Thought

Writing for self is the best you can do with your talent!

Masterpiece!!!

আমি

রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

আমারই চেতনার রঙে পান্না হল সবুজ,

চুনি উঠল রাঙ্গা হয়ে

আমি চোখ মেললুম আকাশে -

জ্বলে উঠল আলো - পুবে পশ্চিমে

ফুলের দিকে চেয়ে বললুম সুন্দর – সুন্দর হল সে।

তুমি বলবে যে এ তত্ত্বকথা, এ কবির বাণী নয়।

আমি বলব – এ সত্য, তাই এ কাব্য,

এ আমার অহংকার - অহংকার সমস্ত মানুষের হয়ে;

মানুষের অহংকার পটেই বিশ্বকর্মার বিশ্বশিল্প।

তত্ত্বজ্ঞানী জপ করছে নিশ্বাসে প্রশ্বাসে – না না না

না পান্না, না চুনি, না আলো, না গোলাপ, না আমি, না তুমি!

ওদিকে অসীম যিনি –

তিনি স্বয়ং করেছেন সাধনা মানুষের সীমানায়:

তাকেই বলে আমি –

সেই আমির গহনে আলো আঁধারের ঘটল সঙ্গম

দেখা দিল রূপ, জেগে উঠল রস,

না কখন ফুটে উঠে হল হ্যাঁ, মায়ার মন্ত্রে, রেখায়, রঙে, সুখে, দুঃখে!

একে বোলো না তত্ত্ব

আমার মন হয়েছে পুলকিত বিশ্ব আমির আসরে

হাতে নিয়ে তুলি, পাত্রে নিয়ে রঙ।

পন্ডিত বলছে – বুড়ো চন্দ্রটা; নিষ্ঠুর, চতুর হাসি তার,

মৃত্যু দূতের মত গুঁড়ি মেরে আসছে পৃথিবীর পাঁজরের কাছে-

একদিন দেবে চরম টান তার সাগরে পর্বতে;

মর্তলোকে মহাকালের নূতন খাতায় পাতা জুড়ে নামবে একটা শুণ্য;

গিলে ফেলবে দিন রাতের জমা খরচ;

মানুষের কীর্তি হারাবে অমরতার ভান;

তার ইতিহাসে লেপে দেবে অনন্ত রাত্রির কালি।

মানুষের যাবার দিনের চোখ বিশ্ব থেকে নিকিয়ে নেবে রঙ;

মানুষের যাবার দিনের মন ছানিয়ে নেবে রস;

শক্তির কম্পন চলবে আকাশে আকাশে - জ্বলবে না কোথাও আলো

বীনাহীন সভায় যন্ত্রীর আঙ্গুল নাচবে – বাজবে না সুর।

সেদিন কবিত্বহীন বিধাতা একা রবেন বসে

নীলিমাহীন আকাশে ব্যক্তিত্বহারা অস্তিত্বের গনিত তত্ব নিয়ে...

তখন বিরাট বিশ্বভুবনে দূরে-দুরান্তে অনন্ত, অসংখ্য, লোকে-লকান্তরে

এ বাণী ধ্বনিত হবে না কোনোখানেই - তুমি সুন্দর, আমি ভালোবাসি।

বিধাতা কি আবার বসবেন সাধনা করতে যুগ যুগান্তর ধরে?

প্রলয় সন্ধ্যায় জপ করবেন? - কথা কও কথা কও

বলবেন? - বলো তুমি সুন্দর

বলবেন? - বলো আমি ভালোবাসি

The sham called IPL!!!!!

I quite like cricket and find this entire concept of IPL rather entertaining! It's not exactly cricket that you are watching in here...there are over enthusiastic filmstars, dumb socialites, scantily clad cheerleaders, fancy commentators, and of course top brass players from many nations wearing the same outfit and playing as teams! What money can do! I am no classic cricket loyalist - but this isn't what we have been knowing as cricket since we learnt to fit a descrption to the term! True, Test Cricket might be boring and now with the rapidly decreasing time at our hands, even a one dayer seems long and stretched out. In comparison, a twenty over a side match is faster! But it still is far too dramatized to be called and loved as a game! But its still entertaining - far more than the cliched bollywood films or one of the innumerable shows and award functions that show swoning spectators and off beat stars showing their skills - Live and Exclusive!

