AKS

I grabbed this book on compilations of poems by Vikram Seth called "All you who sleep tonight" from the British Library, Pune. This is the title poem and one of my favourite poems ever. Whenever I read this poem it reminds me of the ordeal of people like me who stay far from their homes and on their own.

All You who Sleep Tonight

All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.


- By Vikram Seth

We see the world in the colors of our convenience

No, not by an ethereal chance, more so by a deliberate choice……….

When we are happy, it seems to be all white and bright

And when sadness creeps in, it turns out to be black and dark

Nothing lasts forever, neither time nor situations

Yet we crave for it to be dazzling when in gloom

And spend half of our lives fearing the shadows when it is sunny

While we live and emote in a mechanical world where our perceptions

Are ruled ruthlessly by the despotism of the colors Black and White,

We miss out on the real intangible color of life...

An altering mosaic painted with the hue of bliss and melancholy,

……Cast in a two toned shade of an esoteric sepia grey!!!

........By Me!

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 12:45 pm
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

This was a huge Jaswanda flower....much bigger than the ones that we normally get...

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 12:45 pm
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

So Near yet So Far.........

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 11:54 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

The brightest of them all.....

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 11:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon








The beauty of Bouganvellieas.........

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

The resting place of an abandoned God........

Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon
Date: 19th July, 2009



Luv, Luv kari pata.........



The beauty of small white grass flowers.........

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

A color so vibrant....and so full of life

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon


The Gong awaiting the call of time!

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

Mesmerised: Curious Sun-rays peeping in through a tree!

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:50 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

This was a strange looking fruit but was compelling enough to increase my curiosity!

Date: 19th July, 2009
Time: 10:45 am
Venue: Shrinagri Campus,Talegaon

Beautiful: In full bloom or without

I am back to college after a sabatical of 3 looooong years(I completed my My Masters degree in 2006) and its definitely exciting to be a student again expecially of a reputed Institution like Symbiosis. Am looking forward for all the fun activities that await me. Of course that means a curb on my lovely liesure filled evenings, regular reading books will now be replaced with study materials, visists to friends and family will reduce drastically. I will have to practically juggle my personal, proffessional and educational life. But thats ok. Am ready to take this added responsibility head on!!!.....Am Soooooo Excited!!!!

: )

The other day I was browsing thru some of my old School Photographs. Its been 10 long years since I left School. And I spotted a friend. She was a very talented singer and was so intelligent that the school expected her to bag a rank in the merit list. This however did not happen. We met again in XI when we studied at Karnavat Coaching Classes. This girl who was so talented, plunged to her death from her terrace just because she couldn't fare well in her CA Entrance when we were in our First Year B. Com. I am sure it was an impulsive decision. How can someone just give away their life for one trivial bad experience. What I learnt much later was many people are driven to the point of no return and take such random decisions every single day. This is one of My Poems in an effort to change the mind of at least One such person who is on the verge of self-destruction. Because even though life may not please us always but it is a precious gift. No pain or person is deserving enough to sacrifice ones life for. The poem is in 5 parts. Each part symbolizes a different thought process!

This one is dedicated to you my Late Friend! So Long.......

Is the Reason to Die Good Enough?

His Story: Failure
His grades topped him in the high school
And the burden of expectations grew
manifold on him after that…
His marks became the object of his family’s pride
His parent’s beaming ego went on a complete joy ride
But due to his negligence his grades plummeted
And when he flunked his engineering entrance
With dashed hope and the pain of failure being unbearable
He could not meet them but more importantly himself in the eye
And he felt it was a reason good enough for him to die
One morning without anybody’s notice
He plunged to his death from his family home
His home- the place where once his presence
was celebrated was now cast under a pall of gloom
His parents who were left less shocked and more ashamed
Will regret the pressure they put on him all their life
But what was the use to contemplate their actions now
Its better that they swallow their grief and heave a sigh!
For their doomed peer pressure
Spelt a reason good enough for him to die


Her Story: Heart Break
She had everything that could set the ball rolling…
Beauty, intelligence, confidence, education and all
She have had always so many people around her
Waiting to be-friend her for her kindness and charm
Her down to earth sweet demeanor left impressed one and all
She was a different person until she met him in that fall
He floored her with his compassion and swooned her with the beauty of his tall claims
He showed her pink dreams of love and laced them with golden promises of marriage
She drooled over her knight in shining armour
Thought he was the one to bail her out when she was a damsel in distress
Little did she know that he was the guy who would leave her happy heart in a wreck
And walk off to be a prince of someone new, to be with somebody else..
And this was a reason potent enough for her to die
She cried incessantly for she thought nothing worth living was left anymore
She wondered what a fool she was to believe someone
Who could easily breach her trust and forget her instantly like she never existed atall
Then she decided she was too innocent to survive in this cunning world
She sang of Juliet and drank a venomous drink to forever cease her pain
Her prince is happy with his life now….has his new princess in his tow
Her pain and suffering is dead and so is she!
For her ripped to shreds broken heart
accorded her a reason good enough to die

