A Beautiful World

Ramble on, there is so much to see

You can be everything you ever dreamt to be

....because this world is a beautiful place

Feel the strength of the rising sun

Feel, forget what has to be done

....because this world is a beautiful place

Go take that extra step, feel alive

For once, act as if you are five

....because this world is a beautiful place

Stop counting your days

Start living

Experience the joy of giving

....because this world is a beautiful place

Forget all the questions

Forget all the answers

Forget who you are

Forget where you came from and where you’ll go

Forget what they taught you

Forget it all

What you have, Don’t let it fall

....because this world is a beautiful place

Stop keeping scores

Breathe, Fly high

As if you’ll never die

....because this world is a beautiful place

We aren’t just ‘their’ toys

Think big, yet experience the smallest joys

....because this world is a beautiful place

Promises may be broken, Life may not be fair

But still don’t be afraid to show you care

Make them smile, Forget and Forgive

Love is the only thing that you can give

....because this world is a beautiful place

Say what you have to say

For tomorrow that person might be gone

After all, everyone has to eventually move on

Test your will, Let go

No more hiding in the shadows

....because this world is a beautiful place

Let your thoughts bleed

It’s okay to feel

Sooner or later, everything will heal

....because this world is a beautiful place

I’m no saint, I’m not perfect

I make a lot of mistakes

Yet I’m willing to do what it takes

I’m just a guy, and I say this world is a beautiful place. 

Prateek

22-12-2012

Mangalore

The City of Mangalore

A few days ago I met my friend Parminder. While talking he asked me to write to him describing the city of Mangalore, where I am currently working. So I thought I might as well share it with all of you. Although it’s just been over a month in this city, but I shall try! 

Talking about facts, the coastal city of Mangalore gets its name from Hindu Goddess Mangala Devi, and more importantly, gets the third highest rainfall in India (which is a lot!). For more of the regular stuff, you can refer to -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangalore

They say that the first flight seals the bond. My first interaction with the city was in form of a bus ride to the company campus (which is situated about 23 Kms from the city) from the airport. Oblivious as to how our life in this city would be in the near future, we were excited! Since during this journey we hardly ventured into the main city, the entire ride passed through relatively desolate countryside with hardly any people to be seen. That was the initial impression. The ever-present grey clouds during the monsoon season adding to that feeling.  And the countryside is extremely green,  mainly due to the incessant rains. But the city itself is pretty crowded, so the social interaction needs can be satisfied.

While going to the office, one has to cross the Nethra river. The large number of fishing boats in the river show that the life in this area is mostly centered around water and the fishing business. According to the interaction I’ve had so far, the people of Mangalore appear to be nice and warm-hearted and are extremely happy living a simple life. But it’s going to take me a while to get used to the way people in south (actually everywhere apart from North) look curiously towards a guy in turban!

The city has a lot to offer to each and every kind of person. If you are in for some solitude, you can spend hours (as I did once) watching the high tides crashing at the shore at Ullala beach. The desolate beach almost appears to be of a post-apocalyptic era! The Panambur beach, on the other hand,  is alive with hustle and bustle of the‘conventional’ tourists. For travelling, I usually prefer to go to less crowded places. But due to an uncanny reason, I felt myself at peace at Panambur among so many people. The murals of St. Aloysius church are not to be missed if you are in Mangalore.

The majority of people in Mangalore are hindus, but this area has a sizeable population of Muslims and Catholics, all living in harmony with each other. Although the city is on the Western Ghats, but nothing beats the Himalayas of the North. I do miss going to the mountains for a ride!

Mangalore walks at its own pace. It doesn’t have the madness of Mumbai or the dazzling speed of Delhi. Every morning when you wake up, you can feel the tranquility in the air.

There is just so much to see and explore in and around Mangalore and in form of weekend drives, and the time is less. But as they say, all the good things in life have to wait. The wait makes your life a bit more interesting. Life's taken some unexpected turns and by the initial looks of the events, I’ll shortly develop a habit of travelling and wandering off on my own, which reminds of a song by Eddie Vedder –

Have no fear, For when I'm alone
I'll be better off than I was before

I’ll keep you posted with my exploring of the city and my travels if and when I undertake them.

All said and done, the feeling that I’m a part of this city, like an indifferent friend, still eludes me!

Into The Wild

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a rapture on the lonely shore

There is society, where none intrudes

By the deep sea, and music in its roar

I love not man the less, but Nature more"

"If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed"

"And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild "

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun "

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future."

"Some people feel like they don't deserve love. They walk away quietly into empty spaces, trying to close the gaps of the past."

"Rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth"

"Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don't want one."

"What if I were smiling and running into your arms? Would you see then what i see now?"

"Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shall not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. "

"I will miss you too but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's placed it all around us, it's in everything and anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things"

"Ultimate Freedom"

"The sea's only gifts are harsh blows, and occasionally the chance to feel strong. Now I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head."

" It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations. Absolute freedom. And the road has always led west."

"I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!"

- Christopher Johnson McCandless a.k.a. Alexander "Supertramp" (Feb 12, 1968 - Aug 1992)

The Age of Dev-D

2009. Yeah, I remember the year. I was having particularly hard time, had hit rock-bottom.

But more importantly it was the year when an amazing spectacle was witnessed on the screen. The dhoti clad Devdas, a Bengali Babu transformed into RayBan wearin’, Vodka drinkin’ DevD. The movie itself can be seen as a milestone in the Indian Film Industry. I’ll handle the criticism straightaway. It has been discerned by some ‘learned’ persons as lewd and filled with vicious scenes of drug addiction. Not completely un-true. But there’s much more in the movie than that and you do not need your heart broken or some special wisdom to experience it.

