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| My bottle |
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| An old man |
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| Jhumri, our ex - G.Sec. :) |
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
One, two, three
As a child, I used to sketch and paint a lot. but owing to a lot of factors and also due to my own disinterest in the first two years in college, it took a backseat. Being the last summer when I am this free, I thought this was the perfect time to start afresh (or restart afresh). Good painting/sketching requires keen observation of the world around you. The problem I used to face always was that I used to start off well, but then used to get bored in the middle, resulting in non - real (relative to the object being sketched/painted) and unsatisfactory stuff. So I decided to ape some already existing paintings, to get a hold of how a real landscape/object/person is represented on paper using colours and pencil. So I picked up a book and started copying! :P
All the paintings below have been done with poster colours, which is an opaque medium and with hindsight, water colours would have been much better.
One:
Landscape in only one colour - brown. I feel the clouds and islands have turned out nicely, but the water on the horizon is too dark and that closest to the viewer is a bit light. Perhaps a principle of colorimetry could set things right! This one's the simplest and probably the most beautiful of the three.
Two:
Apart from the black in the huts, I've used only two colours - brown and green in painting this landscape. Owing to the bad picture quality, the sky appears absolutely bland; it is (slightly) better in the original. Many things could have been better, especially the nearer mountain and the shrubs.
Three:
Made out of three colours - yellow, blue and vermilion (primary colours), this is the worst of the three, and the picture quality worsens it further. Absence of bright colours and my laziness in changing the water regularly shows up!
All the paintings below have been done with poster colours, which is an opaque medium and with hindsight, water colours would have been much better.
One:Landscape in only one colour - brown. I feel the clouds and islands have turned out nicely, but the water on the horizon is too dark and that closest to the viewer is a bit light. Perhaps a principle of colorimetry could set things right! This one's the simplest and probably the most beautiful of the three.
Apart from the black in the huts, I've used only two colours - brown and green in painting this landscape. Owing to the bad picture quality, the sky appears absolutely bland; it is (slightly) better in the original. Many things could have been better, especially the nearer mountain and the shrubs.
Made out of three colours - yellow, blue and vermilion (primary colours), this is the worst of the three, and the picture quality worsens it further. Absence of bright colours and my laziness in changing the water regularly shows up!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Childhood is a promise that is never kept
Akin to the Hindi poem, I had written this one some time ago. For the sake of a record, I put it here on my blog. The title is surely more promising than the poem. The title was given to us and I wrote the poem. So, the disparity is expected! Doyens would argue whether this piece is a poem. Certainly they are right! Besides, I'm sure the poem will not appeal to many because it is too personal. Where the shoe pinches is known by the one who wears it! In this case, the one who writes it :)
The present of today: the one for which I'd craved.
The presents lost to earn it, Alas! I wish I'd saved.
All because of that crook: that salesman with the scheme of exchange.
So readily I accepted the gold; gold I did not gain, gold I did estrange!
The estranged gold is intangible now; A myth; a dream that never was fulfilled.
Reality check tells me, ever in a Utopian state is anyone grilled?
Vermicelli was the order of the day when Eid was around.
This, an unkept promise: the world keeps this Hindu adult bound.
The warmth of my mumma's heart: that it will last eternal.
With her no more around, is a fake, a promise so mortal!
I'll show the Ambanis what it means to be together.
A promise I myself couldn't keep, as love wilted in hatred - weather!
Ignorance is bliss, they say, yet knowledge is what I did seek,
Is that indeed the reason,why everything now seems so bleak?
It has been very long since the last day I slept.
Although transitory, Childhood is a promise that is never kept!
The present of today: the one for which I'd craved.
The presents lost to earn it, Alas! I wish I'd saved.
All because of that crook: that salesman with the scheme of exchange.
So readily I accepted the gold; gold I did not gain, gold I did estrange!
The estranged gold is intangible now; A myth; a dream that never was fulfilled.
Reality check tells me, ever in a Utopian state is anyone grilled?
Vermicelli was the order of the day when Eid was around.
This, an unkept promise: the world keeps this Hindu adult bound.
The warmth of my mumma's heart: that it will last eternal.
With her no more around, is a fake, a promise so mortal!
