Views from a Plane

                                               

Blessed amidst the clouds

Of cotton candy.

The world beyond me

A meandering trajectory of choices.

There is no confusion up here, no choice.
Just an endless kingdom.
Never-ending, distant, stoic
Peaceful.
Makes me wonder
How does it feel to die in heaven?

Gurgaon Chronicles

With gleaming yellow eyes, the rat took a step back and brought out his sword. Those devilish eyes squeaked as I recognized a faint smile lurking behind his moustache. I closed my eyes in horror. Darkness.

When I opened my eyes, I was lying on the floor and the little rodent was staring at me, the same squeaky eyes smiling evilly. Unable to breathe, I closed my eyes again.

The morning after, my head felt heavy. As I got up dreamily, realisation struck; Rats! My PG was full of them. Now I love animals, but to have them licking my food is the last thing I want.

I have been in Gurgaon for roughly 3 weeks now. I still remember the first day I got down on Delhi station, with no idea or clue whatsoever, no hotel or PG, standing amidst a sea of porters and cab drivers, each shouting at the top of his voice. My knowledge of Delhi was based on the news the media presented; most of which revolved around the fact that it wasn't a safe place for women. 

I took a cab to the nearest hotel, kept the luggage and took a Mega Cab to the jungles of Gurgaon. The first time, it was eerie and I was awestruck. After the somewhat lengthy journey, met a PG person who showed me PG rooms for 2 full hours before telling me that they were all full. Then after explaining to him, that I was, in fact looking for a 'vacant' room, I finally got one. 

Cut to PG problems. 

Washroom woes added to an arrogant PG owner and to add to that, I saw a rat playing hide and seek under my tiffin box. But it's been interesting till now.

Met a lot of wonderful people (yes in Gurgaon, imagine that!), saw a big monkey (yay!), made friends, met some stuck-ups, a lot of helpful people and it's all been one exciting adventure till now. 

I guess, you never realise your full worth until you start living alone, solely on your capabilities. And I have surprised myself. I like that.

There's still a lot to do, a lot more to learn but if there is one thing I have realised in these past few weeks, it's this: I'm awesome.

Puchka

The name is Puchka, just Puchka.... Those of you who have had the pleasure of knowing me, know the extent of my popularity. And those who don't, well get to know me. ;)

I'm the hottie your Mom warned you about but we both know you never listened to her anyway. ;)

I am greater than the God- Rajnikanth himself! Now what does that say about me?

Bite into my deliciously warm soft crust. Hear the light crisp sound. Let it stay in your mouth. Now chew it. A tasty site. Now bite again. This time a little bit into my spicy potato filling along with the top crust. The first taste of spicy potato tingles your tongue. A bit of apprehension, a bit of anticipation. But as it melts into your mouth, you feel the lemony sourness, the hot chilliness and the spicy mixture also containing coriander and chick peas. Close your eyes. Allow the taste to linger. You become comfortable in the ecstasy of the multi-layered tastes that explore your taste buds. If this is your first time, don't fight it. Don't be afraid. Let it explore you. And you in turn savor the delicious soft thickness of the potato mixing with the crispy crust. Let the pleasure hold, for as long as you can...

With me, every time is a first time. Don't be shy. ;)

The third time you bite into me, take the remaining morsel in your mouth. There's something about gulping me down at one go. This goes specially well if you take me with tamarind water. The tangy tamarind water mixes with the cheerful potato filling and the austere crispy crust to provide a taste unparalleled in the world. Together we will be too much for you.Even if you are the most daring person in the world, you won't be able to hold me down much longer. 

Dare to?

Try me. ;)

She Be The One (I)

They met. They talked. He was witty and smart. She was simple, lovable. They chatted for hours.

And they fell in love?

Naah...They hated each other.

What?

Enrique: Hey Trish, how r u?

Trisha: I'm fine, Enrique. How are u?

Enrique: am grt! so have u spoiled any1 else's brand new shirt yet? :D

Trisha: What? I told you Enrique, that was JUST ONE TIME. 

Enrique: sure.. sure. so have u sneezed on any1 else 2day?

Trisha: That's it. I'm going.

Nightcrawler: Hey Trisha, 'ssup?

Trisha: Everything was fine NC until I came here!

Nightcrawler: Eh..

                     Lemme read. 

                     Oh..Haha. Hey Enrique stop bothering this nice girl here.

Enrique: not my fault, nc..she cracks me up! :D

Nightcrawler: *controls laugh* Nah..apologize.

Enrique: okay..sowyy trisha *makes puppy eyes*

Trisha: Oh..Okay.

