THE RECITAL: A Stop Motion

https://vimeo.com/47709104  

This is a small video i made... enjoy.. :D

and, slow connection??.. no probs!!.. read the description below.. i wrote it down while the video took its own time to upload :-/ :P

DISCLAIMER: This description is inspired by the 12kbps avg upload speed, a three digit (preceding the colon) remaining time to start with and my chatter box characteristics :P and i admit.. i'm writing this thing for the second time as the "long and broad" description i wrote previously was mercilessly killed by a power-cut thanks to my zero back-up battery :-/    
chaloz.. on a more serious (ly kidding) note: the contents above and below are true to the best of my knowledge... any c*p*ri**t issues??... dude get a life! :-/


first let me get into a happy frame of mind...
-think DIL CHAHTA HAI-       -think DIL CHAHTA HAI-        -think DIL CHAHTA HAI-
....
.....
ohh now i'm good :D

okay... so this video.. well.. i guess this is the result of an experiment where four awesome college years are mixed with 30 hours of ultra-boredom in the over-controlled environment of an AC 2-tier. The Recital, as the name suggests is a mere poetry recitation with add-ons like a drawn-on-notebook stop motion and some priceless memories. :D

initiating reaction to response...

       -ghumti hui dharti-

if "U think U are in the video" == TRUE
    {   
         if concept == cliched
                { printf ("sorry Mathur! :D" ); }
     
         if execution == not up to the mark
                { printf ("sorry Babu, should have kept your tripod :P"); }

         if sound == problem
                 { printf ("miss you Baby!!" ); }

         if poetry == much much much better ho sakta tha
                 { printf ("yaar Babu, convey my apologies to Aamir... "); }

         if voice-over == :P
                 { printf ("you got work to do, marLEE!"); }

         if response == naaice anuj naaiice!
                 { printf (""); }
    
else if  "U are an IISTian" == TRUE
                 { printf ("again, Thanks for your pakne ki kshamta.. you have been an encouragement to stretch the                        envelope further :P"); }

else   { printf ("thanks a ton for watching!! :D :D :D   bhai ho tum mere!!"); }

character sketches:

the messed-up:
-taps hands on the table- nach!
a messed-up room and a dimaag that's even more so... 
handful(you know what i mean :P), photographer, guitarer, singer, philosopher, random artist, filmmaker, camel-man (oont!!), the funny guy, a great friend and now a scientist at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, well almost :D 

the grown-up:
kae zhala??.. evida poa??...
he can stop traffic to photograph a butterfly sitting on the road... seriously!!
a photographer, scholar(ship), actor, marathi, trip planner, expert at doing the GAE (cow) thing, artist, umbrella-man, friend, bade papa and now a master-controller!! :D

the awesomeness:
otteri otteri nalla mulgi ahe!! :P
after years of "throwing lines" and "trolling" all i can say is.. she is "the mummy", a singist, a guitarer, creativity ki bulldozer, bookworm,topper, proof-reader, artist, designer, chef, orator (english, malayalam - rapid fire!!), linguist (guess she knows more languages than i know words in english :P), a mad-scientist, boss no.1.... bas ab age badhte hein..

the bachcha:
yo!! tu hi hai be!! mein bolta huun na.. tu pehle himil jaana chahiye tha!!.. 
tu bhi wahi bola!!.. mein bhi wahi bola!! hahahaahaha.. (okay, that was not for everybody.. sorry :) )
great things sure come in small packages!! the bachcha= basser + rapper + geographist + live GPS + gamer + brother + friend + no hindi songs + kum garam khaana + lot of driving + master controller + plays NFS with satellites, well almost :P
and yes.. GOD KNOWS aur kitna kuchh (again this one was not for everyone :D)

the bewakuff:
ME!

hadd hogaya bhaisaahab.. still uploading... (I've even had my lunch!!)


okay.. moving ahead to special mention:

AC 2-tier: dude u need to know there are people in the world who are not 50+!!

