Love Aaj Kal!

I happened to read Imtiaz Ali’s interview in Platform_ magazine where he talks about his myriad experiences and his rather “inexperience” of cinema that makes him to show things as they are-real. I can vouch for that considering I loved the pristine quality of dialogues and an amazing sense of realism even in the kind of typical boy-meets-girl love stories-Socha na tha and Jab We Met.

Then he went on to talk about his latest movie Love Aaj Kal which is due to release tomorrow. I am surely looking forward to watch the movie because I really like Ali’s style of direction and also because of the theme of the movie which is about love relationships in today’s times.

Well, this just got me thinking about the theme of the movie itself. I apparently might be the most inappropriate person to comment on love relationships because I have never ever been in a proper relationship. However, as I am a good observer, you might find my take interesting ;)

I am not writing a thesis here but all I feel is that somewhere, the idea of romance itself is undergoing massive reconstruction and the version that is slowly emerging is not attractive at all. The depth and passion is slowly evaporating. We hardly hear of any crazy (good) things being done or small little miracles. May be I am too much of a Romantic but I just don’t see the poetry of romance being translated into the prose of life!

I have often been told about the “rules” of how should you behave when you have just started dating and how there are certain things that you should do and obviously certain things you should never do in relationships and blah blah blah. May be I am born in a wrong era but I hate structures and especially when it comes to your heart, impulse is the only thing that matters.

“Art never comes from happiness”

Few weeks back, one of my friends had just mentioned this quote to me (by Chuck Palahniuk) in passing when we in a midst of a discussion. Somewhere this line just almost got permanently fixed in my heart and I have often found myself pondering over this idea. How far is this true?

There are enough examples in the history to cite that most artists, poets, writers have been shrouded by clouds of gloom for some reason or the other. They have had “complex” lives and often loneliness and not happiness has drawn them to give birth to what they have created.

However, as it is generalising a bit too much. I spoke to couple of my friends who came up with some pretty interesting insights.

One of my friends said that it is not necessarily true. This friend writes extremely well and paints beautifully. Keeping herself in the situation, she said, that she is often compelled to write when she is on her own and somewhere sad but she can’t paint unless and until she is feeling happy.

Another friend gave an even more beautiful picture. According to her, we have a very restricted definition of art and creativity and whatever is outside of that is tremed mechanical. According to her, there is some form of art involved in all kinds of job in the world and thus there is not direct correlation of art and happiness.

As for me, the reason I got so attracted to this idea was that somewhere I could relate to I like moth to fire. I somewhere find myself unable to pen my thoughts when I am happy. And it is really easy to flow ink to paper when I am lonely. There are more beautiful thoughts. I am more inspired to write. However, my art form is pretty much limited to writing so don't know...

What do you think?

The clouds have cleared and yet they precipitate in my head
I bumped into a friend last night who had lost some tears
We smiled and smiled and said nothing at all
There was no laughter,
No chuckle, just a mundane smile
Looking at the road, wanting to die
A numb, merciful death
Giving way to the next generation of smile
Smile which has real mirth
I wanted to love
Love him and all the pain
I sunk into the wall
Let the thought pass through the wall into nothing

Malaysia Diary

A visit to Kuala Lumpur and Taman Negara in Malaysia to attend Sony Entertainment’s press conference and behind the scenes tour for their latest reality show ‘Mujhe iss jungle se bachao’ is an assignment totally meant for a genius like me.

On top of that, god gifted me for all my hard work and dedication when I got to know that my friend Priyanka was travelling with me.

And of course, the trip had to be a riot with two super-cool people travelling together and so it was. So this is a brief version of all the hard work I did for four days for anybody who is interested!

Day one: Reached KL early morning and it was a one hour drive from the airport to our swanky hotel Crowne Plaza. Our guide for the way, Amarjeet, had a pretty good sense of humour. He tried his level best to excite us about the next few days to come and told us how Tandas is the Malay for Toilets, and Thanks you is teri maki...something something which are very similar to the Hindi versions of these words (in some way or the other).

Anyways, after breakfast, two hour nap and then lunch, I was ready to explore KL. The first day was kept for sight-seeing and shopping and that is exactly what we all did. Saw city’s two main attractions Petronas Twin Towers and Kuala Lumpur Tower. Our new guide was pretty pathetic and intolerable. As soon as we announced that we would like to go shopping as sight seeing wasn’t really possible because it was pouring pretty heavily, he seemed pretty mad at us. Anyways, the plan worked! He decided to drop us to a mall after Petronas. After that it was shopping, shopping and some more shopping. Dinner and sleep.

