Nothing is what it seems

Was reading Ahmed Faraz today and so got inspired to write this. For those who don't know who Ahmed Faraz is, he is the guy who wrote "Ranjish hi sahi dil hi dukhane ke liye aa". If that doesn't ring any bells then please stop reading. I deliberately used tough words (by my standards). This goes out as a dedication to the tallest woman I know :)

Woh to main tha sar-e-aaina bas-e-aaina bhi to dekhte,
Siyaahiyon ke noor ka tarik-e-hayat bhi to dekhte

Sar-e-aaina - infront of a mirror, Tarik-e-hayat - loneliness in life

Behar main akela chod gaye the tum mujhe,
Gar itna hi tha ranj mujhe doobta bhi to dekhte

Behar - ocean, Ranj - animosity

Mujh begunaah ko sang to bahut maare tumne,
Haashiye main jo kho gaya woh faisla bhi to dekhte

sang - stone, Haashiye - margins

Haalankeh bararoo tere khush nazar aata thaa main,
Aankhon main jo marboot thaa woh dariya bhi to dekhte

Bararoo - in front, Marboot - tied

Tagaaful se todne ki kosish to bahut ki tumne
Ae khudbeen mere qalb ka muzaahima bhi to dekhte

Tagaaful - Apathy, Khudbeen - proud, Qalb - soul, Muzaahima - resistance

Kewl Link

Check this out.

Something I really liked

Copied from Phoenix's blog

नज़र नज़र की बात है
खेल बदलते वक्त का है
जो कभी अश्कों के साथ बहा था
रंग आज भी लाल उस रक्त का है
पानी सा बह रहा है आज मगर
ना कोई दर्द ना कोई जज़्बात है
कसूर इन सुर्ख बून्दों का नहीं
ये तो नज़र नज़र की बात है।

चलती हुई हवाओं को
कोई आँधी कहे कोई झोंका
कोई उड् गया तूफ़ानों में
तो किसी ने तूफ़ानों को रोका
इन्हीं तूफ़ानों में फ़से थे कल तक
मगर आज सब कुछ शान्त है
आज हवा चले भी तो एहसास नहीं होता
बस नज़र नज़र की बात है।

कल कोई दिल का टुकडा था
आज ज़ख्म बन के रह गया
वो हर सपना जो कल संजोया था
आंसूओं के साथ बह गया
कल अंधेरों में भी उजाले थे
आज आठों पहर ही रात है
सूरज को कोई दोष ना देना
ये तो नज़र नज़र की बात है।

वही लौ जो रोशनी देती थी
खिडकी पे रखी बाती में
ना जाने कब वो आग बन गयी
मिटाया सब कुछ
जिसने क्रान्ति में
शमा के दो रूप देखता है वो ही
परवाना जो उसमें जलता है
नज़र नज़र की बात है सब कुछ
खेल बदल्ते वक्त का है॥

Compliment ?

AK to me: "Tu aaj Pornob Mukherjee hota agar tu kol main paida hua hota."
The guy actually meant it as a compliment. It saddens me that most people dont know what a fraud he is.

Google Talk

Finally a messenger with no emoticons...... Someone at google really gets me.
my id: ravihanda

Which one is Pink?

I cant watch "That 70s Show" anymore because it reminds me of some good times that I had. Memories just suck.... even the good ones hurt you and life is like email... sometimes you just dont get it.
I'm so insignificant I can't even kill myself.

TOI

TOI has improved a lot during the past year or so. I spent 4 bucks on the sunday edition just to read Shobha's "EDITORIAL" but surprisingly enough it wasnt as bad as it used to be. I couldnt find a single girl who was dressed properly ;) . I dont get this. Is it just a one off incident or has TOI changed gears?

License To Kill

Yeah. I know I know. It is a very cheesy title but it suits the post. I am not Plant (or Page for that matter) who will write a song about his travels in Morocco and call it Kashmir. One of my friends, future quiz-team partner and a dedicated blog reader(dedicated because he reads just two blogs, mine and my girlfriend's) AP today asked me about CITR. He realised that I am a big fan of the book, which is quite evident from the URL of my blog. He quoted the example of Marc David Chapman and John Hinckley and their "wrong-doings" and asked me "Who would you like to kill (someone famous)?" The answer came to my mind within a few millisecs and I am going to share that with you. I am going to draw a lot of heat for this from female readers of the blog. The answer is SRK, Shahrukh Khan The King. The reason: The way he has ruined hindi cinema. Even Aamir is making movies like Mangal Pandey now.
I would like to ask you people the same question: "Who would YOU like to kill?"

Thanks to everyone who called me up on my bday and to those who didnt, "Well..... It costs only 2 Rs. you #$%#$%#$#%%"

Answer to the connect question: TATA
Megasthenese: He wrote Indica.
Mick Jagger: Studied at London School Of Economics. LSE has a chair in name of Ratan Tata.
Yuvraj Singh: Models for Westside.
Swami Vivekanand: He gave the idea of IISc. to the Tatas and asked them to fund it.
Francesco Barracca: Ferrari gets its logo from Baracca's plain. TCS makes software for Ferrari.
K R Narayanan: He did his Post Graduate studies on a Tata scholarship.

Please send all your rants to G. Srikanth, the quizmaster.

:)

Friend: I dont like romantic comedies that much.
Me: Obviously.. Your love life sucks.

