Saturday, January 31, 2009

ek sheetal si hai bhavna,
bhavna pyar ki;

ek masoom si arzoo,
arzoo aman ki;

ujaale ki tasveer hai,
motiyon se bhara taal hai;

ek ujaale ki tasvir hai,
shweth phoolon ki bhed hai;

Ab yeh srishti bas ek mantra hai jaanthi
shanti shanti shanti shanti.

*******


As a new republic is formed, here's to new freedoms and newer landscapes....for a peaceful and calming influence :)


Its after all just another day, for you and me, in paradise, ain't it ?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

An 'Obamination' of sorts ...

"IS OBAMA THE NAME OF A KANNADA MOVIE ?"

Heard in the corridors of a dental college from a young graduate intern!

This is exactly why Mr. Obama should do a special appearance in a Bollywood dance item starring the ever-so bootiful Ms. Aishwarya Rai, or perhaps simply 'shut up and bounce' with Shilpa baby.

Underdog millionaire, anyone ?

Wat say, Saucy Sardonix ?

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A perfect Sunday evening!

Watched a wonderful french movie called "The Bears" on NDTV Lumiere on sunday evening.

Its about a bear cub who is orphaned and how he befriends another adult bear and they try to face the wilderness hazards - which come in the form of hunters (men), their pack of dogs and lastly a puma attack.

The film was full of understated yet poignant moments - my personal favourite of course was the young cub looking at the reflection of the full moon in the water body at night and jumping into the reflection in the water as if trying to scare the moon away! There was absolutely no dialogue here and yet the scene lingers on in my mind ...

The way he emulates the adult bear he meets, his forlorn look when he finds the two adult bears mating, his sloppy manner of unsuccessfully chasing a frog, his quivering in fear when the hunters are nearby and how he forms an attachment to its captors, the hunters is all brought out in a beautiful manner.

While at one level, it was a movie about this bear cub and how it outwits the hunters in the company of an adult bear, I could feel another sub-text running through the movie. This was not just the usual wildlife movie or a movie on animals speaking to each other (like in the animated versions) but at a level relatable to human beings, subtly. Of untouched beauty and innocence of the young. Of dignity and compassion which each one of us has within.

The movie ends on a peaceful note with the young bear cuddling up to his friend/saviour - the adult bear as it snows outside the cave....

And then the quote appears : " The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live."

A winter's sunday evening could not have been spent more perfectly!

PS: of course, Saucy Sardonix could n't 'bear' it at all! Talk of pauvre tastes in life! Huh!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

the struggle/s of the owls :(

Shailesh Rao, Google India's MD, in an interview to Outlook Business (January 24, 2009 - Print edition) articulates it well when he says:

"I have a lot of nervous energy. Throughout my life, I've found it tough going to bed. It means I have to stop doing things. Its a real struggle."

Amen to that!

I can only add to that by saying as the clock nears/strikes/moves past the midnight hour, my indiscipline only manifests multi-splendoured hues! :(

Call of Conscience

Lasantha Wickramatunga, a leading Sri Lankan journalist and Chief Editor of "The Sunday Leader", was shot dead by unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles, while he was on his way to work.

He wrote an editorial apparently with instructions to publish it after his death and here is the posthumous editorial.

Quite quite remarkable, inspiring, with a raw honesty and incisiveness you seldom come across in the media circles of late. I could almost feel the passion of the man himself even though I have read just one article of his, till date (before this editorial).

About the role of a journalist and the media:

"Why then do we do it? I often wonder that. After all, I too am a husband, and the father of three wonderful children. I too have responsibilities and obligations that transcend my profession, be it the law or journalism. Is it worth the risk? Many people tell me it is not. Friends tell me to revert to the bar, and goodness knows it offers a better and safer livelihood. Others, including political leaders on both sides, have at various times sought to induce me to take to politics, going so far as to offer me ministries of my choice. Diplomats, recognising the risk journalists face in Sri Lanka, have offered me safe passage and the right of residence in their countries.
Whatever else I may have been stuck for, I have not been stuck for choice.
But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre and security. It is the call of conscience. "

And the most inspiring part of it, which left me a bit moist-eyed and disturbed as well :

"People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off. Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot, whether they be ethnic minorities, the disadvantaged or the persecuted. An example that has inspired me throughout my career in journalism has been that of the German theologian, Martin Niem”ller. In his youth he was an anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. As Nazism took hold in Germany, however, he saw Nazism for what it was: it was not just the Jews Hitler sought to extirpate, it was just about anyone with an alternate point of view. Niem”ller spoke out, and for his trouble was incarcerated in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, and very nearly executed. While incarcerated, Niem”ller wrote a poem that, from the first time I read it in my teenage years, stuck hauntingly in my mind:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me."

At some level, parts of the essay ring true in the Indian context as well. Wonder what the supporters of Narendra Modi, Advani, Bal Thackeray and other members of our venerated political class feel about this.....

Saturday, January 17, 2009

my big "O"! ;)

The world may be singing "Jai ho" but I am totally fida over "O .....Saya" (or this as well)
Drums (the train rumblings), eastern/african sounds, pacey and brimming with high voltage.
This number just stands out in the whole album for its sheer flow .. much like how the melting himalayan glaciers come rushing down the mountains to the northern plains!

WHAT A HIGH!!!!

And it got me thinking about Bose speakers finally!