10/28/13

An Arranged Marriage

Encased in a bedroom,
head to toe in chains.
Seemingly invisible
ghosts of Saturdays.
Full moons on the beaches,
walks so full of rains.
Dew drops made his hair curl,
every single day.

Time could do away with him
that's all I told myself.
Now that time is broken,
he seems closer still.

Hold me like he would
night after day.
Kiss me like he could
every single day.
Try cheering me up with songs
played the way I say.
And happiness is love,
not weddings anyway...

And all I do is think of him
and space out everyday.
All the worlds turn a  fading grey
washed up with the waves.

And so it will be as it is
life upside down.
A rush of blood, and cigarettes,
And strangers in new towns.

Hold me like he would
night after day.
Kiss me like he could
every single day.
Try cheering me up with songs
played the way I say.
And happiness is love,
not weddings anyway...

10/16/13

The Great Jigsaw Puzzle


There are all those people you see and meet everyday who are part of the great jigsaw puzzle. These are the very people who have either never tried to bend themselves out of shape so as not to fit in or those who got bent into the shape of one piece of the puzzle.

All I know is I am going to be the latter in a few years if I don't do anything to stop the course of change. Right now I am at such a  point in my life where everything is new again, and people are old. By this time and age, there were so many things I had dreamt I would have done. Yes, true enough, along the way there have been many other things that have happened without any plan that could compromise but what you dream of is never the same.

People who make it to the other side where they are doing what their hearts want are a few in number. The majority never dreamt and there are the next group of people who did but couldn't really cross over.
I think I have more than I ever asked for and I am thankful for it all but somewhere deep down I still suffer from the dilemma of where I am and who I am finally. By the age of 24 I had thought I would have pretty much figured it out.; guess Fate didn't feel the same way. I am still the same utterly confused person I was in school, college etc. And I wonder if that's good even.

Imagine the sky upturned, the roots of trees pointed towards the sky, the girl you like likes you back, the notes of the radio all hazy even on that perfect frequency; doesn't sound right at all right?

That's how it has always been. And I have a hunch that's how it's gonna always be. 
Part of the puzzle, bent to perfect shape. No need to fit in anymore. You're made to fit. 




10/6/13

Like alcohol,excess of Bollywood is bad for health

I don't know where to start or where to end when it comes to expressing any thoughts, views, opinions about modern day Bollywood.

Post the “Dabbangg” spectacle, every film seems to be an eclectic hodge-podge of the following in order to become a blockbuster (though only God knows why):
1.Slow-motion-bottle-smashing-on-the-head
2.Insanely bad dialogues with a catchline or two that people are supposed to remember in the history of Bollywood
3.Song lyrics such that might just eat your brains out
4.Background score that sound the same with the same beats on 'dhols' and the wolf-whistles,
5.A hip swishing scantily clad woman who appears for that one(sometimes 2 or 3 these days) blockbuster song(s) who people go gaga over.
6.A signature dance move for a particular song that may be as simple as standing in one place,turning one's back to the camera and scratching one's hair to the beats of the song (until maybe,one has cleared all of his/her dandruff out.)

A movie or two in a whole year with the above elements are cool. Instead, a movie or two in a whole year without the above elements is what we get in the basket of films that arrive in the year.
Every movie seems to be loud,too full of the 'masala' and too full of slow motion action sequences with a subplot involving some 2 people who are in love. 
Result: Every movie is the same. 
And people love every of these films.

Oh,and also,the recent spate of songs that talk about whiskey,rum,'nasha', 'daaru' etc.I do understand that the lyricists do not aim these at anyone or anything and they write about the situation in the movie but isn't it now getting overdone? What is that about?


There is a segment of Bollywood that still stays true to itself, but is it fair that the makers of films in this section do not receive the same kind of attention,adulation, and money to go on weaving their magic?  Instead,the youth of India,who are supposed to be the empowered ones, the ones who understand everything better, lap up movies with the aforementioned formula. I am part of that same set of young people yet somehow I feel sad that such movies need to be made in order to just cater to the whims and fancies of people which frankly, seem to be just absurd. How is it possible that the youth then goes ahead and helps rake in so much money for these movies when there are expectations far greater from us? Does it provide an insight into the mindsets of the people or am I wrong in thinking so? 



What happened to the fantastic stuff, where did all the magic go?

Stuff like this used to rule the billboards as well as our heads at one point of time:
 "Likhate rahe hai tumhe roj hi
 Magar khwaisho ke khat kabhi bheje hi nahi
 Kabhi padhana wo chitthiya
 Aankho ke pani pe rakhna wo chitthiya
 Tairati najar aayegi jana
 Gote khati aati hui laharo pe jati hui ladki"


And then there is this: Stuff like this rules the billboards as well as heads now:
"Night club mai aaya, mai toh
Mujhko rokega kon aur kaiko
Maira mood mai dance karega
Kisika daddy sai ni darega

Jisko jo bi hai wo karna wo kar lo
Idhar hi hoon mai khada pakad lo
Ghar pe jaake tum Google kar lo
Mere bare me Wikipedia pe padh lo
Lungi dance, lungi dance..."

Hariharan sang the first one and the latter is sung by Yo Yo Honey Singh. I think that's enough to guess why the magic is gone.

Where is the poetry,the tunes to find solace in ,the flow of words seamlessly connecting 
with our heart even in the worst of times? 

Where are the films that we could watch over and over again for the sheer brilliance of the moving story, for the connection we felt to the characters,for the fantastic parts played by the actors? Except for an occasional one of those in the theater these days, the ones you’d wanna go back to are really locked away in those dusty VHS tapes,CD’s, DVD’s and in your own memories.

Excess of anything has always been bad. Right from the time those Moral Science books,the teachers and your parents told you so. 

I am guessing this new Bollywood never went to school.


Scared and Safe

 It seems like I go through these sine waves of anxiety and determination. I ride out the waves differently of course. It seems like the anx...