Limit extends to…

Conscious premeditation to conceal one’s fear can be a civilized definition for ‘Superstitions’. With the evolution, material or physical triggers of fear are almost obliterated. That leaves us predominantly with the psychological ones. And they are generated with a comprehensive knowledge of self actions. Nothing would explain this better than the Newton’s third law of motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Here, the action is the fear of confronting the opposite reaction!

As a further matter, the limit of a person indulging in superstitions is directly proportional to the fraud committed or to be committed in one’s life. In the first case it’s the awareness of the sin committed. Likewise, in the latter, it’s the fear of the outcome of the evil to be committed.

There are always exceptions to the rules mostly resulted out of poor upbringing or absence of common sense or neutral approach towards beliefs. Despite everything, these exceptional cases have to undergo the suspicious scanning and then land in the security zone followed by persistent corroboration. In stead, clarity of thought and actions last for a lifetime!!!

A. R. Rahman [Extempore]

Extempore is a game which I often played in the inter-college competitions. You are given a topic and about a minute to prepare. And then you have another minute on stopwatch to talk on it. With my ability, I guess this was one of my favourites!

Oily hairs, dusky complexion, short and stout physique and an extraordinary timid nature seldom induce curiosity. With these facets attributed to self, he has made the impossible possible. Idol for millions of composers, superstar for the buffs, dignified adversary for other music directors and my God is none other than A. R. Rahman.

His ability to compose the unexpected sequences never ceases to amaze me. His tunes surpass the trend of ‘music for supporting lyrics’, and launch a milestone of creative symphony. One has to be a prodigy to make the words sound virtually indispensable to the tune and vice versa when you don’t even speak that language. That’s the beauty of inherent creativity.

One person to induce a sense of doing justice to the music in the team and make it his style is not a child’s play. The only explanation to his unassuming demeanour could be his love is his profession. And he is beyond the money and fame this industry has to offer. One of his kinds for not running behind glamour and recognition and yet becoming synonymous to it, he is firm footed on the grounds in a world of Know-it-alls!!! Beep… [The stopwatch buzzer!!!!]

Matter-of-Facts

This series is my effort to pen down some brilliant thoughts overheard from Debates, Experiences and Informal Interviews. My take: “We aren’t aware that they are spot on true and omnipresent”.

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  It’s not about winning; it’s about playing the game till the end.


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  The easiest thing one can do in life is tell the ‘Truth’. And the most difficult thing is ‘Be Simple’.


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  Looks are either Natural or Bad.


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  If we happen to gather all the people who say what others want to hear, and aim to be famous; ‘10 chores sq.ft. of Dumping Grounds’ wouldn’t be enough for them.


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  Doing something with an intention of reciprocation is the height of idleness.


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  Reliability is one thing that is not proportional to money. It takes years together to achieve it, and a fraction of a second is enough to lose it forever.


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  Complication is nothing but the involvement of too many people.


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  Hope is synonymous to ‘losing ones confidence’. And Belief is giving up the ‘verify & trust’ approach.


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  How you fall is immaterial, if how you rise is marvellous.


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  Being special is not just being an exception; it is also being different than others at common state of affairs.


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  Freedom and Responsibility are the two sides of the same coin.


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  We often misinterpret dreams as aspirations. The foremost difference being, Aspirations are aimed at fulfilling, and Dreams take place when one is redundant.


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  Gesture of giving matters, not the nature of donation.


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  Inferiority complex is when you are ashamed of your deeds; Superiority complex is when you pretend to be least bothered about those shameful deeds.

Independence, is it?

Attendance to a family get-together organised for the Grand Papas & Maas, accentuated a few facts which I overlooked for reasons unknown. Yes, I shall categorically call it an ‘Attendance’, because it was only abiding by my parents. Lack of communication with parents is contemporary or some who would brave to claim that the parents-children relationship is “healthy”. To give them the benefit of doubt, let’s say, it’s merely out of unawareness of the ‘Healthy Terms and Conditions’. Just having a rapport limited to an exchange of words cannot be termed as healthy, or for that matter, even a relationship.

