Unspoken love

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms,
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way than this:
where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Sex and the City 2 Reviewed

When I look at my logs from August and realise that I have only blogged once this month, my head hangs in shame (well, not really, but almost)!! And my bday month too...not good! So, I'm back, with a review that has been zooming around in my head like an irritating fly since I saw the film.

The show Sex and the City did not really demand a cult following but had its set of people who enjoyed it. The concept of friends growing up together..at different stages in life and yet so similar, worked for some of us. And thus, when the producers went ahead and made a complete motion picture out of this show, it had some of us looking forward to it. The first movie was cute enough - with a sprinkling of drama, lots of fashion, some heart break and friends that tide over it all! But the second film in the series has even soft targets like me gagging!

SATC 2 is an example of the kind of cinema America should refrain from. It's racist, sexist, portrays Americans as ignorant and very very brainless. Even the fashion isnt good enough! The girls are getting old and a 50 year old's sexual escapades dont make for interesting cinema. Neither does a gang of over aged giggly girls who still call Dubai and Abu Dhabi 'the New Middle East' and are so entranced and enamoured by the gold and the spices abundant there. All of this may still have made a bland but tolerant film. But when you over emphasize on how aghast they are at seeing women in Burquas or how they have been told to cover up and not wear revealing clothes coz they will be jailed - you run the risk of disrespecting a section of society.

The film bored me. I, the one who is usually not so tough to please in a chick flick situation, find it difficult to recommend this to you. Absolutely avoidable.

Rating: 1.5 on 5

Semiotics of 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'

This is a controversial post to write. In a country where Shahrukh Khan is almost god and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai has something of a cult following, to dig it up after almost 15 years and tear it apart gives me goose bumps. But a woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do.

The problem arises from the fact that I myself am a self confessed member of this cult. When I was seeing this film for the 21st time yesterday (yes, I need a life), it finally hit me on how incredibly chauvinistic this film really is. So if you havent seen the film (how???), let me give you the lowdown. Girl and boy are best friends in college, girl loves boy but boy falls for mini skirt clad hot chick but only after she has properly displayed her 'indian values'. Girl disappears. Hot chick dies, leaves behind a daughter who vows to find girl and make boy marry her finally. Which, ofcourse they do.

So lets start at the begining. Perfect stereotyping - boy and girl are best friends but he doesnt love her because she is a tomboy. The day he sees hot chick in tiny skirt, all friendship goes out of the window. But no, he is the quintessential male! So he waits for hot chick to sing 'om jai jagdish' and also don a suit, cover her head and go to a temple before he decides to shower his love on her!

It gets better. So some 10 years later, hot chick is not in the scene anymore and her daughter is trying her best to get boy to chance encounter with girl again. Which he does. And what does he find? That girl is not the tomboy he knew...she has transformed almost like a butterfly and evolved into long hair and chiffon saris which keep blowing in the wind to show her midriff. Ofcourse, boy finally decides that he loves her. Now that she is feminine enough for his taste!

But here is the clincher. The girl has only ever loved him. Even after 10 years of unrequited love and after being rejected for hot chick she doesnt so much as bat an eyelid before running back to him.

And the boy, remains happy ever after!

PS- all those wondering why in the world I have been calling Rani Mukherjee hot chick...come on guys, this is 15 years back when Kajol still had a unibrow and Karishma wore her brother's clothes!

Monsoon Getaways for you this season...

Back from an amazingly relaxing vacation in the Kagra Valley. Covered Mcleodganj, Dharamshala and Palampur, the last destination being the least popular but the most deserving in my opinion. As I have already covered Palampur in one of my earlier works almost 5 years back (you can read it here), Mcleodganj found its way into a more broad based article of mine, one that I will share with you today.

I come back from my trip, reinforced in the belief that monsoons are the perfect time to travel. Splendid weather, lack of tourist crowds and a slight drizzle, just the most romantic setting one can ask for.

So here are some options for you to choose from, if the travel bug bites you soon. My latest article on Rediff suggests a few such Monsoon Getaways.

And if you're still undecided, here's a lil something to change your mind.