/**********************************************/

Can anyone tell me where can I download "Stairway To Heaven" ringtone. I have already tried top 30 results of google so please suggest something else. I have a Hutch connection and the model is Nokia "6610 i"

/**********************************************/

Just a reminder to some of you. My phone number is 09732550059, now you cant claim that you forgot.

/***********************************************/

Had a great Open IIT quiz today. People started shouting my name when I entered the auditorium, it was definitely one of the best entrances that I have ever made. Missed the finals by half a point but it was a blessing in disguise as I won 5 chocolates (Perk, Five Star, Dairy Milk, Five Star, Dairy Milk).

A question from the quiz.
Connect: Megasthenese, Francesco Barasca, Yuvraj Singh, Mick Jagger, Swami Vivekanand, K R Narayanan.
Disclaimer: If you dont like the answer then shoot the quizmaster not me.

How to pretend to be a film-buff

I wish that I had more time to write this post. After reading this you can easily pretend to be a film buff in any circle. In Kharagpur you will definitely come in the top 10. 80 % of success lies in showing off.

BASIC
Directors you should know: Coppolla, Manoj N. Shyamlan, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Sam Mendes, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, Peter Jackson
Things you should say: Godfather 2 was better than Godfather 1. KillBill2 was better than KillBill1. Spielberg is for the masses not for me. Movies made on books are generally better. The books are better than the movies. Tarantino is a modern day genius. It’s a tragedy that Scorsese never won an oscar, the other movies were better. Al Pacino rocks. Godfather is the best movie of all times.
Things that were good in the movie (you should say/claim): Feel of the movie.

ADVANCED
Directors you should know: Stanley Kubrick, Milos Forman, Roman Polanski, Akira Kurosawa, Tim Burton, Mike Nichols, Coen Brothers, David Fincher, David Lean, David Lynch
Things you should say: Eyes Wide Shut is a flawed masterpiece. Spielberg learnt everything from Kubrick. Movies can be better than the books, give examples like Shawshank Redemption, Clockwork Orange, Where Eagles Dare, The Hours, 2001 A Space Odyssey etc. Charlie Kauffman is a modern day genius. Oscars are given to populist movies. Daniel Day Lewis rocks. Citizen Kane is the best movie of all times.
Things that were good in the movie (you should say/claim): Dialogues, script, storyline


EXPERT
Directors you should know: Francois Truffaut, Elia Kazan, Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Lars von Trier, Robert Altman, Sergie M. Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Renoir, Ignmar Bergman
Things you should say: Zach Braff is over-rated. I prefer movies which won at the Sundance Film Festival. European Cinema is much better than Hollywood blah. Paul Muni rocks. The best movie is yet to be made.
Things that were good in the movie (you should say/claim): Soundtrack, cinematography, attention to detail.

This post can/will be revised.


PS: Linked Arnav and Bhatu to my blog. Anyone else interested?

You know something is really wrong with the world when...

A black guy(actually half black) is the best golfer, a white guy is the best rapper and movie buffs like me are watching japanese romantic comedies.
Correction: KOREAN romantic comedies.

Yahaan - Naam Ada Likhna

I genrally dont listen to hindi music. Let me rephrase it, I dont listen to hindi FILM music but there are some songs, very few of them which achieve a position in my winamp playlist but this particular song has gone to another level. I have hit the CROP button this time and that happens when I listen to just one song repetetively for a few days and I listen to music even when I am studying. Last time this happened with a hindi film song was a couple of years back with Saathiya. This song from the movie Yahaan has completely blown me away. A typical Gulzar number with ethereal lyrics , vocals that make you cry and the music just blends with them like orange juice with vodka. The background male vocals add a certain mystique to the song. This song takes me back to the day when I heard the line "116 chaand ki raatein aur tumhare kandhe ka til" for the first time.

A few lines from the song

Pooche jo koi meri nishani, rang hina likhna;
Gore badan pe ungli se mera naam ada likhna....
Kabhi kabhi aas paas chand rehta hai;
Kabhi kabhi aas paas shaam rehti hai....

Aaon to subah jaaon to mera naam saba likhna;
Barf pade to barf pe mera naam dua likhna....
Zara zara aag waag paas rehti hai;
Zara zara aangdi ki aanch rehti hai....

Jab tum hanste ho din ho jaata hai;
Tum gale lago to phir so jaata hai....
Doli uthaye aayega din to paas bitha lena;
Kal jo mile to maathe pe mere suraj uga dena....
Zara zara aas paas dhoop rahegi;
Zara zara aas paas rang rahenge....

Only Gulzar could have come up with this. I made a prediction about ETOSM winning an oscar 8 months before the award, which it did win. I would have done the same for this if I had faith in FillumFare

The Pending Kol Trip

There are plenty of reasons why I want to go to Kolkata but I am scared of the tideous local-train journey. I know for sure that a trip is going to be worth the effort but somehow, I am just too lazy to make it. There are plenty of reasons to go to kolkata and they are in no particular order of preference:
Meet up with my friends.
Watch a couple of movies on the big-screen.
Have a drink in a decent bar. (Did I tell you that Heineken is now available in our good old Park at Kharagpur?)
Visit Oxford and College Street. (Have to buy CAT prepration material and look up some other books)
Take a boat-ride ;)

My computer has gone on a long vacation and she wont be back for 2 weeks. I dont know how I am going to live without her.

Gave my first mock CAT test this weekend and the score was so bad that I am thinking that it was a stupid idea in the first place. Someone asked me that why I am so suddenly interested in management (Yes, it was a big NO-NO till couple of weeks back) and my answer was because I have nothing better to do.