Enrique: Sure? *persistent puppy eyes*

Trisha: Yeah..It's fine. :)

Enrique: good..coz I was beginning to think that you would unleash your phlegmatic powers on me! :D :D
Trisha: !!!!! ?????
          x(
Enrique: :D 
Trisha: :X
           Ok that's it. I'm out of here.
Enrique: *persistent puppy eyes*
Trisha: @$$^&*!


Trisha has logged off.


Enrique: :( 
Nightcrawler: :P u are lucky she was not in front of u. Or else u'd be in trble!
Enrique: Haha.. she's a sweet kid.
Nightcralwer: So she sneezed on somebody?
Enrique: On her Boss. During a Presentation. :D
Nightcrawler: :O omg!
Enrique: She was nervous.


A few days later.


Enrique: Hey nc.
Nightcrawler: Hey Enrique, 'ssup?
Enrique: nuthn' much..bored.
Nightcrawler: aww..I know why. :P
Enrique: huh..why
Nightcrawler: She's not here. :P
Enrique: who?
Nightcrawler: u know, your girl...
Enrique: Which one? :P
Nightcrawler: You know, the one from India...
Enrique: :/
Nightcrawler: So you attending the international chat forum meet next month?
Enrique: eh...dunno. 
Nightcrawler: u know, she might be there... ;)
Enrique: who again?
Nightcrawler: oh..c'mon..you know who.....
Enrique: well, am a bit busy. have to do a lot of work. let's c

Nightcrawler has logged off.


Enrique: oh shoot... at least tell me where the meeting is taking place.!


Next month. Spain. Madrid.


The Hotel Villa de Vincci was one of the most renowned hotels of the city. The registered members of the International Chat Forum were to meet at a special event tonight. The ICF had thought this would be a great idea for the members to interact one on one; some of them had known each other for over a year. The members were supposed to wear a tag of their nick so that the others could identify them.


Trisha aka Akangsha had come to Madrid for the first time, exclusively to attend the seminar. Just the seminar? Well we don't know yet. At least that's what she said to her conservative parents before flying off solo to Madrid. Her uncle stayed there so her parents had to agree reluctantly. Akangsha knew however that without her uncle, her parents would have never agreed.


"So exactly where is this meet?" Her uncle had asked her when she arrived.


"It's just near Puerta Del Sol... you know there is a monument and a statue....it's walking distance to the old Post Office..." she mumbled.


"Honey..no use throwing these names to me, I have been here for ten years. I'm not leaving you alone in an unknown city. After all, you are my responsibility now. What will didi- jijaji think? I will ask the driver to drop you. And he will be present to pick you up when you are done." He was firm.


Trisha sighed. And here she thought she would get the chance to roam an unknown city alone. What an adventure it would have been! :(


Elsewhere in the city.


A dark small one bedroomed flat. An alarm clock rang heavily.


A long hand lazily came out of the blanket and thumped the clock shut. It picked up the clock and pulled it under the blanket.


"Oh shit I'm late!" A cry of disbelief came as the blanket was thrown away. A half naked figure crept up. He was tall, fair, had hazel eyes and dark curly hair. "I don't wanna be late..may be she'll be there.." 


Enrique aka Aaron was a late riser, an even late sleeper but brilliant in making computer games. He composed himself. What? No no. He was going for the thrill. Right?


He looked at the mirror opposite his bed. Sleepy eyes stared back at him.


He got up and proceeded to be ready. Tonight he had to look his best.

                                                                                                           (to be continued)

Poetry that Speaks

dated 14September 2010

Finally a wave of fresh air. Our HOD announced with the utmost of strictness that if we did not attend this seminar, she will stop arranging seminars once and for all. Now seminars happen all throughout the month in the Dept. Of Comparative Literature but few of us ever attend them. When I joined this department, I had the good intention of attending almost every seminar that took place. However over the weeks, months, years, a lethargy (JUites refer to this as "lyadh khawa") grew and the seminars did not do anything to help. I mean while some of them were pretty good, most of them constituted of boring university professors who did nothing more than read from their typed papers. 


Sometimes they were not even audible or clear enough! And they expected us to attend those seminars! In the midst of these event-less and dry seminars, we had a sudden wisp of fresh air when a certain poet from Malta came to lecture. His name is Cassar, Antoine Cassar. And I know, I make it sound like Bond, James Bond. But you guys should know that this post is going to be about this awesome man with a flair for the dramatic (at least that's how it seemed when he recited his multilingual poems).


He began by saying that his seminar was to promote his book, Passport which was a compilation of multilingual poems. Multilingual poems are poems written in more than one language. As a student of CL, I have always been intrigued by , how to say it, "joint ventures". So naturally this intrigued me. He began by saying he will not give us a series of boring lectures but simply read out some of his poems. His first poem was "Rabbit". He told us that we wouldn't understand all the languages employed to write this poem but we should simply go with the flow. 


