After a long long break....

I m back writing my solitary posts after a gruelling examination...I cannot say with utmost honesty that it was my best,to my embarrasment, it should have been because this was my best shot yet... and after hours of reading up the History of India, I haven't been able to do justice to my hard work nor to the subject. Perhaps this is what happens when you try too hard, it's therefore better sometimes to just leave things " to be" if u can understand what I mean.
Anyways enough of my musings with my failures... what I wanted to write about to day is this book I m currently reading, it's Possession by A.S Byatt, it's a Booker winner and it's an amazing read... It's the story of these two young Post graduate scholars going through some forgotten letters written by a famous poet to a lady, also a famous poet, whom he adored... it's the story of how their relationship blossoms and how this relationship leaves a mark on their writing. For those who have an incline towards poetry may please read this wonderful work of fiction, it leaves one feeling intellectually very satisfied.

Something inspirational

I came across these lines which really inspired me but I don't know who the author of these wonderful lines are...if any of the readers can enlighten me, it'll be great...

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeattable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To run through when chased from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest to follow the star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far.

To fight for the right without question or pause
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause
And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will act peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To fight the unbeatable foe
To reach the unreachable star.

Jai Ho....!!!!!!

Many many congratulations to Mr. A.R. Rahman for attaining the distinction of being the only Indian to win 2 Oscars.And also heartiest congratulations to Mr. Danny Boyle and the cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire.

It is a befitting reply to those who slammed the movie as 'Poverty porn'... it was said that all the movies which portray Indian poverty get accolades abroad...it was also said that poverty is the only thing which"sells".....to all these pessimists, either they haven't seen the movie or are far divorced from reality. As A.R Rahman said in his acceptance speech, "the film's message was one of eternal optimism".... it portrays the struggle of three orphans and their struggle for existence...yes poverty does exist in India and it is also true that all the films that have managed to cut ice with the broader audience has been on that track. But let's not take away the credits for a well made film. It is our misfortune that we haven't been able to make a film which portrays India's rich heritage and culture with equal aplomb as we have managed to depict poverty and malnutrition, though we may say in all "these films' " defense that they have essentially shown human trials and tribulations with poverty as their background which leads us to the question, why there haven't been movies which show the same human elements but in a different context.

That is because, sadly, right from the time when Mother India was nominated in the Foreign Films Category in the year 1958, poverty has been a matter of "necessary evil" for us, though now in the post liberalized India it has become a matter of "selective ignorance"... it's indeed sad to see movies still using that theme and making big bucks with the overseas audience.

But if we are to lay the blame on why the movie makers are making such movies it's the case of "pot calling the kettle black"....we have poverty and if movie makers use this background to show life's trials, who can we blame but us....for letting such gruesome poverty exist....and slamming others if they manage to portray the reality.....we turn away from it squeamishly for the sole reason because we can't face it.....so for the moment let's leave the poverty behind and rejoice in the cinematic brilliance that's "Slumdog Millioniare"...
JaiHo !!!

Image Courtesy : www.wikipedia.org

The Man In The Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself...
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn't your father, mother or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear upto the end,
And, You have passed your most dangerous,difficult test,
If the man in the glass is your friend.
You may fool the whole world down the path way of life,
And get pats on your back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears,
If you have fooled the man in the glass...

THE YEAR THAT WAS...

The year's coming to a close & soon we'll be stepping into 2009..isn't it amazing how far we've travelled in the new millenium.. 9 years!! 2008's been a far more troubled year of the 21st century for India..my readers will surely agree with me..no other year saw so many tragic happenings...the deadly terror attacks,the recession,the lay-offs...it seems everything bad had to happen this year.But there has to be a silver lining..ofcourse we won a Gold in the Olympics and our Cricket Team won the Tests against the Aussies...but I think the most important thing we evidenced is the unity being formed among the people of our country...it just grew stronger with every Terrorist Attack.It feels that we have matured a lot in a year...and it feels great to know that...The last evening I was with this group of frends who mostly treat "News" as being for "other people".But even they were discussing our politicians,our security apparatus,elections and stuff...there's this need to stand up and be counted..I personally think this unity and the sense of belonging to India was greatly missing among us...it's coming back,slowly but surely...
On the personal front mine too was a year of realization,be it career wise or other.I have matured up a lot and the best part have recognised certain lacunae on my part...I am now ready to be more responsible and as I mentioned earlier ready to be counted among...I can only say that I m happy to step into 2009 as a person who understands herself more clearly and is confident and determined to shape up her life as SHE wants it... WELCOME 2009..

Women Are From Venus...

I came across an incident of marital violence some days ago...It was one of my frend...I had never ever expected she had any kind of past but she did and listening about it terrified me...it was horrendous...I kept thinking about it for a long long time...I have often observed..ofcourse a lot of my readers will disagree with me,that in any kind of relationship,the woman always, always are compromising more and more and more....they are the ones who always sacrifice and only some lucky ones are acknowledged...I m not saying that they sacrifice because they want the acknowledgement,they do it because they really care about their families....but what I m trying to say is perhaps..is there some kind of pschye that women carry,some kind of notion that just because they are women,they think it's their time honoured duty to put others interest ahead of herself.I guess she does because she really cares or maybe the society's attuned in such a way that makes a woman feel guilty if for once she cares about her own interests rather than that of others.There's this trailer of a sitcom that appears on the Colours channel in which a woman is shown asking a similar type of question that has been posed above.Maybe I have recently had a bad experience about hearing a rather unpalatable version of a marriage gone really bad that I m posing these kind of of questions or thinking this way...otherwise such has been the role of women since the dawn of history.Our Hindu mythologies have examples galore...Sita had to give the "agnipariksha" time & again to prove her loyalty and chastity, Gandhari of Mahabharata had to remain blindfolded throughout her life because her husband had been born a blind man, even Draupadi had to sacrifice her five sons inorder that her five husbands be saved! I m not saying these women did wrong,history would have been quite different if Sita refused to give her fire ordeal time & again and asked Ram for a change to face the fire ordeals hinself, if Gandhari refused to be blindfolded...maybe the great war itself wouldn't have taken place or if Draupadi had told her husbands to face the enemy instead of sacricing her sons!!!!!! Maybe the society expects women to sacrifice, to keep compromising time and again, maybe someone is needed to do a little sacrifice inorder that the social balance may be maintained... maybe that's why women are born, that's why they are the ones who can bring life forth and nurture it. Maybe just maybe she needs little more respect than she normally gets, a little more frequent acknowledgement of her immense capacity for selflessness.

An Honest Confession

I am not perfect,I don't aim to be;
I stand in the madenning crowd,
Part of it, yet isolated.
The isolation reflects upon my shadow
While I think I'm ahead of others,
It stands still,silent,a spectator of my quest for perfection
"Life is rising above mediocrity",
the world around me thus advocates.
Creating one's individual niche,
I thus question myself,
"In my quest for perfection,
Aren't I getting lost in mindless mediocrity?"
What then is "Perfection" when everyone seem to be eager to attain?
All our shadows stand a silent testament
While we vie for a place ahead of others
Desparate,Selfish,Uncaring,Unconcerned,
The madness,
In pursuit of that "perfection"
And I say..."I am really glad
I am not perfect."