amar

Sunrises

2010-07-25T02:40:00.000-07:00

When you start writing with a fixed thought in mind I think it goes in a direction I’m not familiar with. I don’t know what it is to have all planned out at first and then start with the typing process, like you are dictating to your own self. For me writing is a random process, like life. Nothing is fixed in life, I mean that for myself. That doesn’t mean that I pick up paper and pen and then start thinking what to write, though sometimes I have done that.
I feel bad when I see things that I know would make a difference to my life in a good way. I don’t exactly know what that sentence means. So let me explain it to you and to myself. A friend, living his life happily, happy in his love life, happy in his family, content with his work, makes me feel bad because I see the fact that I could have been a normal person, like him. Sometimes when I see so many good things happening with others then I feel bad for being different from others. The funny part is that such friends look up to me and feel that I’m on a higher level than them, spiritually or some other way. They are happy to see me.
When you put your time and energy and money into something and it doesn’t turn out to be the way you wanted it to, which is the only way it should function, the right way, because it’s a bloody device, it makes you furious, especially when the money is yours, nevermind the time and energy. What makes you want to smash open the heads of the people behind the non-functioning device is the simple fact that they made a fool out of you. You got fooled! Nobody likes to know he got fooled; people get angry when they come to know they’ve been fooled.
I used to write only about love and ‘things’ related to it. Too much love spoilt me, when it came to writing I mean. Then I took a much needed break, though I didn’t have any idea that I needed one. Now I’ve begun to start on ‘things’ other than love or those related to it. Though one can see for oneself the word ‘she’ mentioned in quite a few of the pieces I write, yet the attempt to label the piece as some love inspired writing would be a futile one.
She likes what I write. In so many years someone genuinely said something nice about me, or my writing. Then the fact that I’ve tried every other thing a man in my position could have tried to get my mind to work on something positive, something constructive makes me want to go on writing, for her, for anyone who likes it. I feel those last five words in the last sentence are going to reduce the smile on her lips when she is reading this. But what I said is the truth, I’d like to write for anyone who likes what I write, and then there is the fact that as far as I can see it is only she that is a fan.
Sunsets have always been overrated. That is to say that they have always been more talked about than sunrises. Technically speaking both must be equally beautiful, and I’m not going to explain how over here. People are sleeping during sunrises, most of the people, during most of the sunrises. Those who are up are busy in doing things, getting ready for the day. They miss out on sunrises. I’ve also missed on sunrises all my life, and those rare ones that I got to see were those when I stayed awake all night and slept in the mornings and day. Sunsets ... enough has been said about them already, by people whose fans might or might not include her.

Would it ever happen here in India?

2009-03-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
(Dylan, but of course!)

Frustation builds, I'm not happy about it.
Only occasionally though, hmm this is acceptable.
Things will happen like they do, now thats more like it.
Who gives a damn, there you go!