And it was... beautiful. The way he used different words (of different languages) to describe the sprinting, hopping and graceful jumping of the rabbit astounded us all. Who would have thought that so many different languages could have such similarity-- and that too in merely describing the sprint or hop of a little rodent? 


And then he went to a poem from his book, Passport. It dealt with the tragic life of an illegal immigrant, who is speaking to a guest. The poem begins in the words of this immigrant who welcomes this guest. The word 'Welcome' alone was written in more than seven languages. Then this immigrant begins telling his story to the guest. He explains how they were a happy family with his wife and thirteen children. But one day they found their younger son lying on the field, his leg beside his hand. This sudden description of violence jolted us all. The room was full of students as well as eminent professors and all of us got a big shock. 


The fact that this meek hospitable immigrant could speak of the violence meted out to his family so naturally astounded us all. But violence was a part of his life and so it was natural to him. The poet goes on with the poem where he talks of the other children in this immigrant's life. The poem concludes with the immigrant saying that he has been living in that piece of land for so many years, and then suddenly one morning, armed officials came to inform him that this land,was no longer his. "What am I supposed to do?" he asks regrettably. Reminds one of the days of Partition. People living in a place for years were suddenly asked to leave their homes as that place was no longer "their country" and all because the heads sitting in New Delhi drew borders with sketch pen on a paper map!


Mr.Cassar also went on to talk of the violence he had seen immigrants face. In his own words, he was form Malta which is a small country in Europe. But during his lifetime he had had to move a lot between England and Spain. This had also led to his interested fascination for multilingual poems. He spoke of the thousands of African immigrants who cross the hottest Sahara Desert every year, sometimes by jeep but most often by foot, so that they can enter Europe via Malta. 


Sometimes, these immigrants are captured by the Maltese border force. They have to spend a year in judicial custody after which the government decides whether to send them back or allow them to stay. Most are allowed to stay. But sometimes they are sent back. Once they were sent back to their African nation and the government of that African country ordered the killing of all those civilians. Their fault: They had fled the country because they did not want to join the military, against the government's wishes. All 100 were killed. 


Mr. Cassar also went on to speak about the harassments he had to face because he was from a small nation. With his light hearted touch of humor, he enacted two Bolivian guards who deliberately delayed his permit to the country because they had never heard of his country before. With a deep-set pain somewhere in his voice, he talked of the plight of belonging to a "small" nation; something that Indians will probably never have to deal with. His book Passport, was an attempt in this respect to envision an world, where people would matter more than sketch pens and paper maps; a place where people could travel and communicate freely to each other without any fear of getting shot. Which is precisely why Passport is a book of multilingual poems. 


I realized that multilingual poetry was the next step of Comparative Literature. In a world where single literature disciplines have been deemed grossly inefficient of studying cross culture contact, may be literature written in more than one language was the only way we could finally develop a more harmonious way of looking at cultures. Keeping the multilingual and multicultural context of India in mind, multilingual literature becomes all the more important. The seminar left us a lot of food for thought and made us smile long after it had ended...

The Last Kiss

     

It was the onset of my last semester exam. I had just returned from a trip to the mountains. A friend studying in film school messaged me saying that she wanted me to play the lead in her next film. Ami Toh Sunei Attohara ('Listening to this I was overjoyed'). I held my breath steadily for the rest of the exam. What fun! Me acting in a movie! Wow..That had been a dream, since like a decade! I have always wanted to direct movies. The creative potential of the director always intrigued me. It also occurred to me that if I could not be the director, then at least I could be an actor, as then I would be able to actually act it out...So I waited. With patience. 

I asked my friend twice about the script and she said she would work on it as soon as she was finished with the heavier stuff. So I waited. With Bated Breath. After that, the time came. My friend met me one day to narrate to me the script of the movie. I listened quietly. The role was so intense that I could not say anything immediately. Just my kind of role; the kind I would love to do. And thus began our work.

We sat with the script one day. Another evening, I spent around 2 hours in the university acting out my role and discussing with her. One Saturday several still shots were taken. Further discussion was made with my co star. And shooting began from Monday. It was scheduled to happen for only two days, that is, Monday and Tuesday (Jan 10 and 11, 2011). Call Time was 6 am. :D Big Laugh. For any of the ones who know me, this is a big joke! I CANNOT ever get up early in the morning. 