Day two: Left for Taman Negara (130 year old rain forest) early in the morning, where we were supposed to take the jungle tour where the production team is shooting for the show. It was a five hour drive and then a two minute boat ride to reach the resort. Me and Pri bumped into our old friend Sami and then we all basically went mad! The jungle tour was fun..too many steps and too much walking. And I totally loved it! While on the trek, there were thought bubbles near my head that I should be fitter.

The only disappointing bit was that it didn’t rain in the rain forest and I did not see any wild animals in the jungle. Only heard stories about monitor lizards, pythons and wild boar roaming in the resort where we were staying. Went for another random boat ride at night and took some pictures at some desolated god forsaken place and then back. Then giggles, gossip, food, coffee, giggles, gossip and sleep.

Day three: Back to KL in the afternoon after the drive through the greens. Two hours for some sight-seeing (KL Tower) and some coffee at Starbucks before we leave for the press conference at another hotel. Back to our hotel in the night and then to Hard Rock Cafe where we happened to see a local kiddie band perform. Good fun!

Day four: Slightly gloomy in the morning because the trip was finally coming to an end. Had to fly back this evening. However, it was a well spent day. How? Shopping! And yeah, a haircut too.

Confused now, are we?

Confused now, are we?
Losing things in our heads,
Getting lost in the lines,
Questioning the answers,
Walking the way backwards.

Start with the hangover,
End with a drink.
Twirling our minds in the smoke,

Lost now, are we?
Thinking about love,
Talking about false dreams.
The river keeps passing through the house,
We go to the desert and swim.

Keep hearing the name again and again,
Forgetting that it is the most common name.

Broken, are we?
False covers on the books we love,
Beautiful bizarre smiles on our faces.
We walk proud and lonely,
Holding hands while we can.

Weekend!

May be I am stating the most obvious but life is as interesting and boring as one wants it to be at any given time.

Since a really long time I have been thinking about writing something for my blog apart from the poems that is. Initially the plan was to write a satire on ‘Mumbai Cab Drivers’ but after losing the entire draft due to the death of my original C drive, I lost the drive and enthusiasm to rewrite it. Anyways, since I had not done anything inspiring or extraordinary in my life since last few weeks, there was nothing that I could come up with.

Anyways, after being depressed, disillusioned, de-motivated and blah blah blah since last few days, I decided to just take off to my best friend’s place towards the weekend (on Thursday to be precise). And it worked like magic. There were two unique experiences that I had during this stay which symbolically and literally made me realise a lot of things.

Well, to begin with I don’t know how to swim. But I “landed” myself into a pool on Thursday evening for two hours. The whole experience of two hours (walking and almost drowning) in the water was absolutely enchanting. I love water (I know it is high time I learn swimming!). It just made me traverse into an altogether new world!

The second experience was the dance classes that I joined today. After my almost banal existence of four years in Mumbai, I finally moved my ass (pun intended) to do something interesting and fun. When I was a kid, I would always fight with my dad because he used to take us only on imaginary holidays. He used to make full fledged plans, get us excited and then ultimately spend the entire holidays lazing around at home. Somewhere, quite conveniently, I have inculcated his terrible habit. I plan for really interesting things in life. If I ever write down the things that I have wanted to do in life and never done anything about them except in my imagination, it would reach the sky! Anyways, this experience was fabulous. Even though I can’t dance to save my life but just the music, the exercise, the new atmosphere, new people were more than enough to lift my spirits.

PS: Also saw Wolverine over the weekend. Have to say that I ain’t much impressed. The climax was super pathetic with all its clichés and not much action. Hugh Jackman was just alright! No big deal.

New City

It is almost like a start from the end of the lane
The dead end doesn’t open but takes me through it
I am wrapped in a bizarre quilt
Not feeling cold in the very cold land
The walls are freezing and they merge with me often.
I am dazed and yet at my best
Smiling at all that I come across
Awake nights after nights
Meeting the stars in the other land
Out of love, yet soaked in it
Making acquaintances, looking for my lover
Flashes of days passing in a jiffy
The new city seems apprehensive about me
The buildings collapse often
And the towers keep rising
Reaching an epitome of jammed clouds
Still floating and exploring the city