I'll show the Ambanis what it means to be together.
A promise I myself couldn't keep, as love wilted in hatred - weather!
Ignorance is bliss, they say, yet knowledge is what I did seek,
Is that indeed the reason,why everything now seems so bleak?
It has been very long since the last day I slept.
Although transitory, Childhood is a promise that is never kept!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Greek effect
Greek Mythology is full of adulterous, incestuous and other such references, which are now legally and scientifically tabooed. Frankly, I expected some of these, yet I was left shocked and flummoxed by the stuff I read while wiki-ing Greek Mythology! Have a look:
1. The greatest of the Greek heroes, Heracles (whom we know as Hercules) was the great - grandson of Perseus (first of the Greek heroes). So, what's great about that, you may ask. Well, the two were half - brothers as well!
2. Oedipus, the mythical Greek King of Thebes fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother (unknowingly though), and thus brought disaster on his city and family. Sigmund Freud later used this myth to name his "Oedipus complex"
3. Alcmene was pregnant with two sons at the same time - Heracles (by Zeus) and Iphicles (by Amphitryon) : a case of heterosexual superfecundation.
4. Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of Gods, respectively, were a couple as well as real brother - sister. Same was the case with Ares (The Roman Mars) and Aphrodite (The Roman Venus), and many others.
5. Of course ALL Greek Gods were adulterous, but one surely stands out - another Heracles story: "As a reward for killing the Lion of Cithaeron, Thepius king of Thespaie offered him the chance to make love to his daughters, all fifty of them, in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of Sparta and Macedon."
6. Q: How did Milky Way come into existence?
A: According to Greek Mythology, baby Heracles suckled Hera (Greek Queen of Gods) so strongly that
her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way.
(Information courtesy: Wikipedia)
Howdy? :P
A few comments by my batchmate, Avradeep Bhowmik (The paranthesised clarifications are mine)
1. Almost ALL Greek heroes were sons of Zeus, so basically that makes them all half-brothers.
(But the interesting fact that still remains is that Heracles was the great - grandson of Perseus although both were born of the same father, Zeus)
2.Oedipus blinded himself after he got to know Jocasta was his mother, and Jocasta committed suicide. (This is absolutely true - that was the reason why I wrote "unknowingly though". You can read about the very interesting legend from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus#Basics_of_the_myth
3. Much better than Mary who was pregnant without even having sex (Well, same was the case with our own Kunti :P)
4. Same was the case with all human race after Adam and Eve as well- they siblings had to marry each other simply because there was no one else! (Yes, of course, but Adam and eve existed about 2000 years before the Greeks)
5. (This indeed was called the 13th labour of Heracles)
So Greek Mythology is full of interesting and intriguing stories. In Avradeep's words, "the Greeks practically invented gossip and spicy literature." And yes, I have just fallen in love with it! This blog post is only meant to be an appetiser for a rather scrumptious meal! So if you are hungry, go and have a slice of the delicious Greek Mythology!
Cheers!
Alankar
1. The greatest of the Greek heroes, Heracles (whom we know as Hercules) was the great - grandson of Perseus (first of the Greek heroes). So, what's great about that, you may ask. Well, the two were half - brothers as well!
2. Oedipus, the mythical Greek King of Thebes fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother (unknowingly though), and thus brought disaster on his city and family. Sigmund Freud later used this myth to name his "Oedipus complex"
3. Alcmene was pregnant with two sons at the same time - Heracles (by Zeus) and Iphicles (by Amphitryon) : a case of heterosexual superfecundation.
4. Zeus and Hera, the King and Queen of Gods, respectively, were a couple as well as real brother - sister. Same was the case with Ares (The Roman Mars) and Aphrodite (The Roman Venus), and many others.
5. Of course ALL Greek Gods were adulterous, but one surely stands out - another Heracles story: "As a reward for killing the Lion of Cithaeron, Thepius king of Thespaie offered him the chance to make love to his daughters, all fifty of them, in one night. Heracles complied and they all became pregnant and all bore sons. Many of the kings of ancient Greece traced their lines to one or another of these, notably the kings of Sparta and Macedon."