As a matter of fact I am always late for my morning classes! My friend, the director knew this very well. So she chose to call me at 5:20 am! I opened my eyes, saw the phone ringing and strove to pick it up. But the ringing had stopped. And I chose to concentrate on the next best thing- trying to wake my mother up with whatever little sense I had so that she would in turn wake me up properly! (Yes I can be a very spoilt child st times. :|)

My Director called me up 20 times after that. I did not pick up the phone. Mostly coz of the fact that I was busy getting ready for the shoot and partly because I was scared she would shout at me. I said I would be at the shooting spot by 7:30 am. I was only 15 minutes late, which is acceptable by me. My Director knowing me inside out told me very directly, "Call Time is at 6 am. When will you be able to come?" I almost burst out laughing. So anyways I went on the shooting spot and soon I discovered that I was being treated like a star...It was amazing. 

Here I was sitting in the sun giving some expressions and there were bright young people with camera, sound and a bunch of other technical stuff who were doing a whole lot of physical and mental labor and I was the Star! I also discovered that even if there are two scenes in a movie, all those scenes have at least 50 shots which makes it all the more painstaking. I might be doing the same action over and over again but they take it from at least 5 different camera angles. Combine this with the sound systems and the technical snags that happen and film making is one hell of a project! I vowed that I will not act in movies ever after this project! Needless to say though, it was tremendous fun. Got to know a lot, see a lot.


The first day came to a halt. Ah finally. Sweet Bliss. I asked my Director friend when will it GET OVER? She smiled. She knew that one day of shooting was enough for me. 


The Second Day.


We prepared for a tough shoot. The final shots of the climactic scene had to be shot today. This was shot in the highest point of the college building. The Roof. It might sound very simple but it was not. We had to climb the stairs to a terrace of the main building. From their we took spiral steps only to come to a roof on an even elevated level. To reach that roof, one had to traverse through a couple of narrow cemented steps that did not have any railing. getting up was fine; it was coming down that made my heart skip a beat. Literally. So from that roof we had to go round till we came to a ladder- well not really ladder as it had a strong iron railing to go get up to the roof where the finale was shot. 

The roof was similar to the one in 3 Idiots, though the shots and frame are different in this movie. The director lost her cool and so did I during this part of the shooting. The only two people keeping their cool were my co-star and our cinematographer. My esteemed director became frustrated and threw away her notes and shot synopsis. The crew was scared to death of her. The rest of the shots progressed as they should, lots of edgy interactions between me and my friend. By the end of the shoot, I was extremely irritated and she was completely exhausted. And thus ended our extremely eventful shoot. :P 


Waiting to see the Final Print Out. 

The Reign of Dark

I am walking through a lonely road. Columns of trees stare like a giant down on me. It is night. The trees are black, dense and their leaves are fluttering, as if conspiring with each other against the wind. I walk alone, a solitary figure among these demons of darkness. Suddenly there is a noise. I look back but see nothing. I keep on walking. But the noise comes again. I stop. I listen intently. Ssshh......The leaves flutter. The leaves whisper. The trees speak. Behind me are hooded figures. They talk softly. They do not notice me. I hear one of them speaking doubtfully, "Tonight another one has to be sacrificed". The voice is heavy, like that of an old man. I suddenly realize that this is one of my elderly neighbors. The others also seem very familiar, I can recognize them, they are all the elderly neighbors of my colony. Suddenly it strikes me. This is not some unknown place in some unknown world. It is one of the streets outside my housing estate. The road is awfully quiet and there are large columns of trees on both sides. It is night and I am in this road. Whaa? How did I get here? My thoughts are interrupted when I suddenly see an old man snatched away by the wind. Only it wasn't a wind. It was a giant branch.. of a tree, that was up in all furor. The old man was not dressed in hood, it seemed as if he had been kidnapped right from his sleep. I could not see his face properly. But I felt a chill of fear down my spine. The hooded figures began to conspire about who to send next. I see the branches of the trees moving. All around me the trees are walking with their roots. They begin to get denser, the foliage grows blacker. The darkness of the night mixes with the darkness of these giants. I feel something tickle me from behind. I look back. It is a branch. I stop dead in my tracks. God, what would happen now? There was no use running, the branch would snatch me away too. The branch begins sensing me with its tip, going up my stomach to my hands. It is soft, almost like a feather. It itches. My skin flinches. And it is exactly at that point that the branch becomes sharp and cuts my hand. Blood begins to trickle. I am desperate. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. But I have to escape. Escape from Death. And it is at this point, with a desperate attempt that I open my eyes...

It is dark outside. Little diamond droplets of rain fall relentlessly. I heave a sigh of relief.