IIST: chalo chhodo.. yeh baat jaane dete hein :P

CANTEEN and CCD: thanks for the chaye, the bada bhel, the bread omelette, the samose, the tropical iceberg, the extra sugar sachet, the danish, and all the patience that u had for us!!

YOU!!: for having read the description this far.. sorry :) i'll stop now.. the uploading's done almost :D

 P.S.: pardon my ulta seedha use of -er and -ist.. its again a group lingo thingy. sorry!! :D

PUNCTURE

There are few lines I had scribbled a year back when our seniors were leaving. A farewell poem of sorts. I would like to share this with you guys. If any of my college mates is reading, I just wanted to say I love you and it took me these many words. But you guys know, that's just me :D

Puncture:

Kuchh saal pehle ek diya tha jalaya.
Par kyuun hai aaj uski law dagmagayi?
Bin roshni jeene ki aadat hi nahin hai,
Isiliye shayad, aaj andheri se darr si hai chhayi.
Aisa lagta hai jaise pahiye mein hawa kuchh kum hai,
Aur door tak puncture ki koi dukaan nahin...
Sath sath chalne ka maza kho dene ka darr hai aaj
Ek nayi zindagi joh saj sawarke kar rahi hai intezaar,
Use apnane ki koi khushi bhi nahin.
Mein is dil ko samjhata huun ke…
Ae dil! yaadon ka parda sarka ke ko toh dekh
Khidki ke paar ek naya sawera hai
Suraj ki roshni ko apna,
Ghum ka dhund to pighal jana hi hai
Sale, dosti ki gehrai mein jhank ke dekh
Tujhe kahan kabhi tanha rehna hai?
Puncture tyre pe lath jadke jab madad ko tarsega
Toh stepney to inhi kaminon ne leke ana hai.
Tujhe kahan kabhi tanha rehna hai?




-unn kaminon ke naam :P

the drive.. friends, Ritz, Ellora!!

our road trip to Ellora!.. 

had an awesome time thanks to the guys... \m/

INVICTUS

Invictus is a movie about Nelson Mandela and his vision to use the Sport Rugby as an instrument in uniting the whole nation. There are many things that make the movie special, one of them, that's wort sharing is a short Victorian poem by the English poet William Ernest Henley 


Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

KHOJ

There are times when you feel a little low. You might feel like offering Munna bhai a li'l shraddhanjali in this distressed times, and going for a flash back of the happy moments of your life, just to find how different a person you have turned into. My hearty apologies to the blog for bringing with me these not so happy words, particularly when i am visiting it after these many days!! But again, Blogs are the best sink to all the emotions we have hidden within, aren't they?! 
The best thing about poetry is, many people appreciate it, and the writer just hopes atleast some of them understand it. Well I bet it's good for writers like me atleast, who are a literary counterpart to the Sunday Driver concept. These lines were out of nowhere I think but happened to tell a part of the story that my mind's  finding really difficult to deal with. This poem (it's in Hindi so technically its a kavita), I guess depicts my search for answers to some incomprehensible questions, my quest to respond to some unfamiliar thoughts and, thus, is called, KHOJ...
   
patton ke chhour par nachti
shabnam ki boonde,
sooraj ki roshni se khelti hein..
toh mann jaise chamak sa jata hai.


baarish ki boonde
hawa se ladhti,
jab chehre ko chhedti hein
toh dil jaise khilsa jata hai.


doston ki baatein
chae ki tazgi mein ghulkar,
hasi ke pitare kholti hein
toh har bojh halka ho jata hai.


aaj mann tanha, apni hi rah mein
os ki wahi boondein talashte,
sawan mein, boondon ko taras raha hai.
dhaga itna kaske bandh diya, ki ab gadh raha hai.
pagal dil kyuun har baat pe behak raha hai?
tanha mann aaj os ki wahi boonde, fir talash raha hai...

AKHRI CHHUTTI

My blog gave me a weird look when I knocked its door after so many days. For those who thought I had abandoned it, I have three words for ya. “I am back” :P

Sometimes, you take a break in your journey, pull your car to the road side at some tea stall, enjoy a cup of tea, look back and what you feel should technically be one of the following two. ONE: it was one really long, boring stretch of road. TWO: whooo!! Fuck the traffic and the potholes. Well taking a tea break finally, I pretty much find myself in domain two.

