the kingdom invites all the citizens for a banquet. Everybody goes, except for our poor girl. Our fairy godmother appears and with the help of two rats and a pumpkin, metamorphosed the battered Cinderella into a young beautiful princess again (many shampoo, fairness creams and face-wash makers had lined outside her house to make her their brand ambassador)

All decked up, Cinderella reaches the palace, dances with the prince, leaves her shoe and comes back.
So far, so good.

The twist in the tale happens when the shoe, as circulated by the prince, in his kingdom, does not fit anyone.
This time, not even Cinderella. Because that night, while returning from the ball, Cinderella met with an accident and lost both her legs.

Gross? Sad?? Ok.. let me give you other options as to why the prince could never find Cinderella.
The shoe was lost/ broke before it reached Cinderella
Or the prince picked someone else’s shoe..
Or say the prince could not arrive (all these years, he has been foolishly riding a wooden horse, never to come)
Or the shoe fit Cinderella’s mom (this was the ending when we performed the Cinderella play in our department. Ironically I was playing Cinderella)
Or the prince turned gay?!!

(I guess I have tested your patience enough) The point I’m trying to make is that Cinderella never got the prince. Either he never existed. Or even if he did, they could never meet.

After that Cinderella’s step-mom got her married to a goldsmith (twice her age) from the neighboring kingdom.

It’s a sad story indeed… indeed.. for poor Cinderella.. to lead a life full of hardships. But who is to be blamed? Her dead mother? Or ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and M & B? Or the hundreds of mushy flicks which nailed the concept of the ‘prince’ in her mind?? If she had never dreamt about this guy, she would have felt half as bad getting married to the bald goldsmith. Even now, every night, Cinderella sits by her window, looks at the moon and wonders about her ‘prince’.

Isn’t there a bit of Cinderella in all of us? And isn’t it high-time we killed it before we face the gruesome realities of life?

The prince never existed.. never will. Because life is not a fairy-tale. It is for real.

The Secret Space~ A mother-daughter relationship takes a different turn when the daughter chooses a public platform to tell her mother something..

2009-10-06T10:56:00.000+05:30

No Smoking

2009-10-03T18:59:00.000+05:30

Byproducts of an insomniac...

Survivor- Lynn Mari

iQuote(17/10/2011)

iQuote(07/02/2011)

iQuote(29/09/2011)

iQuote(28/09/2011)

Techonfusion!

iQuote (17/08/2011)

iQuote(28/07/2011)

theyQuote (21/07/2011)

theyQuote(18/07/2011)

iQuote (05/07/2011)

What if!

As ever..

Muahahaha!

iQuote (07/05/2011)

Power

Now-a-days

The real reasons why you should date a girl who reads

Date a girl who reads, because you fell in love with her, and reading is a part of who she is. Date a girl who spends her money on essentials like clothing and food, takes showers, and goes to the library for books. She’s used her parents library card since she was 12.

Date a girl

Have you ever been in love~ Neil Gaiman

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable.

They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore.

Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts.

Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind.

It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.

Awakening~ Amjid Yaseen

iQuote (26/02/2011)

iQuote (19/02/2011)

theyQuote (11-2-11)

iQuote (30/01/2011)

Alter-ego

iQuote (24/01/2011)

theyQuote

theyQuote

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." — Marilyn Monroe

[ a quote I liked; not to be taken objectively ;)]

Small steps

MR's mental gas

With great power, comes great dadagiri

I am game for a war of wits!

A-holes come and go…thankfully!

Blessed is the one who can make the perfect round chapatti.. *sigh*

I wonder how ‘baby’, ‘dolly’, ‘crab’, ‘spider’, etc find a place in the film-making world!

I wish Google was a guy- knowledgeable, dependable, accessible, flexible!

Handle with dare!

If you feel the spark, it's time to light the fire.

Need remedies for my growing numbness..

I secretly despise the annual reminder of the shift towards old-age..

Its weird to miss somebody you hate..

Been there, need to do that!

I am currently obsessed with glitter and gluttony.

You need not be politically correct. Atleast with your own heart.

I wish I had lesser wishes..

Thats a cake!

Colors

Little celebrity-ness ;)

Khanabadosh update!

Moon-like Me: A reality check

theyQuote

Woody awesome Allen!

iQuote (19/09/2010)

Sensible Sentiments

Glitter

iQuote (29/08/2010)

I wish Google was a guy- knowledgeable, dependable, accessible, flexible!

New screenings!

Sikh International Film Festival 2010 October 22-23, 2010 Asia Society & Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York, USA

A Professional Love Letter (lol)

iQuote (12/08/2010)

If you feel the spark, it's time to light the fire.

Pink-toed

Rockstar

iQuote (16/07/2010)

102 [Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore]

iQuote (04/07/2010)

I am glad you misunderstood me. Its your first step towards understanding me.

Things stressed women say at work (quite a read!)

Brace up Google!

Blessed is the one who can make the perfect round chapatti.. sigh

Sikh International Film Festival 2010
October 22-23, 2010
Asia Society & Museum, 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, New York, USA