Perhaps these 4 lines I wrote might not make sense to you, which is good, I tell you. Good because you are a part of the majority, feel happy about it, feel comforted, feel fine.
Allright allright! I'll explain, that's the two egos of an Indian talking, to each other of course. Before the comma is the 'traditional' good ego, and after it is the 'modern' good Indian ego. That's it, the rest you have to decipher for yourself.
So when there is 'such' (aforementioned) situation prevailent in the country, for almost 60 years now, the question to be asked is ... would things ever change?
You fool, things changed, JP changed things. No sir he did not, he was bluffing! I'm really sorry I can't tell you exactly how he was bluffing, but he was, and he was bluffing bigtime. You might actually use you own brains and think, on this ... JP's sole aim was to topple the government, to oust Indira from Delhi, he didn't know (or care about) what would happen thereafter.
And what actually happened thereafter is part history, part history in the making. The freedom we were given in 1947 was misused badly enough by the Congress. The freedom JP gave us is still being misused by the Lalus and the Mulayams. Are these people really the giants that we hear from people, including the high and mighty, or did people really mis-judge them? Answer that for yourself.
Coming to our Tata-nano times, our habits have gotten worse, they were bad always. Our conscience stinks, we mask it with Gucci or/and Chanel 'fragrances', or Nycil or Pond's talcum powders for the aam-junta. We fart secularism, I'll tell you how, everyone does it, it stinks, and it pollutes the existing atmosphere. That isn't what secularism is supposed to be, whatever is preached here in the country, its called samjhauta (compromise). That's what is inside every Amar, Akbar, Anthony here in the country. The natives are 'doing' samjhauta with the ones that came later, the people of the lord are doing it till they spread (read convert) every other people, the followers of the last prophet (after whom God decided he won't make them anymore) are doing samjhauta for pretty much the same reason.
Its not funny for me, it might be for you, that a country who can be so united in celebrating a couple of Academy Awards hasnt been able to achieve much needed peace and harmony among its own people.
I feel bored now, would go and sleep, sorry if I hurt your sentiments, and sorry I would continue to do so in the future also, because this series will continue.
Yes I know you are trying, we are trying. Well, try harder. I wish life was as simple as it was in the school days, when we were supposed to be caned in the asses, we were caned in the asses, there were no two ways about it.

Some Hard Facts

2009-02-27T04:31:00.000-08:00

So the Indian Left claims all of their politicians are honest, non-corrupt and concerned with the weak and down-trodden. How much of it is true, however, remains to be seen, or maybe not just seen, to be understood. If I start talking about how much the left has done against India I don't know how many days it would take me to put the complete thing here.
West Bengal, one of India's first developed states has been on its way down ever since the Left started its rule there. Today it is one of the 'developing states' in the country. India's intellectual capital, Calcutta (or Kolkata, whatever!) has produced some of the most brilliant minds for India. It was the capital of the British India once, just get out of the Howrah Station and see it for yourself.
Anyways, I really am not going into that right now. I found out this interesting article about a study done by two of India's well known economists. Go ahead and read it, and as for other stuff done by the Left, let me assure you, there is not one issue that you consider not good for the country that hasnt been advocated, preached and practised by the Left.
Take a look...
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1854623

Please go read it

2009-02-23T07:28:00.000-08:00

Here is something very interesting for all of you to read, and important too. Please go read it...
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/universal-grabbing-commission/426771/

