(Written in 7th grade... )
I went to the window for some fresh air,
And was shocked to see the land below bare!
I rushed down for a better look,
There were no trees till the far street nook.
I saw telephone wires in their place,
A row of lives, put out at rapid pace.
I walked gloomily back to the balcony,
My heart shocked and filled with agony.
Years to grow, minutes to cut down,
Cruel world I thought, my face a frown
I stood there clinging to the railing grill
The world suddenly seemed very cold and still..
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Just look.....
Just look… (Written in the 1st year of my brother's college, 2000. I actually used to write letters to him (not e-mail and I sent this to him on pretty stationary))
Pretty flowers, in the wilderness they bloom,
Teach us to spread joy and forget our gloom.
Their life so short, they wither away at night,
Yet all day long so cheerful a sight!
The winds that blow, the waters that flow,
Tell us to keep going, when our hopes are low,
Even when our destination we do not know,
Earnest efforts bring rewards in tow.
The mountain that once made the water-fall,
Is now a plain, the river has taken its toll!
The wind did not stop till it laid on the ground,
The great oak that had dared to bar its path.
The sun tirelessly travels the sky each day,
Without a pause or rest, come what may.
That is life for you, a race to be run,
Time and tide – they wait for none.
Sophie. (2000)
Pretty flowers, in the wilderness they bloom,
Teach us to spread joy and forget our gloom.
Their life so short, they wither away at night,
Yet all day long so cheerful a sight!
The winds that blow, the waters that flow,
Tell us to keep going, when our hopes are low,
Even when our destination we do not know,
Earnest efforts bring rewards in tow.
The mountain that once made the water-fall,
Is now a plain, the river has taken its toll!
The wind did not stop till it laid on the ground,
The great oak that had dared to bar its path.
The sun tirelessly travels the sky each day,
Without a pause or rest, come what may.
That is life for you, a race to be run,
Time and tide – they wait for none.
Sophie. (2000)
The Horizon...
(This was 13 yrs ago...I just found it now.....)
There the sun sets,
There the music stops,
And there everything ends.
The lonliness in my heart rises;
I stand watching the sight,
The sky blending in with the sea,
The sun, the treasure of the sky,
Now half in the waters not high!
I wonder about the partner,
That nature made for me.
Of whom I know nothing about,
Without whom I am quite alone.
In search of whom I move,
Yet I know not where it will end..
The closer I get, the farther it moves away....
Sophie... (1997)
There the sun sets,
There the music stops,
And there everything ends.
The lonliness in my heart rises;
I stand watching the sight,
The sky blending in with the sea,
The sun, the treasure of the sky,
Now half in the waters not high!
I wonder about the partner,
That nature made for me.
Of whom I know nothing about,
Without whom I am quite alone.
In search of whom I move,
Yet I know not where it will end..
The closer I get, the farther it moves away....
Sophie... (1997)
The Query...
Oh eyes! What do you seek?
So listless and oh so meek!
Is it something from the past?
All the times that did not last?
(Or did they even exist?)
Oh eyes! Why do you glare?
Where is the fault, against what can you flare?
Is it the futility of it all?
The sequence unreal, but so real the fall.
(All that for nothing?)
Oh eyes! Why the tears?
So uncalm and so many fears!
Is it shattered dreams and crushed lives?
Or the future that never arrives?
(Will it ever?)
So listless and oh so meek!
Is it something from the past?
All the times that did not last?
(Or did they even exist?)
Oh eyes! Why do you glare?
Where is the fault, against what can you flare?
Is it the futility of it all?
The sequence unreal, but so real the fall.
(All that for nothing?)
Oh eyes! Why the tears?
So uncalm and so many fears!
Is it shattered dreams and crushed lives?
Or the future that never arrives?
(Will it ever?)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Of Dreams and Reality....
(Written in 2002, found when I was packing my diaries to go back to India..)
She was running blind, searching perhaps-
Happy and carefree - just she and her dreams.
And then it happened, now she asks herself - how?
She had been young and naive,
Flattered perhaps at the attention she never got.