The aftermath


For Him: Coward
He is dead now…He will not return
He will have no opportunity to undo what’s done
He will not see the smile of his loved ones
He will not be a reason to be their pride
No…not any longer
He could have given his life a reprimanding of sort
He could have fared better the next time
Now there is no next time
No…Not any longer
His parents hide their tear-dried face
For every time someone stares at them
They say, these are the people who gave birth to a coward
Who cracked up for one fickle failure which was under his control
When he could have easily given himself another chance…but is it possible now
No…Not any longer


For Her: Futile
She is asleep, her slumber is beyond the recall of time
And she wont get up even if her prince comes by
What was it that she derived out of this reckless abandon of life
A proof of how true her love was or an evidence of sheer cowardice
She couldn’t bear living without someone
Someone whom she never understood that she was better off without
Why give up something as precious as ones life
For someone who doesn’t care even an ounce for it otherwise
If she had wallowed her pain and healed her heart
And lived to see a beautiful day……..
Her life wouldn’t have been a tragedy
but a story of will and strength..
She gave her life for him…
For someone who thought nothing more of it but “Futile”


The Thought: Escapism
Both He and She sought solace in the arms of death
When they could have done so much more…
Instead of turning a deaf ear to the call of life…
They thought these reasons were good enough to die
Because for them
Giving up was much easier than hanging on…………….

Elephant the Management Guru!

Date: 5th July, 2009
Time: 7:45 pm
Venue: Gokhale Road Naupada,Thane

Are you perplexed with the Tittle? Are you taxing your brains thinking about the connection between this Mammoth and Management? Allow me to explain.
I had always heard that Elephants are very intelligent animals. But have you ever seen an Elephant practising Management? This Elephant seems to have all the qualities of a Management Guru. I will tell you why!! : )
Foreword: It collected coins and notes on the tip of his trunk and would give it up to the Mahout only when a substantial amount was collected to avoid taking pains by raising his trunk consecutively again and again. This shows that the Elephant was a Smart Worker and not just a Hard Worker. But it got swayed when it saw someone giving him Bananas. He lost his focus, gave whatever coins he collected to the Mahout and continued to binge on the Bananas. One Man just pretended to give him something to eat but never gave it to the Elephant. The Elephant however gave all the coins to the Mahout.

Now what are the lessons that we learn from this Elephant.
1. Keep some cards in your hands, do not divulge all. You rule the roost till the time you are the sole party to whats IMPORTANT.
2. Be a smart worker and not just a hard worker. Gone are the days to slog. It is time to be proactive and plan strategic moves. Foresight, initiative, innovation, interpersonal skills and Plan B are the new found key words.
3. It is good to focus on something and treat it as significant but if a fruitful(literally in this case : ) opportunity comes along you may switch your streams to be part of the High Tide.
4. There are people who show us Gajjar( banana in this case hehe) but that might just be a facade and you might end up loosing out on what you had in your hands in the first place.
5. Every situation is different and it is necessary to contemplate the pros and cons of every action and act accordingly. One way of reacting might not necessarily fit the bill for all the circumstances. Your thought process needs to be fluid.

Isn't it weird but wonderful how people, places, animals and our surroundings have a lesson or two to teach. We just need to observe them closely and decode the hidden meanings and apply them in the due course of our lives.