Cute Guys

So what's wrong with the Almighty Creator? Why does he have to make beautiful girls all around but no good looking guys? You know how it goes? Good looking guys are not nice. Good looking nice guys are committed. And good looking nice single guys are gay. :(

It's so hard to find a good looking guy who would also be a good conversationalist. Most of us have to prioritize on one or more of the features if we want to "like" a guy. So imagine my surprise when after waiting for about 4 and a half years on the university campus I genuinely found not one but several cute lovely looking guys!! Imagine my surprise, my hysteria! It was as if I had found a diamond in the rough. At least I was so smitten by them when I found them on one of the social networking sites. I am jumping, jumping, jumping now! Yuppieee!

Rukte hain kahan hum roke se

Chalte hain hawa ke jhonke se

Apni toh aisi hai zindagi

Yehi apni adaa hai kya karein

Koi bura jo maane kya karein

Humse toh hai khafa ab sabhi

Jaane do chodo bhi

Talking of cute guys, I dreamed of an old flame today evening. Well okay fine, I have a thing for cute guys. And he was cute. And cool. Absolutely thanda thanda cool cool. Which is what I liked about him. But I dreamed of him in relation to death. I guess the reason for it was that I was reading a novel where the main character had just died. And the father of one of my students had just expired. So when I woke up, I was left with a nagging feeling of why I dreamed of him in relation to death. So anyways, it's always nice to find a cute guy in real life (considering all of them are mostly found in movies or serials: from leos to shahids to aijaz khans to amit varmas). So yes, right now I am ecstatic..regarding these guys. It never hurts to see a cute face staring at you ..blah blah blah..you get my drift. Particularly cute guys make me feel happy when I'm in a sour mood. So that's what I do when I'm in a bad mood or need some entertainment.

When it comes to movies or serials, I can list a series of names when it comes to cute guys. But I won't bore you with that list. Cute guys- are mostly young guys, even if they are old...they should have a younger charm about them. Leo is probably the best example in this respect. And to talk of Indians, who can forget Shahid and Ranbir? Truly they are the present heart throbs of Generation Y. And when it comes to Hollywood, need I even mention a list? It is always full of hotties and cuties and both!! Take for example, Steven Strait. The charmer charmed everyone with his magical powers in The Covenant.

When Leo acted in the Titanic for the first time, people around were really surprised. They had seen this guy act before but Titanic was definitely one of the turning points in Leo's life. One that made girls sit up and notice him and he was to become the blue-eyed boy of Hollywood for a long time to come. However Leo never limited himself to romantic roles. Rather he kept on taking up different challenging roles that explored his acting abilities right from The Gangs of New York to Catch Me if you Can.

Well, happy cute guys inspire cute happy posts. Pray that the Almighty creates more of these startling precious pieces! :P

Worse than Death- (II)

There are some things worse than death. She knew. She sat thinking. A hatred consumed her heart. An anger. Her love was not enough for him. But did he know that she could do anything for him? Anything? She laughed. Like a maniac! She never wanted anything from him. But she could give all she had to him. She could annihilate herself in the fire of his love. He had already taken away her power to love. She hated him for that. She could not love anyone any more now. All because of him. That deep tender feeling in her heart had turned into a brown bleeding wound. It had bled so much that she couldn't feel anything any more. It was numb. She was scared to feel the pain.

Yes, she decided. She would do that. She would annihilate herself for his love. And the best part? He wouldn't even know. He would never know! Her anger for him turned to herself, her body. She remembered about those "things". One such thing had brushed over by her when she was a child. She was terrified. But, now she decided she would feed herself to those things. Let them do things to her. Bad things. She shuddered. But she wanted to punish. She didn't know who. But she wanted to feel the terror, she wanted to feel the agony. May be that would erase the pain of this loss. Or not.

She would destroy herself. She decided. The very realization of what she was about to do made her shiver. She laughed maniacally. Yes she would do it!! No one would be able to stop her! He did not realize how much she loved him. Now she will show him what she can exactly do for him! It should be fun.

She wandered down the dark gates of Hell. Beyond those gates were the "things" waiting. There were 12 of them. They stared at her- a petite figure coming their way. They formed a semicircle. She went inside and the circle closed in on her. Their fingers were only skin and bones with long nails. They had a hood over their head. They wore long black robes. None of their faces was visible. Except their hands. Thin long hands with long fingers. That slowly laid upon her now.

The first touch. Icy. Cold. Explored her body. She shuddered. She remembered the first brush of such a "thing" when she was a child. How it had scared her then! And now there were twelve of them. Hovering around her. Touching. Exploring her. Her parts. The first fingers ran over her slowly, carefully , as if surveying the softness of a new born puppy. Soon, they increased. They went deeper and deeper into the flesh. She felt polluted. Disgusted. Would her prince come and save her now? A little flicker of hope rose up in her. May be he had realized. May be he would come. Any moment he would be here now. Please, please let him be here, she prayed!