6. Q: How did Milky Way come into existence?
A: According to Greek Mythology, baby Heracles suckled Hera (Greek Queen of Gods) so strongly that
her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way.
(Information courtesy: Wikipedia)
Howdy? :P
1. Almost ALL Greek heroes were sons of Zeus, so basically that makes them all half-brothers.
(But the interesting fact that still remains is that Heracles was the great - grandson of Perseus although both were born of the same father, Zeus)
2.Oedipus blinded himself after he got to know Jocasta was his mother, and Jocasta committed suicide. (This is absolutely true - that was the reason why I wrote "unknowingly though". You can read about the very interesting legend from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus#Basics_of_the_myth
3. Much better than Mary who was pregnant without even having sex (Well, same was the case with our own Kunti :P)
4. Same was the case with all human race after Adam and Eve as well- they siblings had to marry each other simply because there was no one else! (Yes, of course, but Adam and eve existed about 2000 years before the Greeks)
5. (This indeed was called the 13th labour of Heracles)
So Greek Mythology is full of interesting and intriguing stories. In Avradeep's words, "the Greeks practically invented gossip and spicy literature." And yes, I have just fallen in love with it! This blog post is only meant to be an appetiser for a rather scrumptious meal! So if you are hungry, go and have a slice of the delicious Greek Mythology!
Cheers!
Alankar
Saturday, May 14, 2011
लाल गुलाब
निम्नलिखित कविता मैंने २००५ - २००६ में घटित निठारी हत्याकांड के विषय में लिखी थी | यह हत्याकांड हमारी भूरी वर्दी वाली पुलिस व्यवस्था पर तो एक कलंक है ही, साथ ही हमारे समाज की नीच मानसिकता को भी दर्शाता है - कैसी घोर विडम्बना है, जिस देश में एक अमीर बाप के कल अपहृत पुत्र को आज छुड़ा लिया जाता है, उसी देश में अनेक गरीबों के बच्चे साल भर तक गायब होते रहे, परन्तु पुलिस एवं प्रशासन हाथ पे हाथ धरे बैठा रहा | हम अपने देश के भविष्य, नन्हे मुन्हे लाल गुलाबों को सहेजकर रखने में पूर्ण रूप से असफल साबित हुए |
लाल गुलाब
देखो, ये चारदीवारी है, लाल गुलाब के पीछे,
सुर्ख लाल में डूबी हुई |
निशान, छींटे और कुछ धब्बे तिरछे,
इनकी आज पहचान हुई |
कुछ तो हैं गहरे लाल पर कुछ हैं थोड़े हलके,
अपने लहू के अंश तलाशती आँखों से आंसू ढलके |
नन्हे गुलाब कि पंखुड़ियां ज़िद करती हमेशा लोरी सुनने की,
पर ये लाल चारदीवारी रस्म अदा करती अस्थि चुनने की |
देखो ये बेशर्म मिटटी है, लाल गुलाब के नीचे,
गहरे भूरे में लिपटी हुई |
हाथ पैर की हड्डियां, आँखें और कलेजे,
इनकी आज पहचान हुई |
सपनों की, उम्मीदों की, इसमें दफन हुई कई लाशें,
लावारिस बचपन पड़ा रहा, दबे रहे गुडिया और पताशे |
पर यहीं इस मिटटी में देखो, लाल गुलाब है उपजा,
पर ना नोचना इसको तुम, नाज़ुक है, जाएगा मुरझा |
लाल गुलाबदेखो, ये चारदीवारी है, लाल गुलाब के पीछे,
सुर्ख लाल में डूबी हुई |
निशान, छींटे और कुछ धब्बे तिरछे,
इनकी आज पहचान हुई |
कुछ तो हैं गहरे लाल पर कुछ हैं थोड़े हलके,
अपने लहू के अंश तलाशती आँखों से आंसू ढलके |
नन्हे गुलाब कि पंखुड़ियां ज़िद करती हमेशा लोरी सुनने की,
पर ये लाल चारदीवारी रस्म अदा करती अस्थि चुनने की |
देखो ये बेशर्म मिटटी है, लाल गुलाब के नीचे,
गहरे भूरे में लिपटी हुई |
हाथ पैर की हड्डियां, आँखें और कलेजे,
इनकी आज पहचान हुई |
सपनों की, उम्मीदों की, इसमें दफन हुई कई लाशें,
लावारिस बचपन पड़ा रहा, दबे रहे गुडिया और पताशे |
पर यहीं इस मिटटी में देखो, लाल गुलाब है उपजा,
पर ना नोचना इसको तुम, नाज़ुक है, जाएगा मुरझा |
Friday, May 13, 2011
Love you Honey Bunny