This year however, I dont feel much of an attachment with the entire festival - yes, festival it is! Of colours, glamour, style, glitz, and more...the only question remaining how Indian is the Indian Premiere League? Except for the franchisee owners and players who are found mostly to warm the benches? Let's see what we have here - Coaches for almost all the teams, captains for most, management team for most, and top players for most are either from Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. They take decisions and they decide teams - now I wonder how much of an idea they have about cricketing realities in India and the performance of domestic level cricketers to decide on who should be playing and who should not! Strange how even the owners find it more re-assuring to rely on these foreigners to decide the fate of the players, and of the team subsequently. So much so that a comment made by one of cricketing legends regarding a particular theory coined by a particular gentleman (read expert coach) could trigger off a suggestion regarding buying his own team and then deiciding trategies for them rather than commenting on strateies devised by coaches of other teams. Money talks, true - but it certainly does not give anyone the authority, no matter how sought after a star he is, to make this kind of a comment on one of the cricketing legends of not just the country but the world as a whole! Stars, they might be, in thir own field but that hardly brings in the necessity to make them the boss in a field that is not their forte! But true to our basic nature we remain bowed down to the glamourous and the powerful, oh and are we for getting the westerners?

And then to add more to the party, there appears this mysterious blogger, who can be anyone but does divulge a lot of well and better kept secrets of this big, bad party at South Africa! Was just reading through the blog and it appeared rather funny! There is this guy sitting out there pretty close to the teams, perhaps in the same hotels, bitching about them in public and shedding light on things that were hidden and yet known well! In fact whats funnier are the comments put - some appreciative, some critical, and some typical! Now, a blog is an expression of a person's feelings - so if I am writing what I feel in my blog, there should be no reason as to why players should be brought under scrutiny for venting their feelings, frustrations, and more! And for people who are not liking it! Just dont read it! No body asked you to read and criticize somebody...or did they? And if its a blog that we are reading with a disclaimer stating that it involves fictitious characters, why cant we just take it at that? Why such immense insecurity? If you like it, read it - without trying to figure out who the author is, who the characters are, what the incidents are...why cant a piece of writing be read just for the fun of reading? And do cricketers really have a lack in life that they need to do something as frivolous and childish as writing a scandalous blog? Players might not be made to play or to captain sides, inspite of their abilities - but nobody gives anybody the right to raise a finger at such people just because they are stupid enough to figure out who the real culprit is, or are insecure enough to react to a fictitious blog?

IS THAT ALL THAT IS LEFT OF INDIAN CRICKET???????

A day to feel the essence of womanhood!

Quiz: When is the International Men's Day?

A rather strange question, isn't it? Adding a 'Wo' before the Men's could have made the answer easier...oh, aren't we still in the International Women's Day mode? Actually, I wonder if we need a particular day to make us realize how special women are? Doesn't a woman already know her true worth, not the one set by the society around? Perhaps she does not...perhaps it takes a celebration to make her realize what she is worth! An event celebrating womanhood...an award ceremony to award women or repute and credentials...a week long programme schedule with debates and discussions on 'The Role of Women' etc etc...it takes all of these to salute what is so special in women!

I will never forget this teacher of ours who was supposed to teach us a few lessons of FEMINISM...this was about 7 years back, but till date the paradox of her statement is something I couldn't forget! "I was sitting at home...my husband told me 'Why dont you try teaching instead of sitting at home?' and so I started teaching! Startling, isn't it? Wonder what feminism meant to her? Her husband suggesting her to take up something to kill boredom? Or is feminism or Women's Day celebrations all about with short salt and pepper hair, oversized bindis, starched cotton sarees sermonizing about what women should be doing? Post the celebrations...these same women would probably go back home and boast of the day's events to their husbands and await the slightest hint of appreciation in their eyes...after all their wives are doing something worthwhile!

Celebrating Women's Day once a year might be able to make a handful of women proud of their womanhood...but what difference does this day make to the woman who begs by the corner or the road? What difference does this day make to the woman who earns her bread by being a domestic help at one of the short haired ladies' house? What difference does this day make to the docile housewife who is raped like every night by her drunkard husband? What difference does the day make to the prostitute who sells her flesh like every night at the same price? ZILCH, is the answer...it does not! All It does it make us...the generation and the class touched by media, advertisement, publicity, hype and class consciousness, aware that we women need a special day to remember that we are special!!!

International Men's Day, by the way is on the 19th November...sadly they don't need a special day to celebrate their manhood!!!