India is NOT a Young Nation

2009-02-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

With 75% of the population under the age of 35 anyone would say India is a 'young' nation. 35% of the population was under the age of 15 (according to a 2004 book, Twenty-first Century India: Population, Economy, Human Development, and the Environment by Tim Dyson), think about it yourself.
I am not the first person who is saying that most of the politicians, leaders, icons India has cannot be called young. So how are we a 'young' nation? Well obviously because the statistics show that. I don't agree.
The Indian Express newspaper published its list of 100 most powerful Indians on 22nd February, and by God was is such a sorry list for me. The youngest in the list was Mahendra Singh Dhoni (aged 27, ranked 23), the captain of India's Cricket Team. The Average Age came to 58.88. Some more facts from the list:
1. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only one under the age of 30.
2. Between 30 and 40 there are only 6 people out of 104 in all. Read the names, Rahul Gandhi(aged 38, ranked 1) Priyanka Gandhi(aged 37, ranked 30) Mirwaiz Umar Farooq(aged 36, ranked 41) Omar Abdullah(aged 38, ranked 37) Sachin Tendulkar(aged35, ranked 47) and Aditya Chopra(aged 37, ranked 87)
3. Between 40 and 50 there are 13 people. Sharhrukh Khan(aged43, ranked 22) A.R.Rahman(aged 43, ranked 27) Vineet Jain(aged 42, ranked 50) Ramdev Baba(aged44, ranked 67) Aamir Khan(aged 43, ranked 72) Ronnie Screwvala(aged46, ranked 75) Sanjay Gupta(aged 46, ranked 76) Zakir Naik(aged 43, ranked 82) Arundhati Roy(aged 47, ranked 90) Kumar Manglam Birla(aged 41, ranked 92) Lalit Modi(aged45, ranked 95) Akshay Kumar(aged41, ranked 97) and Vandana Luthra(aged 49, ranked 100)
It takes time for a person to achieve power, I know, but what worries me here is that in today's India I don't see the scenario changing for at least another 10 to 15 years. The 'system' has grown into such a complex web that it is impossible for young, or middle-aged people to reach the power corridoors.
The policies of the Governments have been 'old' in their nature, have had very little to offer the young generation with. Take for example the Cyber Laws in India. With the world looking upto us when it comes to matters of Information Technology, and almost all the work being done over the Internet, it is a shame that the Indian Cyber Laws stand nowhere as compared to the other developed or developing countries.
The youth does not identify with the so-called young achievers in politics and businesses as most of them are successors to their parents' achievements. While this is a good sign, there are other dangerous trends that the youth follows, of course being oblivious to them.
Its worrying to notice that despite being so different from the older generations, the youth has allowed one significant vice to creep in, that being of 'all talk and no action.'
Talk to any parent today and ask them about the one thing that makes today's kids different from what they themselves were, let's say 35-40 years back. The answer most of them would give is that today's kids r smarter, not just smarter, they r smarter beyond belief. But has anything of real significance actually taken place? I would be accused of being a pessimist to say 'no.' The youth can march for anti-reservation, and take water cannons shots on their chests, all in good spirit, but they have to make a mockery of Indian Democracy by not voting, and, interestingly, being proud of it.
Some students from the Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) formed a political party and saw decent coverage from the print media, that was around two years back. Six months later there were reports that the party split into two factions based on caste issues. After that there has been no news about it whatsoever. You make a Rang De Basanti and it goes off to be a superhit on box-office, but a Yuva fails miserably, why? Because the former talks about 'having a good time' and killing a corrupt politician, and the other talks about working one's ass off and cleaning the system by being a part of it. Choose one for yourself for some 'weekend action' in the multiplexes.
If the armed forces is any sign of how strong and young a nation actually is, the Indian Army itself is short of around 13,000 officers, leave the lower ranks aside. And that too despite regularly advertising all around.
Political knowledge is lacking among the youth, i don't want to sound repetitive, but it is shocking really. I could go on and on, but as a saying in hindi goes, "samajhdaar ko ishara kaafi," meaning: to the wise a mere hint is enough.
Growing young can't be taken as an excuse for not growing mature.

Delhi-6 or Swades-2

2009-02-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

Yeah right!! If you didn't notice you probably didnt pay enough attention. Why did Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra remake Swades? Yes he didn't remake it, he didn't copy it, he probably didn't even have the movie in his mind while conceptualising Delhi - 6. Agreed, but I'm really not ready to accept that he missed Swades so badly tht he went and made another movie which is so similar to Swades, different too, I agree.
Now I won't go on telling you how it is similar to Swades, but yes Delhi - 6 is, and you should watch it and find it for yourself. And if you haven't seen Swades, please don't read any further.
But then you might ask me, if it is actually Swades-like then why go watch it? My point exactly, why go watch it? Just because of Masakkali? Just because it has got a different treatment of the same point?
I would say no, watch it because if you don't watch it and take my word for it then it would be wrong. Go see it yourself, and think why you pay for the same story with just different songs n different actors. And let me tell you, I didnt watch the movie, and I wont unless it is for one reason in this world, and that is very personal, and unmentionable here.
There is nothing wrong in just watching a movie just for the heck of it, just for "enjoyment" rather than finding a meaning of it. That's fine, that's exactly what the Director n the Cast say, "We made a film without trying to send out a message, we just made a good film."
Well, you people made a film, good or not is obviously debatable, and, of course, relative.
And as for the Chandni Chowk flavour in the movie, seen enough stuff on TV already.