Honey Bunny and her husband, pumpkin are sipping coffee in a restaurant and a waitress asks Honey bunny for more coffee and she replies in a lesbian - like way, "Oh yes! Thank you." Later in the scene she says thanks to her husband, plain - faced , when he praises her idea of taking the customers' wallets. Before that she says in a soft voice laying her head on the table, "I'm not gonna kill anybody". Then she becomes a tigress in that abrupt (absolutely genius) change of tone, yelling with a pistol in her hand, "...and I will execute every mother f***ing last one of you!". You better watch the video:
The only other appearance of Honey bunny in the film is in the last 15 minutes or so. She bears that serious expression when pumpkin points a pistol at Jules and asks him to open his briefcase and then counts to three. Moments later she curiously asks, "What is in it? What is it?" Her excitement increases, "God damn it, what is in it" And then she becomes this tigress once again when Jules points the pistol at pumpkin and she jumps on the couch and starts yelling randomly! "What's faun zee like" asks Jules and she replies in a very soft voice "He's cool!" and after standing in the same position for a few minutes, when Vincent points gun at Yolanda, yes that's her real name, she again gets anxious and nervous. "How you doin' baby" asks Jules and poor Yolanda replies, "I gotta go pee. I want to go home". Then her husband is forced to say, "I'm proud of you honey bunny" to which Yolanda replies, now almost crying, "I love you".
Of course the sparkling climax of the film is a master - stroke by Tarantino, who mixes tension with just the right amount of humour, yet, Amanda Plummer deserves due credit for making the quirky character of Honey bunny so very adorable!
Love you Honey Bunny! :)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A tribute to B-gradism
I mean just look at the poster to your left - isn't it awesome?
So the rest of the article is dedicated to this gem of a film which has entertained me over and over again, one of Rani's early adventures - Mehndi!
You can read about its plot from its wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi_%28film%29
But that does not reveal anything special about this special film! So here are some snippets from this dowry - revenge saga:
One of my favourite scenes comes right in the start when newly wed Rani's elder nanad asks her to gift her the maang ka tikla, which is of course motherless Rani's maa ki aakhiri nishaani and Rani's saas, played brilliantly by Himani Shivpuri, taunts, "Har cheez apni sahi jagah aa hi jaati hai" when Rani gives the tikla unwillingly. Yes, Rani does have her revenge later in the film when she snatches it back after shooting her nanad's husband and thus widowing her!
That takes me to another priceless court sequence:
Rani's father has been murdered right in the court since he took his pistol out when he could not bear the opposition judge calling her dear daughter a sl** and so this guy, nanad's husband shoots Rani's father instead. Rani takes pratigya to avenge her father's death and fights her own case in the court. Yo!
The scene: (Rani has already requested nanad's husband to give answers to her questions calmly)
Rani: Kya aapki maa ra**i thi?
Nanad's husband: Aye ladki...
Rani: Sirf haan ya na mein jawaab dijiye
Nanad's husband: Tu... (something more that I don't remember, damn!)
Rani(to judge saheb): My lord, mere itna samjhane ke baad bhi, jab maine inse ye poochha ki kya
inki maa ra**i thi,jo ki ek sach hai, to ye bardaasht nahi kar paaye. To kya
beeti hogi us baap par jiski beti ko bina kisi baat ke bhari adalat mein ra**i
bola jaa raha tha?
Now the nanad's husband loses it completely and shoots atleast 3 bullets from his pistol at Rani, which she miraculously survives, Not only that, she manages to take the stick from the andha kanoon statue and murders the nanad's husband with it in "self - defence".