Idyllic in Mcleodganj

Tibetian Colorful Tablets around the Dalai Lama's residence

Norbuligka Institute for preserving Tibetian Arts

Bhagsu Waterfall

Valleys that take your breath away

Tea Gardens in Palampur

Lush Green walkways inside Kaya Kalp - an Ayurvedic retreat in Palampur

This monsoon, don’t hide in – head out!!

 

I love the rains. Yes, I know you’ve heard that before from just about any girl you have met, but I truly do. I love the feel of the cold drops on my face after a sultry Delhi day. I love splashing my car in puddles of water and hearing the whoosh (am pretty sure that its not very good for my car) and I love the smell of the mud when water falls on the parched earth. Monsoons are a great time to travel too. I understand people’s aversion to travelling during the rains – it can get messy, one can’t walk around and its tough to stick to itineraries. But if you ask me, the monsoons are my favourite travelling season. India literally comes alive during this time. The green loses its layer of dust and shines a bright neon colour. The air is fresh and cool. And the rest of the tourists stay home so one doesn’t have to jostle elbow to elbow with hordes of them. I HATE flying during this time (or any other time for that matter) but besides that, its a peach!

 

Last year, around this time my company was kind enough to organise our top management meet in Goa. It was perhaps aided by the fact that it was off season in Goa and they probably got a fantastic deal. Nevertheless, around 20 of us found ourselves making our way through the narrow lanes of this beach paradise. And you know all those people who told you that one should avoid Goa during the monsoons -  ignore them! Goa is at its most beautiful in this month. The town transforms itself into a sleepy village adorning a green shawl. Ofcourse, the view from Taj Fort Aguada helped as well!

 

So this year, we pack our bags again and are off to another adventure. Another set of towns to explore, a few more tales to string. It is to the hills this time. Ignoring those who warn of landslides and floods. With our raincoats packed in, can’t wait to smell the fresh mountain air again! Adios amigos….till we talk again!!

Bandh karo yeh bandh!!!

 

Yes, the petrol prices are getting out of hand. No I am not an economist so I am not going to argue about how the energy costs are going up globally and how our fiscal deficit will be affected if our energy rates be forcefully reduced. It is not the issue itself with which I have issues. It is the manner of dealing with them.

 

There is a very competent set of people that we have chosen to run our country. And to ensure that they do not become autocratic, we have chosen a set of people we call the opposition. Now, both these sets of knowledgeable and opinionated people are given a place and a time to debate on matters such as this called the Parliament. The Indian Parliament is not just a pretty building (and it IS a pretty building), it is the citizen’s charter to the government to discuss, debate and decide on matters that affect the common man.

 

What does damage democracy though is when this exercise is abused. I hang my head in shame when I witness Parliamentary sessions where people shout like shepherds and start throwing chairs and microphones to display their dissent. If they did that at home, they would probably have been given one whack by their mothers, thus displaying their serious need for babysitting.

 

But what angers me even more is when these very people abuse democracy and make it into one big show. A Bharat Bandh used to be a tool used in extreme cases like the British Raj or to protest the emergency. It was about voicing an opinion. It has now been reduced to a ticket to vandalism. Who are these people who think they can dictate whether a billion people in India should work on a specific day? Who are they who have the audacity to burn busses and public property and then demand that it is the government’s treasury that should pay for the damage? And who are these sadly illiterate people who assume that the common man is so dumb as to not understand the difference between the right to voice one’s opinion and the removal of the fundamental rights of all citizens for one day. 

 

I protest. Not against dissent but against the assumption that we are cattle who will approve of this. If you have the guts, sit on a round table with the economists of the government, the Prime Minister being one of them, suggest ways of tackling the problem of reducing the burden on the citizen while ensuring that the burden doesn’t bend our economy too much. And if you don’t have the courage or the intellect to do so, kindly stop wasting our time. We have miles to go before we sleep.

Sleeping with the Kings - Orchha revisited

LOVE the way I wrote this one!! Check out my latest article published on Rediff. Its a travelogue on Orchha, a place you may never have heard of, a place you definitely should visit once in your lifetime!!

For the movie buffs, this is also the location where the latest film Raavan has shot an entire song and marriage scene of Beera's sister. Trust me, its nothing less than visual nirvana.

Read the article HERE