Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Pyaasa

Roodade gum-e-ulfat unke
Hum Kya Kehte, Jo Kar Kehte
Ek Harb na Niklaa Honton Se,'
Aur Aankhon mein Aasoon Aa bhi gaye,

Us Mehfil-e-Kaifo Masti mein
Us Anjuman-e-Irfaani mein
Sab Jaam Bakhat Baithe Hi Rahe
Hum Pi bhi gaye, Chalkha bhi gaye...


I had to get that off my head. All errors in reproducing it are mine (All Wah! Wahs! to Sahir Ludhianvi). Someone once asked me to translate that and I said "learn urdu". Its not to be arrogant or something but some things neccesarily cannot be translated and it offers you a different system view.On a different note seriously wondering how people find time to blog.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Toons!

In English August when someone asks Agastya Sen if he was married, he rebuttal was that he was twice married and once to a Norwegian Muslim. The joke was subtle but insightful (Crusades started from the same region and what not..)

I am not a news person but this one caught my eye. I didnt realise the gravity of the situation until someone else updated me the fact there were riots on a large scale and people on both sides hollerring curses and the likes. Hmm... A danish guy just wanted a picture for a children's book and this is what happens. Even the Queen had gotten involved.

Just like the US tried to rename French fries in their recent riffraff with the french, the Iranians decided to do this. Funny that they took the name of a sci-fi project by the same theme which might not augur very well with some folks.

* Begin* Jokes apart, this issue brought to light something that I took for granted. As far as I was raised you didnt need to believe in what is called religion. I was very much supposed to have an idea about it and be aware of the core concepts but belief, no. A recent conversation with someone who majored in the subject told me that Belief in the religion is a very western concept and the ancient eastern ones didnt require one. Quite a powerful thought! *End*

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Wishful Thinking

He went to penance on the ocean floor. If you hold your breath you can do that. Ages came and went by but he was silently lapsing into the first, second, third and the final fourth phase of consciousness. It is said sound travels slowly in water, may be thats why it took so long for the music to reach his ears. Slowly the music reaches a resonating frequency within him and he begans to mentally dance to the tune being played from a far far away source. Then he remembers the time he went into this metempsychosis. It was when Shiva ceased to dance.

Whats different now? He is almost about to give up. Then a sudden realisation dawns upon him that Shiva never danced to begin with. It was us, the subjects that were dancing around an ever static, never moving absolute form of truth. Its our own perception moving around this absolutely anonymous concept that makes it seem like shiva danced. After a while there is no Shiva and of course, no dance.

Shiva know no Bhangra
Nor the Punjabi Rap!
But he’s a divine dancer
Who never takes a nap!

And if for the single trillionth of a second
Shiva ceased to dance

All the world’s great cities would quiver
On a knife-edge of chance

Every star in the universe would
Cease to burn

Neither sun nor earth
Would turn

Matter grow
So dense

So intense
The dark

That your
Cry

Would
Die

On a windless night
In the lap of the sea...
When Shiva sleeps
You will know eternity...

-The Third Eye written for Stephen Hawking by Rukmini Bhaya Nair


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Wednesday, February 15, 2006

RIPPGW

14 February! Valentine's day as some call it but its a baneful day for literary enthusiasts. It was on this day 1989 that Salman Rushdie was issued a fatwa.But thats not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about the author of these lines

"Unlike the male codfish, which, suddenly finding itself the parent of three million five hundred thousand little codfish, cheerfully resolves to love them all, the British aristocracy is apt to look with a somewhat jaundiced eye on its younger sons."
(Lord Emsworth thinking about his son Freddie)

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (also a Doctor should be prefixed methinks) died on this day 1975 and incidentally he died with a manuscript on his lap. My very first work of the master was "Sunset at Blandings" which was his last penned. Homage to you my dear sir. The world definitely would have been a duller place had it not been for your works. And you didnt need to be so profilic as well. Just a couple of your works are enough to ensure immortality but then ...

Sunday, February 12, 2006

The Meeting with the Acquaintance

He has kept to himself without being in touch with his old acquaintances ever since he went down the hill much like jack (and no jill to tumble down with him). So he woke up and went to get some fresh produce when he ran into this old acquaintance at the grocery shop.I went to him

"K! Do you remember me"

"P! How the hell can I forget you?"