My final summer vacation has been more eventful than all the previous ones put together. (If you know me, you obviously know about my previous vacations and the two places that dominated themJ.) My last month has witnessed two hill stations, one huge city, a few government offices (yeh count karna reh gaya), six trains, one flight, and countless restaurants and tea stalls (yeh count karna possible hi nahin tha), not to forget, the railway stations, airports, police stations, retiring rooms, traffic, taxis, city buses, malls, multiplexes, hotels etc.   

From the hills of Darjeeling and Ooty to the traffic of Bangalore, from corruption to pollution, from hotels to P.Gs to retiring rooms, I can say I have, pretty much, had it all for a single vacation. I had a rendezvous with the past and a peek into the future. Arey sahi mein yaar, mat haso! I have spent some priceless moments with my oldest of friends and family, and some equally wonderful time with my college mates. Ghar ka khana, hotel ka khana aur duniya bhar ki chaye! The burp is satisfying (literally).

GOD truly saves the best for the last!   

FEEDBACK

The WORDWEB dictionary defines feedback as

NOUN: FEEDBACK 
1)Critical assessment or suggestions to improve performance 
2)The process in which part of the output of a systems is returned   to its input in order to regulate its further output 
3)Response to an inquiry or experiment

VERB: FEEDBACK 
1)Submit (information) again to a program or automatic system 
2)Respond to a query or outcome

Hey!!! don’t run away please. Neither am I interested nor am I distantly qualified to take a class on English language here. I am here simply to focus on the point 3 under noun: feedback. Ok, enough. I guess I must get to the point now.

It took me 12 posts and 13 days to share my blog with people through FACEBOOK. A big part of me was waiting for the feedback and a really big part of it was hoping it would be good. It was then I started to actually wonder, why am I writing in the first place? It’s significantly uncharacteristic of me to be attempting such a stunt! Being a guy who has never read a single comic book and never did more creative writing than a couple of essay competitions he was forced to participate in, it would be no way wrong to say that I and literature share the same relationship as Gabbar Singh and Thakur Sahab. The more spiritual part in me pops up here with what is apparently a satisfactory answer, to vent my emotions and thoughts. A friendly voice from the neighbourhood supports it saying "you are giving the world a fair chance to know your thoughts, doesn’t matter if all of them out there don’t read it". The “more like me” part in me says “nautanki sala!! Kaam dhanda hai nahin, nikal pada lekhak banne!”. The timidly intelligent part of me attempted to join in with its own opinion saying “it will help improve your writing skills and language in general”. But it was too much for the “more like me” part of me and I haven’t shown any sign of intelligence since then. There were a few other faint chatters I could hear but thought it wise to ignore them all.

Not really concluding much in this regard I diverted my mind towards the feedback that had just come in. The FACEBOOK likes and comments made me feel like I had just won the world cup for India. Some contained heavy words like “respect” and “inspire”  which were as good as a bucket at KFC. (Believe me, a bucket at KFC means a lot more to me than you can possibly imagine.) However, I now realize that feedback is crucial. May be it demands some courage to accept the criticisms and some down to earth attitude to take the pat on the back, but in whatever form it comes, it sure influences the cause. Some encourage, some motivate, some discourage and some go for the kill, but they all have significant effect on what would otherwise have been a very different outcome. It then struck me. May be, this is the true reason I write, to see what people feel about what I feel. Thankfully, the “more like me” part in me came to my rescue at this disastrous conclusion and I was spared a virtual life full of illusion, before it was too late. Though I realize the consequence of feedback now, I am still stuck with the question on my sudden interest in writing. May be “you know what!!” can help me out here.

Before signing off with this “not even a time-pass” post, I would like to sincerely thank all the readers who have lent me more than their time, patience and tolerance. Thanks a ton!! 

P.S: Refer to my earlier posts for "you know what!!".