The hands kept on exploring into still deeper crevices. She pulled her soul closer to herself. She couldn't let these pollutants corrupt her soul. But how far would she pull herself away? They turned and twisted her flesh. They gnawed, bit and sucked at her. Blood came out. They drank it. She was still alive. The pain was twitching. There was a buzzing sound in her ears. She closed her eyes. The Master asked the others to stop.

He bent down over her and slit her parts open with his hand. Blood oozed out. He drank it. She lay there, feeling enormous pain but not uttering a single sound. Then he emptied his load into her. The final nail in the coffin had been stuck. The "things" left. She just lay there, lifeless with torn shreds of garment still adorning her bloody reaped apart body. Her soul had been robbed of but she was still breathing.

He didn't come.

Worse Than Death-(I)

There are some things worse than death. She knew. The horror. The pain. The trauma. She used to be scared. Of those things in the dark. That were worse than death. She had no one to protect her. She used to protect herself from those dark creatures that moved about in the garb of light. Until...he came.

He was a soldier of light. Different from her. She preferred darkness. Light scared her. Light with its laughter. That mocked her. He drove away her fear. Laughter need not always mock, he said. Laughter can also be happiness. She did not know what to do. He was her sole connection with Light. Should she trust him or not? But something in her heart told her to believe him. Led her towards the soldier of light. She had never listened to her heart before. Then why now? Why believe this stranger all of a sudden? She had no answer. But blinded by the sudden gush of light that the soldier brought in, she followed him.

He led her through beautiful mountains, rolling streams and green valleys. They flew over white clouds. Blue Sun, Yellow Sky. The geese flew by their side. Everything was bathed in light. She was timid. But beside his warmth, she felt strong. She wanted to hold on to him forever. But suddenly there was a Fall. She fell. Down and down she went. Tumbling down from the Elysium, she fell to the Nethers. Suddenly there was no light! The sudden change from light to darkness blinded her eyesight. She thought it was a dream. A bad dream. She rubbed her eyes. She sat up. Dark bleak caves surrounded her. She imagined her prince coming down. She was confident. He would come down to save her! She just knew it!

Ugly creatures surrounded her. They mocked her. You left us for him! Now he's left you! Never!! She screamed. He was not like them, she protested with all her might. He would come and take her away any moment now. She waited. And waited. Nobody came. Her faith was not shaken. She knew he would come. For days she lay like that in that darkness. Finally one day she decided to meet him. Ignoring the ugly mocking of those ugly creatures, she turned to Light. Once again. She went in search of her prince. The soldier of Light.

The world of Light seemed cold now. Without him by her side, she felt unwelcome. She much preferred the anonymity of the dark. She also saw those things. Those dark things that moved about in the garb of light. But light all around her protected her from them. She searched for her Prince everywhere. There he was, sitting by the Elysian Fields. She ran up to him. Hugged him. Kissed him with her tears. Where was he? Did he not know she was alone? Did he not know how much she had missed him? He was nonchalant. Indifferent. Cold.

His coldness struck her heart. That warm tender feeling in her heart was being threatened by his icy stare. He seemed opaque. Distant. She could not touch him. She shouted out to him. He didn't respond. Her hand..it could not touch him any more. He looked at her. Indifferent. Rude. Who was she? What was she doing here?

She refused to believe what she saw. May be he did not remember. So what. She was his..friend, she tried to remind him. He didn't remember. She explained all the beautiful journeys they had been on together, through clouds, over mountains, rivers and green valleys. The blue sun and yellow sky! He laughed. How can the sun be blue? It was impossible. She told him she loved him. He said it had all been a dream. None of it was true.

She went silent. Inside she was still trying to convince herself that all of it was real. This....this moment was a dream...a nightmare. He could not be like this with her. She told him she had loved him all this while. Why did he not understand? Hadn't he felt the radiant warmth between them? He hadn't. But...but he brought her out from darkness. He made her feel the warmth of light. How can he not feel it? He did not answer.

She was lost. Confused. But..but it had been so real. How could it be a dream? What she felt for him was real. Couldn't he see that? That warm tender feeling inside her heart..that surely could not have been a dream? Or was it? She was terrified. What would happen now? She..could not go back to the Nethers. She had no one to stay for in the Elysium. She had nowhere to go. He had left her. Abandoned her.

For some time she remained drowned in her misery. She had nothing to give him. Except love. But that was not enough. Why was that not enough? Why? Why? Why? He had melted her heart. Taken away all her love. Now she was squeezed dry. She couldn't love anybody. Not any more!