She knew the hurdles were too many,
Yet she ran - on and on.
Fretted night and day about things to come,
But not once did she consider giving up the race.
Content and fulfilled deep within, still she knew,
The catch was not worth the chase.
And the treasure not worth the trouble.
She realized she was asking for it,
But she could not give it up,
Perhaps it was her reserve of joy,
In an otherwise empty life.
The mind knows but the heart seldom pays heed,
After all the mind worries too much,
Are hope and trust not the delight of life?
Knowing she was after something that never was,
That if she ever got close enough,
There would be nothing but her own disappointment.
But even in her frustration, it was better that way
The thrill, the excitement was in the chase,
The anxiety, romance and drama too,
The real destination was nothing to her.
She smiled sadly at the saying,
The moon a pretty sight from the Earth,
Up close just sand, rock and stone.
She hoped that it would just disappear,
So she could not go on even if she wanted to,
And then live in peace with herself and others.
And finally it happened – pop it went,
Suddenly it was no longer there.
She was free – she had broken her chains.
She had to be happy, she knew it.
Yet it did not feel so, she wondered why?
All the fiction of a colorful mind,
How true – one sees what one wishes to.
She made a diamond of a piece of glass
And chased her own illusions.
As she saw it shattered in front of her,
A single tear trickled from her eyelids,
For her diamond that had never been,
A second tear rolled down her cheek,
And sealed her buried dreams, new ones to seek…
Sophie. (2002)
She was running blind, searching perhaps-
Happy and carefree - just she and her dreams.
And then it happened, now she asks herself - how?
She had been young and naive,
Flattered perhaps at the attention she never got.
She knew the hurdles were too many,
Yet she ran - on and on.
Fretted night and day about things to come,
But not once did she consider giving up the race.
Content and fulfilled deep within, still she knew,
The catch was not worth the chase.
And the treasure not worth the trouble.
She realized she was asking for it,
But she could not give it up,
Perhaps it was her reserve of joy,
In an otherwise empty life.
The mind knows but the heart seldom pays heed,
After all the mind worries too much,
Are hope and trust not the delight of life?
Knowing she was after something that never was,
That if she ever got close enough,
There would be nothing but her own disappointment.
But even in her frustration, it was better that way
The thrill, the excitement was in the chase,
The anxiety, romance and drama too,
The real destination was nothing to her.
She smiled sadly at the saying,
The moon a pretty sight from the Earth,
Up close just sand, rock and stone.
She hoped that it would just disappear,
So she could not go on even if she wanted to,
And then live in peace with herself and others.
And finally it happened – pop it went,
Suddenly it was no longer there.
She was free – she had broken her chains.
She had to be happy, she knew it.
Yet it did not feel so, she wondered why?
All the fiction of a colorful mind,
How true – one sees what one wishes to.
She made a diamond of a piece of glass
And chased her own illusions.
As she saw it shattered in front of her,
A single tear trickled from her eyelids,
For her diamond that had never been,
A second tear rolled down her cheek,
And sealed her buried dreams, new ones to seek…
Sophie. (2002)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
I don’t see why it had to be “Main aur Mrs. Khanna” and not just “Mrs. Khanna” :-)
There was a time not too long ago when Indian cinema often narrated the boy meets gal, they fall in love, face world-imposed trials and tribulations and finally unite with the words “THE END” adorning the screen. Since then, Indian cinema and its audience has matured enough to realize that marriage is not “THE END” but “THE BEGINNING”. That the months of running around together joyously are but a passing phase and the real troubles start when the couple are hit with the responsibilities of life together. Then came a series of movies like Saathiya, Metro, even Gangster which tracks the lives of married people – when other factors like careers, money, temptations, boredom, time and priorities play major roles in the narration.
Mr and Mrs Khanna is another one of this series which spent about 5 minutes on the (totally inane and unconvincing) falling in love and getting married part. (All of you who know me will know I am the dreamy, romantic, ‘not very practical in these matters’ types. If NISHA thought this part was lame, you can imagine how it must have been.)
