Tuesday, July 27, 2010

On Movies

Though am not a movie buff, but some movies have made an impact in my life.

I want to enlist some of my favorites. I ain't too critical about movies, I treat movies just like I treat books. Either it establishes a connection or it does not. The breathtaking ones are those which go beyond establishing connection, and they touch your life, your thinking and in rare cases, your heart. Here is the list of the movies of the latter kind:
  • Shawshank Redemption - The story of hope
  • October Sky - The story of passion
  • The Man from Earth - The story of history
  • Cindrella Man, Into the Wild - The story of life
  • Stranger than Fiction - The story of writing
  • Goodwill Hunting - The story of gift
  • Veer Zaara, The Notebook, Titanic, An Indecent Proposal - The stories of love
  • 3 idiots - The story of students
  • Baghban - The story of parents
  • Little Manhattan - The story of kids, 'in love'
  • Few Good Men - The story of judgment
  • Speed I, Rambo - Action
  • Arranged - The story of marriage
  • Rang De Basanti - The story of justice
P.S. The list will be updated with time.

Monday, July 26, 2010

The Little Bird

Piercing the snowy clouds,
Fluttering with scintillating passion
They travelled.
My feet, fixed on the ground, envied.
I wanted to be with them,
Flying, with my wings wide open.
Touching the sky, kissing the mountains
Breathing the earth, bathing in the rains

Carefree, as they were
They vanished in no time.
Dejected and lonely, I strolled ahead.
Wishing to be a bird, all the while
I wanted to ask God
Why had he been so unfair?
Endowing us, humans, with all the things
How could he forget to give us wings?

Absorbed, I went away
Carefree, you might say
For, I hit a rock - pretty hard
I toppled and fell on the way
While head banged on the road,
My mind swung amongst the stars
I couldn't care anymore.
With God, I was at war.
"God - the unfair, uncaring being
You're so mean", I thought.
I opened my bleary-eyes, distraught.

My eyes saw a poor sight.
There lay a little bird -
Mute, weak and hapless
As if waiting, for an eternal flight
She stared at me, blinking
Blank, as if life had reached its end
Taking her in my palms, I soared
I looked at her and in a go,
I threw her towards the sky
To see her wings, flap with joy.

But, the flight didn't occur
Her wings didn't flutter
Fearful, she came back into my hands
Frightened, she stared once again
I asked her, "What's wrong?"
She said, "Come with me. I'm scared."
I laughed and said, "I've got no wings."
"Wings aren't necessary." She replied.
I didn't want to argue,
So I laughed at her ignorance.

She turned morose,
Jumped on the ground,
Walked towards a cage
And locked herself inside.
Astonished, I questioned,
"Why? Why don't you fly?"
She echoed my words.
"Why don't you break the cage?" I asked.
The echoes follow.

Puzzled, I mumbled.
"I've no wings."
She said, "Wings aren't needed."
"Then what is needed?" I wondered.
"The will to break free." She said.
Stunned, I said nothing.
A surge of gratitude for the Almighty,
Came in a fling.

The little bird broke her cage
And carried me towards the sky
"Sky is where I belong,"
She said in my voice and vanished.
Mystified, I kept flying with no wings.
A little flutter inside my heart
Kept me alive and gave my first flight.
"Sky is where I belong" I screamed with joy.
The echoes follow, this time from inside my heart.

I open my eyes and sway my vision.
An isolated road is beheld.
I turn and look into the vast sky.
Piercing the snowy clouds,
Fluttering with scintillating passion
They travelled. But this time,
My feet, fixed on the ground, reveled.

P.S. There is a little bird inside each of us. Never ever dare to cage it. Because sky is where we belong.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

A hell of an update

Well well well. Here's my blog that had been untouched since almost a month. I had been missing it.

The sheer joy of blogging is that you write not because you've to write, but because you want to write. You've nothing special to write about and still when you sit in front of 'create post' on blogger.com, you've your heart and mind in synergy letting you speak in a language that's fluent and coherent. Suddenly, you realize you've so much to relate and so much to share. I am home since the last weekend. To enumerate the development:

  • I visited Bodh Gaya, the place where Buddha got enlightened, on car with my family as I was so desperate to travel. It was a serene place, though there were not many things to see, but still, it was a good time to spend away from work and other real-life pressures, and with my parents, sister and my dear camera. Thankfully, I got some real nice clicks there.
  • On way, I finished a book called 'Go Kiss the World' by Subroto Bagchi. It's a marvelous book by an entrepreneur turned author and it emphasized on his life journey and how his life conspired to let him reach his ambitions, with values and integrity intact. I've ordered another book by Bagchi titled 'The High Performance Entrepreneur'. I would read it on my way back to Delhi.
  • As I reached home, internet dwindled. Without internet for four days, I had to skip my work, but it gave me time to read and write a lot. Day before yesterday, I wrote 3000 words in a day and felt really accomplished.
  • Yesterday, I got my old guitar fixed and its sounding really sweet after all that renovation. I want to jam so badly, but hardly anyone seems to give me company here. Let us see.
  • On Tuesday, I started ace cyclist Lance Armstrong autobiography - It's not about the bike - and it's a riveting read. It's not about the bike, it's about life. And death.
  • I went on a photographic expedition with my friend Debanjan. We carried our SLRs across the residential colonies and everyone seemed to give us a what-the-hell-are-they-doing kind of stare.
  • Today I had a day out with my school friends. It was fun. Watched the movie Udaan, which was nothing but a slow-and-tiresome piece, however Ronit Roy was really impressive in his role; after which we had wholesome lunch and some doses of air hockey.
  • What more? Two days left, internet fixed up - I think work would take my days. In between I'll write my sequel.
  • I'm done for the time being, I wanna lie down and finish Armstrong's book; as of now, only two chapters are left and I left it at the critical stage where he was to go for the Tour de France.
Well, that more or less counts as a blog update. I love to see me back.

P.S. Try this thing out - listen to the song - 'Hey there, Delilah' by Plain White T's with your eyes closed. You'll realize that every word in that song carries emotion that's unconditional.