... and the Bharat Ratna goes to...

2008-01-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

Lal Krishna Advani must have known it very well that he was sparking an issue which was far beyond the question of Atal Behari Vajpayee getting the Bharat Ratna. Ofcourse Advani would not care whether Vajpayee actually receives it, for in the past people much more important than what Vajpayee is today haven't even got so much as an Advani advocating their contribution towards the Nation's development.
Now, let us have a look at some of the names which make me, if not you all when you read it, wonder if the award be named Congress Ratna. And by 'Congress' I dont mean the political party, I mean the thinking that is 'Congress' in its essence.
1. Mahatma Gandhi didnt get the Bharat Ratna. Any congressman reading this, please tell me why.
2. Dr. Radhakrishnan, however good and non-partisan like he must have been, he still belonged to the Congress.
3. C. Rajagopalachari, however acceptable to the British and elite Indian he must have been, he also was associated with the Congress.
4. Bhagwan Das, here also I'm not doubting anything about the man who was unquestionable, but he was also a Congressman.
5. Jawaharlal Nehru, who would easily be defeated today if any of our media channels conducted a debate to ask the Indians to choose between Nehru and Sardar Patel. Incidentally there is something that would be opposite of what it was in 1947, then the Congress wanted Patel, as the Prime Ministerial candidate, and now the Congress would, well Sonia would, well Ambika Soni and A.K. Antony and the likes would, say that Nehru was the best available person.
6. G.B. Pant, again a popular leader, again somebody I cant say shouldn't have got the award, but then being a prominent Congressman would have had something do with it, methinks.
7. B.C. Roy, a Congressman, and West Bengal's Chief Minister, I'm sure must have done a lot a non-partisan work to get the award.
8.

narendra(baap) modi

2007-12-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

The 23rd of December, 2007 will go down into history as the day when one man defeated all of Indian politics and all of Indian media.
Of course the people knew he would win and that he would continue to serve the state and the nation. Why then did the opposition have this doubt that people might want to vote for the so-called communal harmony ? The answer is simple, the Congress party has become complacent that people would want to see dreams of a state (or nation) where all religions live peacefully (with zero development).
When the campaign for the Gujarat elections began, the media was all set to try and decide to make Modi lose. Anyone who watches news and is not stupid could have seen this very easily. Right from Modi's personal life to the areas of the state where the development hasn't been of the desired (and over-ambitious) level, the news channels set an open war against Modi. Narendra Modi can most easily be given the "Person of the year" award by all the channels, because he is what made them eat bread n butter this year.
What is interesting, however, is that how many of his works are praised by the people in the media. One can recall by giving slight stress on the mind that never did the news channels give credit to Modi for anything good that he has done.
Master divider, murderer, fascist, hitler and other such titles have been given to him by God knows whom. But we come to know that they are all for Modi. What would you expect from a person to whom you are referring all these insolent titles ? Whatever you expect, you at least wish he reacts. But he doesn't, he let's you speak all you want, let's u shout as much as you want, let's you insult him in whichever way you want, and he let's you wait for his reaction.
The funniest thing these past weeks of the election season was this show on NDTV 24x7, The Modi Code. For all those who watched it would know what I am talking about here, for all those who didn't, let me tell. There was Barkha Dutt, and there were all kinds of "experts", people who analyze things when things don't even exist. So ladies and gentlemen, Modi was being analyzed. But wait a second, Modi exists, i know, but not the Modi Barkha (and obviously Prannoy Roy) wanted the viewers to see. One gentleman was analyzing the way Modi wears his specatcles, telling us how he wants to look like he's watching everything. Another thing the gentleman in question analyzed was the way Modi waves to the crowd, and another thing he analyzed was the way Modi wears his dresses, and another thing he analyzed was the was Modi carries himself. There were similar kinds of analysis and there were similar kinds of gentlemen analysing.
Various kinds of public interaction show were organised, each trying to prove its authenticity over others. Every news channel tried to show as much against Modi as there could possibly exist, and often exceeding the desire and showing much much more. At the end of the election season, a few channels are gleefully boasting how the public has showed the world what they wanted to do (and expecting that Modi makes a wrong move, or else they will have to show news to the viewers), other channels however are busy running their campaign against Modi trying to prove it wasn't just for the elections, but the truth.
And for those of you who got used to listening to this, but won't remember it correctly, here goes, "Aaj Guajarat ki sarkar chalaane waale jhuute, be-imaan, dard aur maut ke saudagar hain."