Then come the guy’s career troubles. This paragraph is only for those of you who have not seen it. The hero decides to start over in Singapore after his career hits rock bottom in Australia. He also decides his wife should return to India while he is doing that without so much as consulting her or convincing her but merely springing it on her at the last minute. So after she finds out at the airport that she is not going with him to Singapore, she decides not to board the flight to India, seeks the help of friends, works in a shop and holds her own out till he returns successful. In the meantime another guy falls in love with her and there was really nothing more to guy 2 than that!
The protagonist Sameer, merely comes off as a closed-mouth, arrogant, jerk, who did not stir the slightest of sympathies in me. The heroine’s character was more someone the audience could empathize with. She stands by her husband while still being firm that HE did not have the right to make big decisions concerning her without consulting her.
It was bad enough that Sameer falls for her at first sight, but it was a little ridiculous how the other lead man, Akash also falls for this girl at first sight – love, lust whatever :-). Yes Kareena is hot – given!! But there are lots of hot girls in the world and even in this movie. Would it not have been better if Akash had just been the guy she approaches for a phone to make a call, who later became attracted to her strength of character and loyalty to her husband??
The part with the husband-wife separation was vague leaving how close they were at that time to the viewer’s imagination. Were they talking often? Did they know what was going on in each-other’s life? Or was it like he exited the picture completely and just appeared out of nowhere one fine day?
I believe movies do not necessarily have to have a point to them - they can just be movies. So I shall not ask what the point of this movie was anyway. But within the narration of the story, I fail to see what the significance of Akash’s love is. It seems to me like the movie could have well done without it. It still would have been about how a couple got married, had financial troubles, separated for a bit, but stayed loyal to each other and then united in the end. (I am not going to ask what would have happened if Sameer had remained unsuccessful. I understand that is beyond the scope of this movie :-))
But what was the point of having that whole “other guy” if they were not going to do one of the following:-
1) Bring in infidelity angle - have her have an affair with him and then have the couple deal with that later on
2) Bring confusion into the woman’s mind about what kind of love she wants from a man.
3) Make a revolutionary statement where the woman leaves her husband for the other guy
4) Have him hit on her incessantly trying to change her idea about the idealistic love she believes in.
5) Bring in the crazy suspicion angle on the husbands part and then effect a separation because of that.
Or ANY other reason that you guys can think of that escapes me. But as is - he could have just been one of the people she met who helped her. Why bring in the one-sided love angle at all??? Was it to justify the insinuation in the title? Or was it to bring in the comedy aspect towards the end of the movie with the two guys fighting for the gal? Or maybe they were just using his love to signify how un-swerving a Bharathiya Nari’s pati-vrathaness is - that it never once crosses her mind that guy 2 loves her when her husband sees it in two days?
To sum it up, the story was not too bad, the actual scenes not too good and not even that entertaining (totally senseless cinema can be good if it is that, after all entertainment is the point of ALL cinema). Both the male lead characters are not ones that the audience can sympathize or empathize with. Salman looks old. Kareena and Sohail were all right. The two male leads, or even the other male characters did not prove to be much eye-candy. The women in frame were the only ones worth looking at.
One word verdict – TIMEPASS
PS – I still don’t see why it had to be “Main aur Mrs. Khanna” and not just “Mrs. Khanna” :-)
Mr and Mrs Khanna is another one of this series which spent about 5 minutes on the (totally inane and unconvincing) falling in love and getting married part. (All of you who know me will know I am the dreamy, romantic, ‘not very practical in these matters’ types. If NISHA thought this part was lame, you can imagine how it must have been.)
Then come the guy’s career troubles. This paragraph is only for those of you who have not seen it. The hero decides to start over in Singapore after his career hits rock bottom in Australia. He also decides his wife should return to India while he is doing that without so much as consulting her or convincing her but merely springing it on her at the last minute. So after she finds out at the airport that she is not going with him to Singapore, she decides not to board the flight to India, seeks the help of friends, works in a shop and holds her own out till he returns successful. In the meantime another guy falls in love with her and there was really nothing more to guy 2 than that!
