Air...Its Ours!!!

This post can easily go back 2 years back, to my group discussion and interview day in the Mass Communication Dept. The topic was Sex Ratio in Haryana and Punjab. Well I can’t be modest here and can without doubt say that I was outstanding in the 1st round and knew that Iwould qualify. Another girl with braces on and nervousness hounding on spoke well and I knew that she was my competition in the group. Well she did make it and was always called the Sonia Gandhi of the class (she mimicked her really well)

On the first day I met this cousin of one of my batch mates from college, and ya we did hit off well enough to last forever (at least I can hope so). She thought that Nothingman (an extremely tall senior of ours) was a girl! Then there was this group of 4 girls from Carmel (well they all are a little too proud of the fact still, and it is a little irksome!!) A few more days, me and this cousin of my batchmate also became a part of this gang which comprised the gold medalist of the 1st year- a complete tomboy though girly at heart, a doe eyed beauty, a hard working girl with the perfect bun and the ‘kasauli cottage’ and last but not the least a devout Christian girl with loads of guy friends (chuckle!).

A Delhi girl who’ loved’ Delhi, literally was also around the group, her camaraderie and clashes very off and on with members of this gang of mine.

Then there was this guy who was the PR of the class. I chose him for my documentary and ya did we fight? Well like cats and dogs. All money collections for all parties, he was always out with a list. (Please read this post and return my fabindia folder.) This PR guy had a dusky Bong girlfriend (well I used to get a lot of compliments from her). She still remains the smartest Bong girl I have ever met.

Also there was this artiste, an amazing cartoonist and a pleasant person. Well apart from a dose of everyday hug, patting my nose was like a ritual. This artiste friend had a huge crush on this girl from sports quota. Amazing sportsperson and more then that somebody who knew how to lose gracefully. The sportsperson used to hang out a lot with one of her friends who was equally quiet but came across as an extremely nice person.

This artiste had a friend who still is known as the Mastermind of the media festival. His girlfriend, also called as the first lady of the festival (she also won Miss Mass Comm recently), could never really be my type of friend, though I knew her for 5 years. She may be happy in her own skin but I still feel that her pretentiousness was too overpowering for me to like her. No judgements here but ‘To each his own I guess’. I anyways wish her all the best.

Then there was this chick, the one, all guys would literally scuttle after. The one with a sexy dressing sense and perfect straight hair falling over her eyes and cheeks all the time, well man! In the words of guys, “She was hot!”. She had 2 friends, one a baby who had just not grown but had exceptional writing skills and one extremely tall girl who was too humble to be true but ya sweetness in profundity.

The media fest guy that I was talking about, also had an ex girlfriend. Well that’s not her identity but ya she was a little uncanny for me however extremely passionate about what she wanted in life. This uncanny friend used to be found a lot with the tallest girl in my class (She was 5 feet 8 inches and I used to tell her that I might ultimately end up with a guy as tall as you…and laughters!!). Her intrepid questions with conviction in MK’s class are worth recollection.

Then 2 girls I used to hang out with a lot. One a little too plump a girl (well that’s a cute way of saying that she was fat) and one so thin, that she looked like a malnourished child but ya we did spend some memorable times together.

Also there was this extremely cute chink guy who loved Rock music, a chink girl with mind blowing dressing sense and another chink girl with a Punjabi brother-in-law!

There was a guy who looked like a criminal (he was also our DR) and an extremely tall guy who had 2 kids at home but still wanted to be in the department (I still am unable to decipher as to what was he really upto.) Then there was my laughing partner who always cribbed about her ‘PG wali aunty’ and her plump and cute friend- her hi in the morning would brighten up quite a lot. There was also an extremely quiet girl, who I really became friends with towards the end of 1st year. Miss Serenity, extremely hardworking, but sweety, take a chill pill at times!