aarzu

2007-12-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

ek chhoti si kahin aarzu hai
kamre mein faili chaarsu hai
chhat nahin hai
na hi deewarein
ek darwaaza hai
chaukhat nahin hai
palle nahin hain
bas ek sikdi hai
meri aarzu ko baandh kar rakhti hai

god

2007-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don't have a mother
I don't have a father
I don't have brothers or sisters
No relations with anyone
No friends, wife or lover
I don't have a teacher
I don't have children
No house where i live
No bed where i sleep
I don't have a telephone
I have no mobile or pager
No yahoo address or orkut profile
Nowhere to go and no social life
I don't have a mind, body or soul
I don't breathe or eat food
No car to drive around in
No scooterette to ride around on
I have no name nor titles
But they call me ... God.

at random

2007-09-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

1. tanhai mein rog purana achcha lagta hai,
dheeme dheeme hosh mein aana achcha lagta hai.

2. jo hua uspe ab main kya kahoon,
shayad aisa na hota to achha hota.

3. kabhi hara kabhi surk kabhi safed,
inse to achha ke yeh chehra zard hota.

haaye re haal-e-dil

2007-07-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

haaye re haal-e-dil
kaisa yeh savaal-e-dil

hum jaaN sambhaaleiN
ya fir sambhaaleiN dil

dekhi meri soorat usne
na dekha jamaal-e-dil

dekho ab jurrat iski
dekho ab majaal-e-dil

siyah raat roshan huyi
jal gayi mashaal-e-dil

meanings
haal-e-dil >> plight of the heart
savaal-e-dil >> questions of the heart
jamaal-e-dil >> beauty of the heart
jurrat >> boldness, daring
siyah >> black, dark
roshan >> ablaze, illuminated
mashaal-e-dil >> torch of the heart

khil ke saman ki tarah dikha do

2007-07-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

khil ke saman ki tarah dikha do;
ek baar mere liye muskura do.

yun kishton mein maar kar kya fayda;
rukh dikha do aag laga do.

kaun kehta hai tumse ke jawaab do;
bas labon ko ek zara hila do.

badal ke rakh do takdeer meri;
sahir ungliyan apni fira do.

kis mitti se banayi gayi ho;
na dikhao na sahi, bata do.

saman>>flower, rose
kishton>>instalments
rukh>>face
labon>>lips
sahir>>magician

dekh lo

2007-06-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

ahl-e-dil ko jhuka kar kabhi nazar dekh lo
kam-az-kam ek nazar kabhi idhar dekh lo

saath raho shab-o-roz hamaare aashiyaane meiN
saath mere tum kabhi seher dekh lo

savaal-e-qaamat-e-ulfat ka kya javaab dooN
kuchh aisa karo, kabhi behr dekh lo

maana dil raqeeboN ke mujhse kuchh bade haiN
zaraa nazariyaa badlo, kabhi jigar dekh lo

ya sogavaar raho murda ulfat ke peechhe tum
ya paas mere aao, kabhi amar dekh lo

meanings
ahl-e-dil >> the romantics
kam-az-kam >> at least
shab-o-roz >> night and day
savaal-e-qaamat-e-ulfat >> the question about the stature/intensity of love
behr >> sea
raqeeboN >> rivals in love, other men
sogavaar >> mournful
murda >> dead
ulfat >> love