The director, Anurag Kashyap, shows the world why he’s the Mr. Unconventional of the B-Town and he’s got this peculiar way of ridiculing the censor board. In case you have given an ear to the song Emotional Attyachar, the singer misses out on Paanch in ‘ek, do teen, chaar….chhey’ , It was Kashyap’s way of getting back at the board for their refusal to release his movie Paanch and also prolonged delays in release of his brilliant work Black Friday.

Now coming to the movie, it’s a movie of Highs (mujhe sirf ek gram chahiye, chunni!) and Lows (kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi?). Right from the beginning, the self-styled ‘Patna ke Presley’ have done full justice to the song Emotional Attyachar which infact, found many listeners. Here’s a man who lost the girl he loved, drinking his heart out from a Vodka bottle, the song just gels with the moment.

His solitude had become a habit. Running away from everything, he runs into the charismatic Chunni. (Relay karte ho? Kabhi-Kabhi) If you’re talking about DevD, you just can’t forget the 4 minute but yet long-lasting experience called Pardesi, filled with path-breaking cinematography (Loading…Please Wait). The excellent camera work to depict what Abhay Deol is feeling when drunk, the defying 360 degree movements in a brilliant yellow light (with a sound of glasses tingling), the underwater shots with muffled sounds and drops of blood over his face, the synchronized movements of ‘The Twilight Players’ (who interestingly, witness the story as a viewer does). Bollywood finally experiences ‘The Trip’(especially during Pardesi) , roughly 42 years after it was first captured in Roger Corman classic The Trip.

The music director Amit Trivedi does full justice to the movie and pulls out a few surprises out of his kitty (18tracks in one CD, not one of them misplaced in the movie!) Ye Duniya Badi Gol Hai, Saali Khushi and Nayan Tarse in which Abhay Deol is seen carrying a hell lot of liquor.

But I guess the most defining moment of the movie is when sitting as a loner in a metro train (with guitar riffs to the tune of Emotional Attyachar) after passing out in Chanda ‘s room the previous night. (koi naam socha? Haan….Chandramukhi). The transformation of Devender Singh Dhillon to DevD. More than extreme suffering, is the angst that’s reflected in his eyes. The desire to forget everything. And the Vodka sprees do nothing to subdue his anger. As his glass smashes on the wall, you are thrown back into your seat with a massive yell and a vortex of surreal shots suffuse over you. The elysian smile on the drunk face telling the story. Losing her means he has lost the fear of losing.

And not to forget to the enchanting taxi-driver who slipped Abhay Deol some opium and robbing him. (Do you drink Satpal Singh Ji? Like a fish), the immaculate peaks of Manali (ye duniya badi gol hai)and Switzerland (ye kaisi kaisi ankh micholi khele zindagi).

The final ode to the ‘forbidden’ love comes in the form of a vigorous snort of cocaine with Saali Khushi playing in the background, the psychedelic lights and the intense beats taking over you.

There’s so much to talk about the movie and its difficult for me to stop!! Although it didn’t turn out to be a very big commercial success since it doesn’t appeal to the traditional Indian cinema-goer. But it surely has given rise to the entirely new school of thought in Bollywood and we hope to see such movies in the future.

The Blank Planet

The time is 10:58pm. The subject (Mr. X) arrives at the landing of the stairs leading to his workstation - a 12 x 14 room, no windows, the room bathed in the light of a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling over two desks facing each other, each mounting a computer. The subject stares and stares at the door.

120 seconds. When Mr. X enters, the other occupant of the room doesn't looks up. Back straight like a rod, the other person is sitting in his chair and working on his computer with arms outstretched with a cold demeanor. The keys are being punched in. The subject sits on his chair facing the other person.

90 seconds. The subject looks at the other person’s face. Grim. Tight jaw. Eyes glued to the screen. The emotionless face basking in the light from the computer screen. 2 years in the same room. 12 hours a day. Never exchanged a word. They weren’t allowed to. Mr. X doesn’t know what the person’s name is. The subject refers to him as Mac in his mind. Mac must be under the effect of the ‘pill’ right now, thinks the subject.

40 seconds. Mr. X continues to gaze at the other person, which draws no response. The subject looks at the camera in the corner of the room. No wonder Mac can’t look up, They Were Watching. Every Single Minute. But the subject still has 40 seconds. He again sets his gaze at Mac. Was he beginning to crack?

20 seconds. The subject’s thoughts drift back to the day when he first walked into this room. Clad in a fine business suit, the pioneer of intelligentsia, eyes full of dreams. There used to be a thin line between intention and action. In worn-out clothes and a disheveled appearance, he doesn’t feel the same way now. Life had quietly leaked away from his mind. It would be a good thing if Mac survived, thinks the subject.

5 seconds. It’s finally beginning to sink in. Mr. X can feel all the thoughts drowning at the back of his mind. The pill, supposedly to enhance human performance, is taking over his brain. The subject stares at the blank screen. 5 seconds and it would start. Mr. X can now only feel his fingers. Everything else was numb. He finds it hard to blink his eyes. The pill has taken over completely. And then, the computer screen turns on.

The camera in corner of the room in its place. They Were Watching.