Friday, March 17, 2006

The not-so Secret Lake


Picture Courtesy: Maks

A bumpy ride to my office is rewarded with this beautiful view.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Rang diya basanti

You choose to be silent (or forced to be) when you have nothing to say, or when there are so many things to say and you don’t know from where to begin. Or sometimes you just don’t feel like saying anything. A bit of each of these applies to me, and hence such a long, unplanned break.

The first thing that struck me this morning was, it's already more than 2 months into the New Year!! Man, where did all these days go? I sit down, take a moment to clear my thoughts and check out.

***
I don’t remember much of January at all. Except for our much-awaited vacation in the last week of January.
Yeah, yeah...I will write about it in an independent post.

***
February was work, work and work. Same for A.

The highpoint of February was to watch Rang De Basanti. The movie which you can’t ignore. Right from the moment the screen comes alive with the words

"Ab Bhi Jiska Khoon Na Khaula, Khoon Nahin Voh Paani Hai,
Jo Desh Ke Kaam Na Aaye, Voh Bekaar Jawaani Hai"
,

You sense that this is no ordinary movie. You better be prepared for the impact which is going to knock you off.

Writing anything about the actors, the way they have lived their characters, the way the story is told and all those sepia images of Bhagat Singh, Azad, and Bismil will just be running out of superlatives. So, I'll not try to do that.
I'll just say that go, watch for yourself.

There are so many moments in the film which stay with you for a long time. The carefree friendship of DJ, Aslam, Suki, Sonia, and Ajay warms the cockles of your heart. You see your friends in their faces. You shrug your shoulders at their indifference. You laugh with them. Their grief makes you cry, their anger makes you angry. Their dilemma is very much the dilemma we all face today.
And then they do what they feel is right. They think it's their only chance to make a difference. Their only shot to awaken a generation.

Whether the film is realistic, whether it sets the right example, I don’t know.
But I know that it stirs you and urges you to "Be the Change" that you so desperately want to bring about in the system.
When the film ends and the credits start rolling with the strains of “Rubaroo...Roshni" ringing in your ears, you realize that it was not just another movie.