(to be continued)

Tintoretor Jishu

Ah..it's been such a long while since I had watched a Feluda movie. I hated Bombaiyer Bombetey; found it monotonous and boring. But today I saw Tintoretor Jishu. It was looovveeelllyyy! Goenda Pradosh Mitter is back! What style! What restraint! What voice! What personality! Abar notun kore jyano feludar fan hoye gelam..It had been such a long while since I had read the book. The film was fresh..so much better than the bloody ghoulish action movies they show in Hollywood! Aah...I guess we Bangalis always have a soft spot for indigenous material..whether it be food, music, movies or even...cricketer! I really liked the presentation of the movie. Oddly enough I am reminded of Christian Bale in Equilibrium while talking about Sabyasachi's restraint! And before you bring my attention to the line above, "No, Equilibrium is not a B-Grade bloody ghoulish Hollywood action movie, it is pure genius!" Bale's best work till date! Anyways this post is about a Bangla movie, a refreshing change from Hollywood and Bollywood movies so let's only talk of the Bangla movie here. As they wanted to preserve the original flavor of Feluda, so they kept him away from mobiles and computers. Feluda knows how to handle these things but he does not use them most of the time. I should say that gave a very contemporary vibe to the movie while preserving its original flavor! Feluda relies more on his "Mogojastro" rather than physicality to solve his crimes. But this was changed in the movie. And my dear Feluda is so apt and so agile in the fight sequences...I am thinking of thinking of him romantically. Difficult since you have grown up with him as FeluDADA but hey, what the heck, right? ;) Ahh..Joy Bangla! Kotodin baade akta bhalo Bangla chobi dekhlam! Wish more such films would come our way.

The Class

She was sitting in class. All around her were loads of people. It was hot. And suffocating. So many people, the air in the room was stuffy. She couldn't breathe. Suddenly the teacher asked her a question. Sh*t! She had not studied. She looked here and there for the answer, staring into vacant space but could find nothing. She tried to breathe but the hot air stuck to her lungs, burned them suffocating her further. She tried to get up for some fresh air but she felt her legs give way. Balancing her hands upon the table she tried to get up again. She looked down. The front of her white shirt was red. Bloody red. Red was the color of her bosoms. Blood was trickling down the shirt. She trembled. What had happened? She didn't know. She looked around. The whole classroom was filled with hoards of familiar yet unknown faces. They stared up at her. None said anything. She trembled. Her legs gave way. Her hands shivered. As she fell down, she saw the host of unknown faces close in around her and completely overtake the little stretch of white air visible above her head. Soon darkness surrounded her and she surrendered.

Fly to Space All The Way!

And finally it is here! The dream of dreams, the vision which many of us have grown up to but could hardly think to achieve in real life- you can now pay to visit space! The first paying space tourist was Dennis Tito, who visited space nine years ago on a Soyuz rocket and stayed for seven days at the International Space Station(ISS). Though probably many might say it was easy for Tito who was a US rocket scientist before making a fortune through investment management. Being a passenger of the Russian space agency, Tito had to pay as high as an eight figure sum (some report around $20 million) for the privilege!

The cost was high and the number of seats limited; so in the past decade only six tourists had made it to zero gravity ground. But the story is different now. Reports say that by 2020, the space tourism industry could be a 700 million dollar business. For $200,000 every visit, you can now book a seat in the spaceship of Virgin Galactic, a company taken to heights by its billionaire owner, Sir Richard Branson.

Will Pomerantz of the X Prize Foundation, an institute that arranges for competitions to encourage commercial space travel says, "People grow up just fascinated by space travel. There are primitive emotions and instincts that drive people to it. It's loud, it's sexy and it is in some senses dangerous, so it gets a lot of people excited. But the people who got into this as a hobby are starting to realize that it needn't be just that."

Around $45 million has already been taken in by Virgin Galactic to reserve seats for spaceflights. Among the famous faces who plan to be on the first flights are Hollywood director, Brian Singer and former Dallas star, Victoria Principal.

The six passenger spacecraft called the Virgin SpaceShips (VSS) is the best funded and most advanced of the space tourism ventures. Burt Rutan, winner of the 2004 X Prize with Prototype has developed this space ship.

The VSS Enterprise will carry the passengers to an altitude of about 50,000 feet while being attached to a mothership. Then it will launch the rest of the way into space. The Independent reports, "Last Monday, both mothership and Enterprise flew up to that height together in a maiden test flight."

Other companies creating space ships for commercial space travel include California based Xcor, Armadillo Aerospace and Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame. Google is also reputed to fund an X Prize in order to send a robotic rover on the moon' the first commercial venture of a kind.

Looks like, holidaying in Mars and spending weekends in ISS are just years away!

Courtesy: The Independent, London

My First Steam Bath..... and May be the Last One Too!