Looking at all the middle aged relatives entertaining the older generation, it struck me that such smoothness in the bonds is rarely established within our generation. By the way it all went; it was crystal clear that the long years of ‘Healthy’ interactions with them was the only reason for the ease. It looked so simple yet complicated! And it occurred to me that talking over the generation gap which provides as a chief justification these days is futile.

With the ‘work-earn-enjoy’ phenomenon being an imminent feature of the new millennium, we seldom realise that there is no time allocated to ‘Home’. And spending time home is just the beginning. Being transparent about your plan of actions and so called personal life seems to be a new theory for us. My biggest insight was that such kind of transparency was the backbone of our parents’ success. We often misinterpret the personal plans and life as independence. Not being able to have open books is not independence neither is it a sign of growing up. It is a straight path to compulsive lying. I fail to understand how does ambiguity about ones actions gets interpreted as independence. It should rather be termed as blunder!

The maturity here lies in the acceptance of the fact that we need to admit our failure in our duties and act accordingly. Having a progeny is the highest form of completeness. Our parents have rightfully given it to their parents, unfortunately we haven’t. Independence for the generation of the new millennium needs to be redefined. Life is not about fun only. We need to understand the significance of our duties towards our preceding generation. No one refuses the gap, and amongst the two generations, it has to be the youngsters’ sense of duty to be flexible. The elders have done their adjustments with their preceding age group.

If we know there is a gap, being the bridge goes without saying. If we despise asking for permissions, we need to be transparent about our actions. If we want financial independence, we should be capable of supporting our parents. When we are capable of becoming the bridge, addicted to transparency and financially sound, only then will we be subjected to independence. And it doesn’t end here. The authentic accomplishment is sustaining it forever.

Khandita: The Irony

Khandita is perceptibly one of my all time favourite characters. She is most commonly recollected as “the one ditched by her beloved”. One of the reasons for her to be on my top-notch is the fact that she bears a substantial extent of emotions at the same time. I am trying my hand at presenting her the way I see her. She is most likely to go astray from the authentic tale. I wish to call this improvised character as ‘Khandita: The Irony’.
Khandita was too serene to get carried away. He knew her sense of commitment and exploited it time and again to craft a long distance relationship. Out of sheer virtue, she never questioned that and he never revealed the reasons. He had the nerve to meet her with all the traces of his other relationship, and when asked to leave, he quit without any explanations.
It was an insult which she had to digest without any prejudices. After pondering over it, she stopped cursing her fate because it was her fault more than his. Loving someone doesn’t mean that one never questions the other. She had had many occasions to demand explanations where she failed to exercise her right. This realisation made her get over him quickly. Weeping and cursing over her destiny was stopped immediately. The fear of falling in love once again was wiped off. Her biggest achievement was she never hated him for the failure of their relationship. And she reached a point where she laughed over her mistakes in that phase!
Her dignity was lost due to her innocence, her faith was lost due to her reliability, and she lost her lover due to her unconditional love for him. She is not only sympathised but is an immortal being for inducing a sense of apprehension towards commitment. The dormant fear of being ditched is universal, and she keeps it alive. But I would rather seal her memory as an impulsive fighter. However she is worthy of a high sense of compassion for being one of the unparalleled prevalent irony!

Candid Shots

It has been my natural tendency and inclination to participate in all the cultural festivals and competitions right from my school days. Few days back I had an opportunity to be a part of such an event courtesy my friend ‘A’. She was participating in a group dance competition in her college. I readily volunteered for her make-up and dressing up. For the first time I realised that my college days were over and this is the only way I can get to be a part of such events hence forth. She got me completely nostalgic! In any case, it’s not the final performance that is the source of pleasure, it’s the rehearsals, run-throughs and the back stage sprints that are euphoric!

