Can You?

Eyes so beautiful that the magic of wet Earth and sparkling green grass lay captive to their charm. To steal a glance and predict the next twitch would be a job I would give my life for, to hold my curved palm and feel the drop hit my lifeline is a wish I have cherished for long, to wilt under that stare and shuffle my feet while a mad search for words to save my face goes on, is what the self has been doing for long. Behold me as I pray for mercy, bewitch me for the period is short, betray me for we have a life to lead, beset me for the battles have been simple, behead me for thats the full stop I want.
So much for a thing of beauty, the poet was right, well .... almost right - Joy forever, he said.
But did he ever talk of brains, did anyone for that matter ever praise her for her mind, ever loved her for her wit, humour, raw intelligence and the capacity to hit back with an elegant mix of poise and panache.
Would you take the challenge, live up to it, praise her for all this, keep your ego in the backyard and yet manage to maintain the meter, capture the soul and pluck the right strings?
If you can, then mail me, if you want to then try and make someone read it, someone who is bruised, dead, buried and foolish.

BLACK

How often does one get to see something like BLACK?

Every single day, all around us there are Michelles and Devarajs fighting their ghory battles with fate, with nature.......with us. Ms Mukherji is imrpoving as an actor with almost every passing movie, she may lack the grace of Nargis or the charm of Madhubala, but she entices with those eyes and a face capable of capturing a wide band of the emotional spectrum. Her's is a part played with sincereity and dedication - almost like a scupltor at work, painfully yet effortlessly essaying the pathos within and the excitement of discovery on the exterior.

Mr. Bachchan had everything going for him but the wig (pardon the frivolity, but the wig just didn't work). The man may not be the greatest actor on the planet but he professes this innate capacity to work magic with his eyes and those long fingers. A bearded face was so so so much needed for the role.

If there is a scene one can pick up from the movie - the first scene in which Rani approaches the church, stretches out her hand and the snow falkes do their work. Surreal and morosely beautiful.

The Joy of Reading Letters

You have nothing to do. You are strolling about your room with a nonchalance you would want to hide from the outside world. A stack of papers in one corner of the cupboard seem to invite you.....you try recollecting their intent as you carefully wipe off the much accumulated dust.

They have not been touched as you have 'matured', grown and learnt to live with emails and cell phones. But you still carry them along, like the only possesions a nomad would want to save. They were delivered to you when you needed them the most. A letter would enchant you so much so that you would read it again and again till you finally decided to stack it up amongst the others. You must be very lucky that you get back to them, that they still form an integral part of your existance. No hard disk space shortage or a connectivity failure will destroy them, they shall not abuse the langauge with ur, lol, rotfl,c u etc. and will get only better with the yellowness of age. A letter is more like an instance of a person you live with all throughout your life. As if the individual speaks to you every time around you rake them up...the yellow crinky pages I mean. Wherever you go whatever you do a band of tangible memories continues with you as long as a smallish pack of can make itself comfy in the gizmotic baggage.

Itni Shakti Humein De Na Data

Man ka vishwas kamzor ho na

Door agyan ke hon andhere

Too humein gyan ki roshni de

Har burai se bachte rahe hum

Jitni bhi de bhali zindagi de.......

Hum chalein nek raste pe humse

Bhool kar bhi koi bhool ho na

Strange though true, every little verse one recited in cold windy morning aseemblies standing in a longish queue have a soothening effect parallel to none other. The innocence of a kid dutifully saying his prayers becasue he believed that otherwise, "bhagwan ji naraaz ho jayeinge" squirms its way through the crass alluvium of age. Aapke bachpan ki kagaz ki kashti aapko rekhaon se maat khane se thodi der ke liye hi sahi par rok zaroor leti hai.........