"You realise that its been 6 years since I saw you and 5 since I spoke to you"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

Meanwhile another woman closes in and P instantly recognises her but searched his memory for her name and says

"How are you SL?"

"I am doing good except that I am not SL but SP.."

"Ah! Those cobwebs needed clearance anyways.Sorry about that."

Meanwhile K interrupts holding an infant .

"Say Hi to Uncle P. This is my dauther R"

Gosh! P and K and SP all went to same grad school and in fact P,K and SP were all dorm mates at some point of time. Everyone knew everyone for a period of six months.

K starts " I heard about your adventures in wonderland and all that hullaballooo. So how the heck are you keeping up"

"Hanging in there.Nothing much to cheer about but then nothing much to get depressed either."

Two old folks come join this nice meeting blocking other fellas at the grocery store. K introduces the folks saying they are his parents. The old man adjusts his glasses to take a good look at P and says

"Where are your kids?"

"Excuse Me.(They are in the future tense and unless we break the speed of light I cannot show it to you sir.) ..Sorry.. I am not yet married sir!"

"You should do this asap!"

"I understand sir but you must realize anyone in their right mind would not give me their girl and smart girls would run away without knowing me."

A puzzled look dawns upon the old man as he was trying to parse the meaning of the earlier statement. K jumps in to help by saying P is always like that, talking about such matters in a very light, deprecating and often mildly cynical. This resolved the expression of the old man to his normal brows.

Then we decided to shop together. Now that we got other people busy with shopping K takes P aside. P can almost hear the track "Poles Apart" being played in the background as an appropriate metaphor

Did you know...it was all going to go so wrong for you
And did you see (did you know...did you know...) it was all going be so right for me
Why did we tell you then
You were always the golden boy then
And that you'd never lose that light in your eyes


SP then politely asked him to join for dinner the next weekend. P breaks in

"I am sorry that I was pretty mean to you those days"

"Yes! You were but then you had more compensating qualities to make up for it"

"Thanks. I take it as a sign that you forgave me"

K comes in after renting out some casettes saying P should definitely make it to visit as there is a lot to catch upon. P agrees to the deal and they part with good byes.

P comes home and thinks of how much water flowed beneath the bridge. P and K were roomies who were later joined by SP because theirs was the only house in the locality that had both girls and boys living under the same roof.
P was very new to the country and has been the first battle with some hard truths to the fellows' dearest That was a time when he exactly felt like the song "distance"
<---------------------
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, Engines pumping and thumping in time. The green light flashes, the flags goes up, Churning and burning, they yern for the cup. They deftly manouver and muscle for rank, Fuel burning fast on an empty tank, Wreckless and wild they pour thru the turns, Their prowless is podent and secretly stern. As they speed thru the finish the flags go down. The fans get up, and get out of town. The arena is empty except for one man, Still driving and striving as fast as he can The sun has gone down and the moon has come up, And long ago somebody left with the cup, But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns, And thinking of someone for whom he still burns. He's going the distance. He's going for speed. She's all alone, all alone in her time of need. Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course, He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse. He's going the distance. Yeah! No trophy, no flowers, no flash bulbs, no wine. He's haunted by something he cannot define. Bowel shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse, Assail him, impale him with monster truck force. In his mind he's still driving, still making the grade. She's hoping time that her memories will fade, Cause he's racing and pacing and plotting the course, He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse. The sun has gone down and the moon has come up, And long ago somebody left with the cup. But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns, And thinking of someone for whom he still burns. Cause he's going the distance. He's going for speed. She's all alone, all alone in her time of need. Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course, He's figting and biting and riding on his horse, He's racing and pacing and plotting the course, He's figting and biting and riding on his horse! He's going the distance. He's going for speed. He's going the distance...
---------->
Seems like the distance has been covered but the speed almost killed him and took down a couple of folks. Still Yet, He thinks of going atleast 57.7% the velocity of light sometime in the future :)

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Listmania!

Need to watch each and every one of these flicks. It seems like the theme of this list is New York