The protagonist Sameer, merely comes off as a closed-mouth, arrogant, jerk, who did not stir the slightest of sympathies in me. The heroine’s character was more someone the audience could empathize with. She stands by her husband while still being firm that HE did not have the right to make big decisions concerning her without consulting her.
It was bad enough that Sameer falls for her at first sight, but it was a little ridiculous how the other lead man, Akash also falls for this girl at first sight – love, lust whatever :-). Yes Kareena is hot – given!! But there are lots of hot girls in the world and even in this movie. Would it not have been better if Akash had just been the guy she approaches for a phone to make a call, who later became attracted to her strength of character and loyalty to her husband??
The part with the husband-wife separation was vague leaving how close they were at that time to the viewer’s imagination. Were they talking often? Did they know what was going on in each-other’s life? Or was it like he exited the picture completely and just appeared out of nowhere one fine day?
I believe movies do not necessarily have to have a point to them - they can just be movies. So I shall not ask what the point of this movie was anyway. But within the narration of the story, I fail to see what the significance of Akash’s love is. It seems to me like the movie could have well done without it. It still would have been about how a couple got married, had financial troubles, separated for a bit, but stayed loyal to each other and then united in the end. (I am not going to ask what would have happened if Sameer had remained unsuccessful. I understand that is beyond the scope of this movie :-))
But what was the point of having that whole “other guy” if they were not going to do one of the following:-
1) Bring in infidelity angle - have her have an affair with him and then have the couple deal with that later on
2) Bring confusion into the woman’s mind about what kind of love she wants from a man.
3) Make a revolutionary statement where the woman leaves her husband for the other guy
4) Have him hit on her incessantly trying to change her idea about the idealistic love she believes in.
5) Bring in the crazy suspicion angle on the husbands part and then effect a separation because of that.
Or ANY other reason that you guys can think of that escapes me. But as is - he could have just been one of the people she met who helped her. Why bring in the one-sided love angle at all??? Was it to justify the insinuation in the title? Or was it to bring in the comedy aspect towards the end of the movie with the two guys fighting for the gal? Or maybe they were just using his love to signify how un-swerving a Bharathiya Nari’s pati-vrathaness is - that it never once crosses her mind that guy 2 loves her when her husband sees it in two days?
To sum it up, the story was not too bad, the actual scenes not too good and not even that entertaining (totally senseless cinema can be good if it is that, after all entertainment is the point of ALL cinema). Both the male lead characters are not ones that the audience can sympathize or empathize with. Salman looks old. Kareena and Sohail were all right. The two male leads, or even the other male characters did not prove to be much eye-candy. The women in frame were the only ones worth looking at.
One word verdict – TIMEPASS
PS – I still don’t see why it had to be “Main aur Mrs. Khanna” and not just “Mrs. Khanna” :-)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Lost and floundering…
How many judgements,
Will she have to stand in?
Before once more,
Her life can begin;
How much more scorn,
Will she have to endure?
Defending something,
So genuine and pure;
How many more times ,
Will she repeat a story?
One that is so tangibly
Etched upon her memory.
Why is she stuck
With such a tale?
That her best comrades
In understanding fail.
Those who came in late
She cannot blame
When those all through
Thought it so lame
Nor is she one
To forget or bury
Is that why she still
Narrates the story?
For it cannot be
She is looking for understanding.
Afterall she knows
She will never find it…
Sophie, July, 2007
How many judgements,
Will she have to stand in?
Before once more,
Her life can begin;
How much more scorn,
Will she have to endure?
Defending something,
So genuine and pure;
How many more times ,
Will she repeat a story?
One that is so tangibly
Etched upon her memory.
Why is she stuck
With such a tale?
That her best comrades
In understanding fail.
Those who came in late
She cannot blame
When those all through
Thought it so lame
Nor is she one
To forget or bury
Is that why she still
Narrates the story?
For it cannot be
She is looking for understanding.
Afterall she knows
She will never find it…
Sophie, July, 2007
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