For those of you who have been to steam baths, don't laugh. I had my first steam bath experience recently. Now I don't really do well with hotness, fire and all of those things. A very timid person by nature, I however also have a taste for the unknown, the adventurous.

Now you can well guess what it comes to when you have such a combination of both extremes in a person. It is always "To be or not to be", that is the eternal question. So after many days of hesitation I finally picked up the courage to take a free steam bath that I had on my gym receipt.

Enter the steam room. Smoke, smoke, smoke everywhere! I was scared it might be a fire! My first instinct was to run. But ah..no, I am brave, Brave girls don't run. Shit. I tried to recollect all the good things told to me about steam. Your face would glow, fat would be shed, blah blah blah! Who cares? How do I breathe? There is no oxygen mask here. Probably they should have kept one here.

So I open the door and peep outside to catch my breath. Again I close the door. Steam is supposed to be good, I tell myself. Therefore suffer in silence. Suddenly there is an abrupt noise. The steam stops completely. I get scared. What now? It resumes again after a short while. Accha ok, so this is how it goes. After three such intervals, I decide I have had enough of "Hotness". So consoling my mind about the few hundred pounds I had shed (:P) and the new "glow" on my face, I come out of the steam room.

P.S: A word of caution for all of you who have never been inside a steam room: It is literally STEAM! It is hot and it is water. It is not smoke, there is no fire. But don't forget to take oxygen masks while you are inside! :P

A Few Words on Him- The Man!

So I was about to write another post based on darkness- about a film I saw last night. Let’s see may be I will. But right now I am more interested on writing about this awesome actor whose movie I saw today. Guess who? This post is completely dedicated to him.

So there is this actor who goes on keeping a good boy image, is awesomely cute but at the same time has become incredibly hot. Yes people tonight I talk of the one and only Shahid Kapoor. This cute boy next door has come to occupy a renewed respect and the next level of admiration from me. Yes that's right, I watched Kaminey tonight!

Now where do I begin? The movie was good, nothing to say of Vishal Bhardwaj's splendor, but truth being told, I am not much interested in the story line. The main topic of this article is Shahid's hotness. And where should I even begin? He's not just a pretty face out there, he's also a tremendously powerful actor. And such a great actor with such a wonderful body that even the most self possessed people can become orgasmic.

Two of them, there were two of them! And I still cannot believe it! What would I do if two Shahids were handed down to me? I would stay awake all night and may be next day too, lol, what else? After all one night would not be enough for TWO of him, right? This is not a 'light' related post. You know what I liked about Kaminey the most? The film had a darkness to it.

Dark locales, dark people (and I don't mean the skin complexion), dark colors were an asset to the film. I believe this is the first "dark genre" movie of Shahid I have seen. At the time when Kaminey was being showcased on Colors, they were showing Vivaah on Zee Cinema and Kismat Konnection on Bindaas. Four Four Shahids! God! But I noticed one amazing difference between Kaminey and these two other movies.

The other two movies showcase Shahid as a bright, charming good guy while Kaminey was dark by its very appearance. Even Guddu who seemed to be like the sole innocent representative of light comes from a dark background (his father was arrested by police and committed suicide). Darkness + Two Shahids- anyone got a more powerful aphrodisiac?

Come to Charlie! OMG OMG OMG!! Lord Saveth the People! I thank the Lord for creating such characters (or should I thank the scriptwriter?). Charlie, the so called mean guy who turns remarkably passionate for his brother by the end of the movie, such that the audience which was more sympathetic towards Guddu, cannot help but feel bad when Charlie is shot. And how happy I felt when I saw he was alive! Imagine Charlie on a bed of chocolate( courtesy: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!). Sorry folks, I could not help but digress! But question is, would you not like it? ;)

By now you must have realized that I was watching Shahid more than the movie. Bhardwaj could have starred other actors and then probably I would have concentrated on the story more than the hot actor! :P Or may be I would not have seen the movie at all! :P

Let's see, should I stop? I could go on and on about how hot I think Shahid is but oh well, what's the point? You know he's hot, you know he rocks! And I hope he's not bisexual. And I hope he did not have sex with Ken Ghosh for his first movie. I really hope.. I have plans of marrying him. And when I do, first thing I have to do is stop his gaze 'jo har waqt idhar udhar bhatakta rehta hain'! :P Wish me Luck people!

Darkness

As I sit beside my window sill
On a lovely rainy afternoon
A thought passes by my mind
About a dark night on a new moon

No light anywhere
No scorching heat
The cool night breeze blows by
And softly ruffles my hair.

I pass by unknown paths
Darkness envelopes me
I revel in its spirit
Adventure beckons me.

But then day light dawns
Mundane life grasps me again
The call of danger is gone
And I return to civilization in pain.