Thursday, May 14, 2009

On Marlowe's poem!

Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?Asked Marlowe; I did, said I for I agree
It lies not in our power to love or hate,
For will in us is overruled by fateAnd what if fate decides for our love to bloom
Like a morning flower with the first rays of the sun
Than like a thunderbolt that strikes in a jiffy

My sight was not chosen by love nor love by sight
But directed by overruling fate with all its might
I have been asked to love you..
Nd I love you with all will in me..

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Moments!!!

Glaring light..searing heat..dusty roads..parched pathways
Weary.. wooly vision.. unsteady steps.. dazed memories..
Flow of water.. energizing..cleansing.. filling the pores
Overflowing.. pulling.. taking vengeance..
Bone chilling cold.. freezing..powerful.. magnetic..
Struggling.. throwing weight.. not letting go..
Unable..helpless.. losing strength..gasping..
Choked throats.. desire to live..but weight in the soul..
Unable to let go..clear vision for a moment..
Images flashing..memories returning..lips twisting to smile
Flash of light..painless.. rest.. Oblivion..darkness..
Peace..Peace..Eternal peace …

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Reflections

Long time ago, I guess it is for the school magazine, I wrote a passage on aspiration and contentment-that they are two conflicting values. I don't even remember my take on the topic at that time and am not at all sure if it will align with the thoughts of this post. Well, life has changed quite a lot since then. If at that point of time, the inspiration behind the writing was something I read or my own novice ideologies, this time it is experiences in life since then and reflections on them thereafter. Well, you don’t grow up/old for nothing!!
So, is it aspiration or contentment that one should go for? Well, no one can live with just one of those; life would be awfully boring then. It has been and always is a balance that will keep you going and keep you happy, but one's key rests in finding that delicate, fine balance. But at this point of time, if you ask me-is it up to an individual to find his key and unlock the lock, I would say well, it’s written!! It’s written in your destiny!! Can you believe it?! I am one of those people who read the book the alchemist and said that the fundas in that are too much of a fantasy to be applied in real life.
But now, I think I stand corrected myself because I feel the fundas were always right and down to earth, only the application of the funda in the life of a shepherd who was destined to find treasure is fantasy. And what we adapt to our lives is not the fantasy element, but the funda element. And the funda I can relate to most in my life now is the connection between events, people, time etc. It’s all connected. What ever happened in your life in the past is connected to some event that is in the present or in the future. You don't see the connection unless it starts getting a little obvious and you decide to stand back like a third party observer and observe all the events that happened so far in your life and care to find the links.
I had always thought that the 3 years of my college life was over and done with if not for some fond memories and the learning’s. But now I feel, it keeps coming back through the connections it has to my present. What was so relevant then and proved to be futile later happened for a reason and what was irrelevant has become important. And the reason I mentioned is nothing but to facilitate the transition from irrelevance to relevance. It all makes sense!! And now, I think I will find my right key for my lock where the balance between aspiration and contentment lies.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Brand called India!!

Slumdog Millionaire : A very recent movie that caught the attention of the film audience in India and International. Says the story of a love struck youngster who participates in a reality show because of the probability that his lover might be watching it. And the movie element- he wins the show!

The White Tiger: A very recent novel written by an Indian author about a person born in the rural India making it to be an entrepreneur.

Two recent items in news-one is a novel and another is a movie based on an Indian novel. What is common between both? There are two common factors:

First: Both have been critically acclaimed and won prestigious awards. While the author of The White Tiger , Aravind Adiga won the Man Booker Prize, The Slumdog Millionaire won has won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes (including Best Drama Film), and seven BAFTA Awards (including Best Film). The film has also been nominated for ten Academy Awards

Second: The crux or the background of both the works remain the same- an India which is known and familiar to the world. An India which is poverty struck with large population living in slums and underdeveloped rural areas getting exploited by the powerful. Beggary, Communalism and Poverty being the backdrop of all images that is being created about the country.

Why does it sell big? Why does such portrayal of India become so successful, acknowledged and acclaimed in the West??!! Let’s face it, the world like India that way. The image of the emerging super power or the Corporate India does not sell!! It’s like an overnight transition of the brand image. The brand called India sells when it is associated with slums, beggary and poverty rather than with corporate tycoons or the nuclear weapons.