Then there is that delicious climax when Himani Shivpuri ties Rani tightly on the death bed and puts many heavy logs over her, and just at the moment when she's about to light the fire, Rani musters all her amazing amount of strength and gets up, only to take the final revenge!
There are many more interesting scenes in this film, whose themes are too raw and crude to be stated here (yes, even more than that courtroom scene).
Amazingly, this film used to come uncensored in those days, when I didn't even know those words! And now, having searched everywhere on the net, I can't get anything more than songs of this film. What a pity! We don't even know how to pay tribute to our classics!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
"Isiliye main door nahi jaata... wapas khali jaana padta hai..."
The minute the auto rickshaw came to a halt, my eager eyes moved to the meter. "153 hua", I uttered, getting up from my seat taking my recently bought navy blue back bag in my hand. "32 nahi bolte, 3.2 bolte hain"- these words of an elderly auto walla hit my mind instantly and I recalled how mortified I had felt that day! Hoping that this guy doesn't 'correct' me once again, I took my travelling bag out of the rickshaw and asked, "Kitne dene hain?". Considering that an afternoon drive from my hostel to Borivali station had once cost me Rs. 230, this 7 a.m. reverse drive should have cost lesser, around Rs. 180 - 190 I thought, so the number 153 was reasonable. "15.3 ke...", yeah yeah I thought, "246", he said, defying all the reason, rubbishing all my calculations.
Utterly flabbergasted, I asked for the conversion chart. It clearly read 197 in the column next to 15.3. But 246 was written in the 'Price with luggage' column of the chart. Luggage! What - this travel bag? or this back bag? "Kis baat ka luggage, ek hi to bag hai", I told him politely. "Nahi nahi luggage ka to banta hai, itni door wapas khaali jaana padega...", he spoke, almost prepared, giving me the most cliched excuse ever. "Akela hi tha main to, luggage ko doosra jana samajh lo...", I tried to give a comic but logical explanation. "Final karte hain, 230 de do...", he said thinking, I was bargaining with him!
Now came one of the hostel house - keepers to my aid, asking angrily, "Kya luggage, koi 200 - 300 kilo hai kya?!". "Nahi nahi luggage ka to banta hai, itni door wapas khaali jaana padega...", repeated the chalu auto walla, raising his voice slightly. "Ek hi to jana hai, ek bag bhi nahi hoga kya? Bina baat kyun lootte ho?" shouted the hero house keeper. "Aap de do mujhe jitna luggage ka banta hai... inka mat suno", said the chalu auto walla hoping that I would comply with his wish!
I took out two hundred rupee notes from my wallet and offered him the money. "Kyaaa...", said the disappointed auto walla. "10 rupay to do luggage ka...", he reduced his demand. "Kuchh mat do..." said the house keeper. In order to avoid any further arguments, I gave a ten rupee note to the auto walla. "Isiliye main door nahi jaata... wapas khali jaana padta hai... luggage ka...", mumbled the auto walla turning the rickshaw back. "Nahi dene ka tha... bina baat lootte hain...", told me the house keeper.
Another house keeper stopped the auto walla and yelled angrily, "Jhagda kyun karta hai... ek to lootta hai". "Wapas khali jaana padta hai... luggage ka to lete hain... yehi to milta hai", shouted the auto walla yet again - the same stupid explanation for the third time! "Iska number note karo", said house keeper no. 1 to the security guard sitting on his desk. I went with my luggage to my second floor room, hoping that it all ended there and then. But, guess what, it didn't!
When I came back to the ground floor after keeping my luggage, I saw the security guard complaining about the auto walla on the telephone. He handed over the phone to me instructing me to describe what had happened. The bechara auto walla had been stopped by the security at the main gate. "Bolo adhaai sau rupay liye...", told me house keeper no. 1, almost giggling. I told the security the truth. I heard the bechara auto walla explaining the security in a lamb - like voice "10 rupay hi to liye luggage ke... kya galat kiya". "Kya karna hai iska", asked the security at the main gate and I returned the phone to the security guard.
I don't know if in future, that auto walla will ask any other passenger with a single travelling bag Rs. 50 extra for luggage or not, but he'll surely remember this morning and the embarrassment he had to suffer courtesy the valiant house keepers of Hostel - 6, IIT Bombay!
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