The girl who is getting married to the ‘Hawks’ guy, ‘aadha chammach’ and ‘sone’ girl, curly hair girl who loved to laugh aloud, another sportsperson, who has a 24 lakh per annum worth a job offer from America, a chamba girl, the décolletage girl (well the farewell day reminds me of that) who had a surd boyfriend, a sociologist with a weirdly sensual and sluggish talking style.

Gosh! At the end of it all, I am going to cherish everything! To count the number of memorable events is tough in this nightmare-cum-fantasy filled sleep which had lasted up till today. I lived through it all, and every moment left a deep impact in me. It isn't all about sadness, but about letting go. About committing the same mistakes, about not growing up

And yes in the end, my favourite line, I loved and unloved it all at the same time.

But the air in that department is definitely ours….Its going to be difficult not feeling it anymore!
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The last time I had written something like this, it was titled, ‘Air…Is it ours?’ and was a dedication to my seniors but this time as you see, things have changed. Dunno how true is the title given to me ‘Miss Intellectual’ but as I look at the mug which sits pretty with my teddy, it doesn’t take much time to go down the memory lane in a flash.

That One Moment....

That one moment, the ecstasy of touching those little fingers, making life a prospect, worth not just a glimpse but ‘pestering’ to see the entire landscape, tickling those soft feet, that gurgling with pleasure, every little sound like music to ears, as gentle as the rain that falls, as calm as the dew on the grass, like brightness in the night…..

Like that moment there would be no another, for somebody who became a father of a little baby girl today. The pride, the joy, the peace and the love, was oozing in the voice like blood from the veins, the weariness so muddled up with zest, that apart from him touching beauty today, surprisingly I ended up feeling it and yes……The conversation so cosmic and rich in texture that I felt guilty about talking about my life in the middle of something so special… !

Sometimes, somethings are just so honest and chaste, the untaintedness so overwhelming. That you can’t help but appreciate and value them.

Have you touched beauty? Ever? Not literally, I mean, But in any form, a way not tactile enough? Something not palpable and physical but still leaving a streak behind….

Well, I did that today. Sitting five thousand miles away from the source of joy.

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A dedication to a somebody special who became a father today. Somethings just don’t change and remain special!

The Long-drawn-out Wait…

O Lord!
In your world, In my world, In our world
Why are hatred and war in attendance?
Your heart is so expansive
Yet why are ours so constricted?

At every step, why is there a boundary?
All this earth that is yours
Sun is what it revolves around
Why is it so shady still?
On this world’s veil,
why do I see blood’s colour everyday?

Echoing are the shouts of many
That pour like hot iron in my ears
Who wants to listen to the talks of love?
Shattering are all the dreams
Who is going to gather all these scattered pieces?
Heart's doors are locked
Why are these locks so rusty?

My answer?
I am still waiting……

A Temporary Matter

I see
a gap in the door that swings
on the outskirts of the heart
I want to bury the lie in there.
But it makes a new appearance
This time more vivid
More stark
So much so that it hurts
Somewhere in the abdomen
But the boiling sea water
boils more
and leaves it for the vultures
I don’t let them harm me
Well, vultures were never strong enough
But the gash bleeds for a while
And will stay for sometime before it heels, never completely…….

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Public Disgrace is intolerable and trespassers will be prosecuted !

Strings for Peace

Music is a meta- thought that transcends the borders of consciousness. It is somewhat similar to a child's innocence, having the capacity to retreat just anyone in the world of absolute joy and beauty. The art form today held a beauty of its own as one could see the wonderful amalgamation of swar and leya. It was time for some pure music for the city denizens, full of extraordinary brilliance and spiritual magnitude. Never before has one seen such perfect partnership in resonance as was witnessed this evening.

In command was none other then the legendry sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan whose culmination as an artiste seemed at its acme today. Heralded in the concert by his two sons Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, the seventh generation of Senia Bangash Gharana, the Ustad without doubt ruled the show embellishing it with his stupendous expertise in the instrument. As he began the evening with the very familiar Vaishnav Jan to the Ustad transformed the space into a sanctified sanctuary exhilarating the rapt hearts of the packed house with soulful ecstasy. He then went on to play 'Raghupati raghav raja ram' and made the audience dive into the Bihu tunes from Assam from where his wife Subhalaxmi comes from. The evening tunes according to the maestro are endowed with special notes to bring you closer to God and all that is pure, as you pray at the sunset. As if in a contemplative reverie, and with a masterful touch, the maestro let his fingers orchestrate the strings to sing, construe and embellish the classical ragas and familiar prayer songs.