Gulaal - A Journey...Halt 3

This was the voice that had first touched the hearts of millions of music lovers as she had sung out loud the verses written by Gulzaar Saab that reeked of the Sufi philosophy! Rekha Bharadwaj’s ardent surrender in front of the beloved lord had been a treat as she had sung ‘Tere ishq mein…raakh se rookhi, koyle se kaali, raat katena hijr wali…’ And then they continued one after another…She seems to be picking up from where she left…her last song to hit the masses was ‘Genda Phool’ from Delhi 6 in a style that is so typically hers! A perfect rustic flavour that almost smells of the earth and yet has that naughtiness that leaves a strange smile on the lips…Beedo might sound like a continuation of ‘Namak Ishq Ka’ and it could be…a mujra it is anyway. You wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from tapping your feet or giving that little nudge with your shoulder as she does a ‘Chak Mak Chak Mak’ interspersed with occasionally heavy breathing and sarangis, harmoniums, mridangas, and tablas for company.

Beedo duje thaalika lage bade masaledaar

Man bole chak mak, hai...

And don’t we all know this ever since Amitabh sang ‘Khawe gori ka yaar balam tarse’ in style? What does not belong to us is always something which appears tastier than what we have! A rather infectious song that brings an inevitable ‘thirak’ to your feet, ‘Beedo’ is a welcome break from the other serious songs in the film. And who would ever have thought that it was not uncouth to use a word like ‘bhartar’ in a typical hindi song? How authentic it sounds as she says –

Meethi si kasak chhor ke chala gaya bhartar

Man bole chak mak, hai...

And then the song goes on to give similies that can sound grossly over rated, but think about how creative and imaginative the lyricist has to be to come up with lines like –

Sankat aisa silvat se koi haal bhaap le ji

Karwat aisi doori se koi haat taap le ji

Nikle siski jaise botal ka faag jo ura ho

Dhadkan jaisi chambal mein ghora bhaag jo khara ho

Angiya bhi lage hai jaise sau sau man ka bhar

And in spite of all the chak maks, she does an alaap at the very end of the song that truly reveals the class of this woman! What voice and what style…Certainly not the best song in the album! But most certainly worth quite a few re plays…

Song: Beedo

Soundtrack: Gulaal

Director: Anuraag Kashyap

Composer and Lyricist: Piyush Mishra

Singer: Rekha Bharadwaj

Gulaal - A Journey...Halt 2

Remember the voice which haunted you with ‘Tose Naina Lage Piya Saware’ from Anwar or ‘Khuda Jaane’ in Bachna Aye Haseeno? Yes, the very disturbing and yet soothing voice belongs to Shilpa Rao who rendered her voice for this almost melancholy track – ‘Aisi sazaa’. The sadness and hopelessness in her voice echoes the silence and emptiness around as the sound of rains falling on the ground hits the ears. Close your eyes as you listen to this number and the sound of rains can almost bring the smell of wet earth as the tears which begin to flow unaware of oneself, as Shilpa sings – Palkon ki koro pe baithi nami ko dheeme se pighla bhi do.

The song, otherwise soft and not with too much musical accompaniment, has a rather slow pace and almost reminds you of all the sorrow that hit you unaware, unprepared and unconditionally. A sadness that can set in from nowhere in particular and remind you all the forgotten defeats, failures, and losses that had crippled you sometime, but then got pushed to the corners as a distant memory…it is on a rainy night like this that all that can come back and break your reserve and make you that defeated person once more, as you soothe yourself to sleep shedding the long forgotten tears that you had almost forgotten, existed! What perfect lyrics to express a helpless sorrow…

Jeevan ki raahon mein aana ya jaana bataake nahi hota hai

Jaate kahin hain magar jaante nahi ki aana wahin hota hai

Khone ki zid mein ye kyun bhoolte ho ki paana bhi hota hai

Wo pal abhi waisa hi hai chhoda tha jo jaisa wahin

Neende bhi ab sone gayee raaton ko bhi parwah nahi...

Ye zindagi aisi hi thi tumne kabhi jaana nahi

It is not going to hit you the first time...let it grow and feel the beauty of this sorrow.

Song: Aisi Sazaa

Soundtrack: Gulaal

Director: Anuraag Kashyap

Composer and Lyricist: Piyush Mishra

Singer: Shilpa Rao

Gulaal - A journey...Halt 1

The first sound of trinkets, drums and temple bells, and conch shells can make you sit still for a while before Rahul Ram bursts into a virtual battle cry!