There is a trifling variation either in the episodes or the chronology when it comes to the pre-presentation segment. More over it depends up on the nature of the presentation, the number of people in the contingent and the days to go for the final show. For the first two categories, it’s certainly more the merrier, as it adds on to the mayhem around. This is no joke, its experience over the years speaking! As for the later, only the 11th hour gets things falling in place. This is ‘The Fact’ irrespective of all the strict people who wish to prove me wrong because they lack experience, or the pressure created by massive egos unanimously against the opponents, which only creates more chaos making the performance increasingly difficult!

Coming back to the point, the pre-presentation phase could be summarized as the following:
1. It starts right from forming a group to deciding on the total number of people in the contingent. This happens mostly because enthusiastic people are ready to be a part of everything but the performance. And this is only caused by more of talent or lack of it. By rigorous and persistent persuasion, finally the contingent shapes up!
2. Everyone has strong opinions and they not only wish to voice them but they wish them to be implemented as well. This is by all means natural and justified. But the hitch here is that everyone wants their outlook to be finalized because they think theirs’ is the best. Since there is no choice left, things are finalised and frozen to be taken to the next stage, i.e. ‘The Beginning of the Act’.
3. To figure out the extent of the complexity of the ‘Beginning’, is better left to be lived than told. There are either problems finding a place for rehearsals, and if this hindrance is outstripped, there has to be a power cut. If these material barriers are surpassed, then there are human barriers all ready. Either, there are people who have liking problems as they hate one another and make the situations awkward for them selves, or, there are unexpected ephemeral affairs which make others awkward! Still the show must go on…
4. Run-throughs come at a very later stage, often at the 11th hour when counting hours than days, is the key to success. But all in all, it’s a much secured juncture. For the only reason that here, the confusion is no longer because of the above obstructions. It’s more because the set item is dissected by the confident participants to hilarious sights under the pretext of “that’s the spirit!”
5. All the late night practice sessions, studies conveniently forgotten, muddled up routines, diets gone for a toss are enough reasons to become a domestic hurdle which often result into almost fatal encounters. The respective moms; best nothing said about them, and the dads who only make it worse by not responding to moms reactions are the start point of the chain reaction which has to be digested by the poor participant. The moment it goes beyond the parents, even the pet at home has something to say over this outrageous deed by them!
6. With all these issues to cope up with, not to forget the anxiety of the performance, the participant is mysteriously contended, eager and in full form for ‘The Day’. But still the series does not end here. There is still an equal havoc waiting in the green room. The boys, inherently make-up resistant swear by everything under the sun for that torture. The girls crib about the last minute changes in their costumes, hair dos, eye make-up, or if everything is perfect, then there is always the presence of guys to make them grumble. Suddenly someone realises the doom fallen upon them. Either one of the participants has not yet come, or the main prop is forgotten, or the music CD is lost or worst, the lights are out!
7. With the heat of all these factors the show is finally put up! To be honest, at this time none of the contestant is thinking about winning. The only thing going through in his/ her mind is that “this is going to be my best shot!” The performance may or may not prove this thought, but that’s the fact, everyone is all in for the best shot! This series ends with the cheering and hooting out at the end of the show. And this is out of the feeling of completeness. All the hard work was indeed worth it!

The time spent behind the scenes is bliss in real sense of the term! It consists of almost all the spirits in the world! It’s a team work; a brain storming of ideas, an excellent
Exploitation of creativity, an equilibrium of inputs, final decisions, last moment changes, and what not! It’s a time one has to experience at least once in a life time!

Sanguinity

The venomous snake broke his sleep,
The baby mongoose saw his eyes deep.
Horror struck, he froze from head to feet.

That moment was mysteriously gentle,
Indeed it was a lost battle.
And yes this state was blatantly subtle.

Certainly, it was not a reprisal of his deed.
One more frozen second and he was the feed.
Come what may he had to take the lead.

Running away would be in vain.
In a fraction of a second, he chose to refrain.
And he focussed on curbing his pain.

It was a fine leap.
He swallowed the sentient meat.
And with a tainted pride he went to sleep.

Suddenly the snake rolled and broke into two.
The baby mongoose cut him through.
It had to be a miracle to be true!

This spectacle was strangely larger than life!
As speechless as anyone to narrate this sight!
Undeniably it was Sanguinity Personified!