Owing to the sheer scarcity of films due to the distributors strike over the last 2 months and due to a pressing urge to relieve our stressed sensory nerves (Translate: fu@#$d up brains) by indulging into some mindless melodrama, we forced ourselves to make a not so difficult choice (Read : Obvious) of choosing New York over Paying Guest. So on a relaxed lazy Sunday afternoon we (Me and my groupies) took our seats at E-square, Pune. Some what groggy eyed(due to the heavy lunch) and somewhat due to the dim lighting conditions along with the comfort(Aahhhh read AC, completely non-existent in my hostel). We were just stepping in the Cinema hall when we all got the same message from our dear friend Shreyans. Let me quote him in his very own sms vocab,”John is d terrorist n he dies along with Katrina.neil mukesh beign fbi undr cover agent. Neil tks care of john n katrina’s child in d end…NJOY D MUVIE NEWYORK” Yeah Shreyans thanks for being so pro-active to disclose the story to us already. What fools were we to spend our hard earned 150 bucks on Tickets we would have might as well heard the whole story for free from you. (Warning: Please stay put wherever you are coz we are going to tug you by your lapels and are going to take back every ounce of our hard-earned money. And yeah thanks once again for killing the suspense)
After a lot of cursing and swearing. We finally settled down to watch the movie. So the credits started rolling and we saw the most beautiful views of the sky scrappers in New York. As the film advanced you spot the gullible Omar targeted by the FBI under the pretext of a hoax terrorism charge. FBI’s game is to make Omar work as a under cover agent to breach the fool-proof plan of John Abraham who allegedly runs a terrorist sleeper cell in New-York. Then there is a 45 mins flash back of “ sweet as candy” good ol’ days. Where one spots the regular ingredients of Yash Raj banner – there is a lot of dosti And pyar, ishq aur mohabbat on the campus of the New York State University. Omar, Maya and Sameer played perfectly well by Niel, Katrina and John are college mates and are enjoying the crisp & beautiful years of University life. Then there is a love triangle thrown in. No prizes for guessing who's the object of admiration.NO! its not John we are past his Dostana days already. And boy we prefer it that way ; )

Ok. SO Omar successfully plants himself in the family with an underlying agenda only to prove the FBI otherwise. We are soon made to believe that Sameer is leading a very straight-laced life until a sudden and well executed twist reveals he is actually undertaking terrorist activities(Thanks to the forsaken SMS we were not surprised atall). So Omar plays accomplice even though has to shoot one of the traitors to prove his loyalty. FBI Agent Roshan played to the hilt by Irfan Khan has some interesting sequences in the film.

Katrina looks like the quintessential baby doll. Whats worth noticing apart from her beauty is the level of improvement that her language and expression shows. There are many close-ups in the films and very emotionally charged scenes but Ms. Kaif performs fairly good than her other films( See Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya to understand the progression in her acting skills by leaps and bounds : )It was also very cute to see her play mommy dearest. Omar continuously undergoes a battle for his purpose behind deceiving his friends. Especially after Sameer tells him about how he was imprisoned post the 9/11 on no strong proof for his involvement in the terrorist activity. The atrocities hat are rendered on these suspects are extremely grotesque and are completely heart-wrenching. This forms a background and gives the raison d’tre for Sameer’s inclination towards such hard arm tactics. At that moment the audience starts sympathizing with Sameer. Then there is an alternate track of Zilgae who Maya is trying to help legally and emotionally as a human rights activist. We also see him killing an NYPD officer because he practically molests Maya in an attempt to search her. Omar together with Maya try to get a commitment from the FBI for Sameer's imprisonment instead of killing him as he is planning to give up his mission. But as the end unfolds we find Sameer is going to Blow up the FBI building. Only after a long emotional diatribe we see the FBI killing both Sameer and Maya. And Omar looking after their son and forgiving Agent Roshan.

Flop Side:-

Niel and Katrina have different looks when they are in University and 7 years after. But our John seems to be looking the same.

Why does John put the Bombs outside the building? Doesn’t he know the windows are see through and people are watching him planting the bombs!! huh..

There is no indication that this is a suicide mission, then why is John on the top of the building with the remote that he actually intends to blow up?? Duh…

The musical score doesn't have much to add except for the latest radio chart buster”Junoon” ans "Mere Sang"



Flip side:

New-york is shot extremely well. And the landscape blooms beautifully in the cinematography.

The screenplay is good and fringes on the border of acceptable and believable.

The plot is tight and too the point and does not get over verbose and saggy

The best part is the film ends in 2 hours

I will definitely recommend it to be watched at least once. It's a good Masala Movie trying to highlight issues of grave importance like terrorism and human rights on the backdrop of the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath!!

A few days back Milind N and Me had an enlightening or you can say lightening conversation on the serious issue of Swine Flu. Read it below.

Milind Naphade's SMS: Do you know the symptoms of Swine Flu plz tell me? I think I have got it.

My Reply: Yeah there are 3 Symptoms
1. You start hating pork for some strange reason
2. You start falling in love with the lil piggie "babe" from Babe in the City. And you get this non-curbable fetish to watch the movie again and again.
3. You start SMSing your friends frantically to know the symptoms of swine flu

Dost I think you are infected.


Milind Naphade's SMS: LOL.