Aarambh hai prachand bole mastakon ke jhund
Aaj jung ki ghadi ki tum guhaar do

Aan baan shaan ya ke jaan ka ho daan
Aaj ek dhanush ke baan pe utaar do…

And what intensity he carries throughout the song! Every word is pronounced with prominence and may be even a vengeance! Not a typical song, it sounds like a mantra that with the most exquisite hindi poetry found rarely in bollywood music. Tracing its roots to the Bhagavad-Gita and glorifying bravery, irrespective of Good or Evil, Mishra calls out to one and all to rise and fight. Supported by Backing music and chorus the song gradually rises to a crescendo and all of a sudden falls to a dead silence…a soft whistle changes the mood only to be shattered once again by lines written with a pen which for all we can make out is certainly sharper than the sharpest sword, Mishra writes –

Jis kavi ki kalpana mein zindagi ho prem geet

Us kavi ko aaj tum nakaar do

Bheegti maso mein aaj phoolti ragon mein aaj

Aag ki lapat ka tum bhaghaar do

Indeed, life is not just a beautiful romantic verse…it is all about the eternal struggle for survival and the challenge of looking at the enemy as well as the new day, straight into the eye…It reminded me of the poems or songs we used to almost internalize during our days of soaking into the ideologies of social activism…one particular being a rather rustic poetry by one poet, Gorakh Pandey, that reads –

Janta ki chale paltaniya hille le jhakjhor duniya…

Hille le jhakjhor...duniya...

Song: Araambh

Soundtrack: Gulaal

Director: Anuraag Kashyap

Composer and Lyricist: Piyush Mishra

Singer: Rahul Raam

Songs

Millionaire??????

OK…So we finally made it to the Oscars! Kudos to A R Rahman for putting up ‘dhols’ and Indian dancers on stage at the 81st Academy Awards. And kudos to Gulzar and Rasool Pukutty too for the smart song that is now echoing throughout the country! Any Indian will feel proud of what these men did and what they achieved.

But on a personal note – it left a rather nagging feeling for me. Sadly, reading the book before watching the movie was not a great idea at all! A few questions that continue to bother me a day after the great feat was achieved remains:

1. Why do we have to go overboard just because he won a couple of Oscars? Weren’t we mesmerized by his genius even without this recognition?
2. Why is it such a great achievement to be recognized by a body that patronizes World Cinema and has been ignoring Indian Cinema since the last 80 years of its inception in spite of masterpieces being created here continuously?
3. Why did Gulzar have to be appreciated for his poetry with a ‘Jai Ho’ which according to me and many more Gulzar fans, certainly does not feature among his best creations?
4. Why does a British screenplay writer need to bare a poverty and dishonesty stricken face of our country in front of millions of movie watchers around the globe and get awarded for that? How many of us actually read the book by Vikas Swaroop, the novelist (who the crew almost forgot to take along for the Oscars) to see what Simon Beaufoy made of the rather nice story? (Just a trivia – the book ‘Q and A’ is now called Slumdog Mllionaire, so much for a Western touch!
6. Why don’t we realize till now that the movie is actually a British Cinema shot in India with Indian character artists, to make it look Indian? Even the hero is an imported one, for heavens’ sake…are there no good actors here who could have played the lead role?
7. Is Poverty Porn all that we are left with to offer or to sell? Is India all about slums, slumdogs, dishonest people, religious riots and crooks?
8. Why can’t a Tare Zameen Par appeal to them? Or a Lagaan? Only because one looks at the middle class – the average India and the other glorifies India over the West (Even if it is in a cricket match)?

And a few pointers here as well –
- No participant on a reality quiz show is ever ridiculed by the host, on screen for being whatever he or she is by profession!
- Slumdog is not the only name by which an Indian street child can be called!
- A star like Amitabh Bacchan would never suddenly land his chopper in the outskirts of Dharavi and give an autograph to a little boy plastered in shit!
- The questions were modified as best a British could, leaving gaping disparity between the way the incident shaped the boy’s life and the reason why he could answer them. The questions in the book and the way they relate to the boy’s life are far more realistic and thought provoking!
- The boy was very secularly named Ram Mohammad Thomas in Vikas Swaroop’s book ‘Q and A’, of course with a rather sensitive story behind it – which was twisted to Jamal Malik and a rather predictable Hindu-Muslim difference angle added to sensationalize the story and add a typical Indian touch to it.

Perhaps this is a one sided theory but as far as I know they are all valid. Now, if with a typical ‘forget it and enjoy’ sentiment we choose to ignore these and bask in the false glory of the success of an Indian Film at the Oscars, well I might as well remain silent and listen to far better compositions by both Rahman and Gulzar in solitude and appreciate their genius!

Just to add…in case you would want to listen to one of the many compositions that truly shows the genius and mastery of Allah Rakha Rehman, listen to ‘Jiya Se Jiya’ from the album Connections.