It was Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's supremacy of vocal expression through the instrument that kept the audience enraptured throughout his solo session. "Swar hi ishwar hai. Language creates barriers. There is no need to understand the symphony, you just need to feel the music." Said Khan sahib. As if the beauty of the Bihu was less, Rabindra Sangeet further enriched the surroundings forcing all profanity into oblivion.

Before this, Amaan and Ayaan showed their bravura skills on Sarod with raag Raageshri. Listening to their music was also quite an ordeal as they surpassed the test of artistic creativity incredibly. They exhibited quite a lot of authority, exuberant energy and striking stage presence.

The concert's delight also laid in the fact that every instrument occupied a temperament on stage. Abetted by the maestro in presence, as the affair between men and music reached its summit, each instrumentalist brought out his best skill to present the raga in a handsome way. The young masters indulged in playful combats with their father, so did the superbly gifted Tabla players Mithilesh Jha and Sandip Das.

The final moments of the concert were impromptu encore as ripples of sound originated from the reunion of three sarods in a glittering parade of reverberation. Together they sparkled, formed melodic fireworks, and enchanting crescendos charming the listeners into unadulterated emotional heights in turn giving a measure of their tremendous talent.
The finale was made perfect by raag Khamaaj with a combination of alaap, bandish, jod and jhala that created a unique disposition in the air leading the concert to perfection. The invigoration, sensual pleasure and the spiritual brilliance that the concert had will be long remembered for its sweetness.
The recital was thus not all about rigorous classical music but playful extemporization of the symphony, in turn winging it to greater heights. Strings for Peace ruled the day

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Well im not following my passion currently- journalism....but this is how i would have reviewed the show....it was just fantastic.......not because of any 'other' reasons but the fact that i thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

Brew it Right!

Selfishness is so subtle sometimes but yet so much there. It is just there likr a spineless jellyfish and hasnt spared any. It differs in magnitude for sure. 'You are a nice human being' you told me the other day. Well modesty is somewhere down the line definitely my virtue but all that I could think of today was,'You need to learn alot from me!'
Bonds can be shaky at times inspite of appearnces being strong.

Public Relations all the time can really get on your nerves. There is nothing called nobelity around. Its not about image building but about alot of other things alot of time.

Its difficult to get but It should not be about the froth that sits at the rim of a coffee mug full of coffee. It has to be so many times about the coffee itself that has to be brewed in a way that it does not go extremely bitter.

I hate the coffee that is too frothy and with too much of chocolate at the top that even the sweetness starts irritating.

Adieu 2007

As the clock just struck 12, I have entered 2008. Well as the world dances the night away I sit here in my room like many others on this planet and write this post.

Well, as always, in a hopelessly practical world, the year went past in a jiffy and as always it was good, bad and grey with undertones of awkwardness, embarrassments, shocks, weird feelings, experiences, some really happy moments, meeting some of the most amazing people, reunions with people who are really special now……All this including the embarrassments were special in their own way. Man I can actually playback this year so clearly like a movie reel!

My course formed a very important part of my life. I think mass comm does that to you. It just keeps growing on you. I loved it and unloved it at the same time.

Apart from that my thoughts kept on pacing back and forth like a sort of tornado that kept surfacing whenever I breathed. Some people just can’t go off the mind. Maybe I don’t let them. Abstractions….so many of them..huh!

I have had my share of bouquets and brickbats in 2007

2008 is going to be one of the very significant years as this year I take some of the most imperative decisions of my life. I hope you treat me well – 2008 as I bid adieu to 2007 and enter this New Year with memories that mean a lot.