I am not getting in to the controversial topic if India is really so, the accurate depiction of reality or stark contrast. This is been discussed and is quite a repetitive one. But I would like to pose more impartial questions purely from a marketing perspective- Why is that this brand image of India as a third world country still sell so big when our nation builders are making huge efforts to re brand India as the glamorous, young superpower/ Corporate India??!! Is it a marketing failure? A case of unsuccessful re positioning or is it just that the cost and effort incurred in re positioning the brand will take much more time to produce results than envisaged by this brand builders??

Questions are open!! Suggestions, Opinions and Hot debates are welcome!!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Memorable lines

He had already understood that he would never leave that room, for it was already foreseen that the city of mirrors (or mirages) would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men at the precise moment when Aureliano Babilonia would finish deciphering the parchments, and that everything written on them was unrepeatable since time immemorial and forever more, because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.(The concluding statement in the nobel prize winner-One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garzia Marqez)
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine(Casablanca / 1942)


Dear, dear!!! how queer everything is today!! I wonder if i have been changed in the night!!- Alice thought when she emerged in the new world after passing through the rabbit hole. (I have not yet passed through the rabbit hole..But the feelings are mutual)

I don't have an alcohol problem..What I have is a low alcohol tolerence problem. Aysha says to Karan when he finds her all sloshed out(From the book 'Almost Single'. She spoke my words!!!!)

So no one told you life was going to be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA. It's like you're always stuck in second gear, Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.(Friends title song- how can things in my life be explained better??!!!!)


Friday, January 16, 2009

Scene 2: The shores and the eternal wait of the waves

The balmy sea stretched itself until the shore. The slow waves reached out constantly and pecked the cheeks of the shore. For a very long time, the waves were thus trying to allure the shore. It kept pecking the shore, slowly trying to make the shore turn its head and accept the waves into a sweet, passionate kiss. The waves kept coming back only for that.
But the shores were in a deep prolonged slumber. For the shores, the waves were like a cradle; slowly rocking it to sleep and keeping it in the sleep. It felt like a grown up hand holding, consoling and caring for the shore. It kept on enjoying the slumber.. Never bothering to wake up..never caring to grow up..

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Scene 1- The little ones and the tragic death of the young weed

There was a garden in the front yard. A garden that had grown by itself. In the garden, the flowers bloomed in the evening, when the sun rays hit the ground from a slanting position with much of it caught on the green surfaces of leaves. We called it the 4 o’clock flower. There were a few named after the moment when the clock struck 150 degree too. There were all sorts of colors in them. The only identity that one had from the other was its color. Purple was the pleasant one. Yellow was really happy and remained bright all the time. The magenta and white lived side by side too. And one day, among this family of colors grew a weed. Its birth was neither intentional nor welcomed. The weed was an intruder to their private and almost blissful existence. They hated the weed. But they couldn’t do anything about it. All they could do was to stand impassive and see it grow. Then one day, the little girl saw the weed. This was the girl who used to look at the flowers every evening with ardent admiration. She used to touch them, pluck them and at times, just smell them. She had very gentle hands with long fingers. Yet, the flowers were even more delicate. Even if it was a gentle touch, her touch always left them scarred- scarred for life. On occasions when she plucked them, they were delighted to embark on the adventurous journey with her, to roam around with her; but their subtle delicacy would always lead them to certain death within no time. Neither the gentle hands n nor her affectionate glance would help them survive. But for the little ones, it was a trade off. They could look forward to a silent death sometime in the night or a shorter life with excitement.

This time, the girl saw the weed amongst the purples and the yellows and the whites. Her look told the little ones that she was not very happy with it either. They saw the hesitation last only a moment. The gentle hands were stretched determinedly, tightened around the neck of the weed and pulled back with a jerk. It was uprooted. The weed is gone. The little ones were contended at the quick end of their nuisance.

A few meters ahead, almost outside the small garden space, was another weed growing. No one had yet noticed it. As long as a weed did not disturb the visual treat the little ones provided through their colors, no one would bother about the weed. And this one was lucky. It grew older in time and finally one day- it bloomed. The weed flowered too- with a rich orange and red color. And it bloomed in plenty; one could only see the orange and red flowers. No one could see the dusty old weed leaves under it. Soon one day, our little ones saw it too. They were slowly nodding heads with the rhythm of the wind. Their eyes were wandering aimlessly. And then they saw it too.. Another one of the same weed clan whom they detested so badly has flowered and colored.

Only this is so much that I know, but I am tempted to form the opinion that the little ones would have regretted the demise of the former weed. If the former weed was not killed, even that would have been a flowering plant right in their midst adding richness to their already colorful assortment.
P.S: There might or might not be Scene2, Scene 3 etc to follow