Gam ka pyaare gam mat karna...
chod de aise pal pal marna...
Marne se pehle jeena...seekh le... :)

( from Munnabhai MBBS)

Newbie!! :P :D

The stuff following this para makes me wanna -> Guess i should change my name to "newbie blogger" or rather "newbie...blogger??":P
But newys here are some links to I-find-'em-gud blogposts i've read...
Additions welcome!

gr8 writing style n varied content

simple n nice

More in the pipe-line...

Success is the good fortune that comes after tons of effort...
Luck is when the good fortune comes before taking that effort...

:D

Mann Mohana...

This one's from Jodha-Akbar...one of the best compositions of recent times...lyrics, music, feeling et al.....

Mann mohana...mann mohana...
kanha suno na...
Tum bin paoon kaise chain...
Tarsoon tumhi ko din-rain...

Chod ke apne kaashi mathura...
Aake basao more nain...
Tum bin paoon kaise chain...
Tarsoon tumhi ko din-rain...

Ek pal ujiyaara aaye, ek pal andhiyaara chaaye,
Mann kyon na ghabraye, kaise na ghabraye...
Mann jo koi dauraha apni raahon mein paaye...
Kaun disha jaye...
Tum bin kaun samjhaye...

Raas rachaiya brindavan ke gokul ke baasi...
Radha tumhri daasi...darshan ko hai pyaasi...
Shaam salone nandalala kishna banwaari...
Tumhri chab hai nyaari...
Main to hoon tan-mann haari....

Jeevan ek nadiya hai lehron lehron behti jaaye...
Ismein mann ki naiyya...Doobe kabhi tar jaaye
Tum na khewaiya ho to koi tat kaise paaye
Majdhaar rehlaaye
To tumhri sharan aaye....

Main hoon tumhari , hai tumhara ye mera jeevan...
Tumko hi dekhoon main...Dekhoon koi darpan...
Bansi ban jaooingi , In hoton ki ho jaoongi...
Is sapnon se jal-thal...
Hai mera mann aangan...

Life's lesson... maybe...

Ever seen the dark clouds as they grow onto the sky...darker and darker... till it doesn't feel like afternoon any more... n then the rain...first a drop..then a shower n then like they say 'rains cats and dogs'.... I love the rain... No one likes it when everything planned is rained out...stuck in the middle of nowhere, waiting for the water to just stop! but.. nothing happens...n then as i look up to the sky to ask God why now...i see something really awesome....something that makes me think.... makes me learn...

As the rain wets the earth...the dark clouds wither away...the sky...brighter and brighter... its blue again... i see white clouds now... the rain reduces... but as it passes teaches me some new lessons...
one of them - patience...n another...

true that i should never give up...
but equally true that sometimes i should let go -
may seem a loss then,
but in the broader picture, may be a bigger gain -

and most importantly...

there's always the bright sky beyond the dark clouds -
waiting to come fore ...
sometimes you have to brush the clouds aside yourself...
and sometimes, you just need to wait for the clouds to wither away....

And now...somewhere far from where i stand...
i see black clouds gathering over another land...
n then the same circle begins...
perhaps to teach these same lessons to another mortal
who like me may be a li'l unreasonable... :)

That brings to my minute and inquisitive mind another question...
why is it that each of us humans have to individually, learn personally of life, the same lessons..... :)

I love the rain.... :)

Options

Why is there always an 'either-or' option in life...
Why is it so hard to get it anywhere close to an 'and' choice...

Joy

The feeling of joy,happiness, satisfaction you get out of doing something special for your loved ones is invaluable.... Feel like i'm on Cloud number 9...

A story...

Thought of a theme-line on the night of 11th May and framed a complete story with visuals, light effects, dialogs, music, characters everything by the morning of the 12th.. will convert it soon into a presentation..and I pray it comes alive on stage in the same great flow that it has got from its conception...and hope it will then be completely enjoyed by the audience...
It gives great satisfaction to do these creative things... and when they are appreciated by peers,elders,teachers and people who matter, there's nothing like it...
Like they say...you should be completely convinced of and believe in the 'true'ness and quality of what you do... and success is yours to be... and i want to continue to believe in it... :)
Will put it down here sometime in future...just made a note of it for now :)

CS stands for Common Sense!!

Common sense they say is very uncommon.... true true true...very true... :D :D :D
Wrote this one that follows just on the go... :) :) :)

It can't be learned by reading books,
Nor can it be drilled and taught...
And without this 'sixth' sense, mind you
All your knowledge will reduce to naught!!!

But with this virtue on your side,
The world is all yours to be,
'Cos this is the only one thing,
That makes up for ALL the lacunae!!!

They commonly call it common-sense,
And always say its so rare to find,
Try and look around you friend,
You'll see it present in very a few mind!!!

Past e-mails...

Recently it may have reduced, but there was a time wen i would send a lot of loooong e-mails to a lot of people... my near and dear ones...who i could not meet for some reasons...out-of-town and unable to call n stuff... Things are much much easier now with every messenger service having voice and video calling facilities, you need not write e-mails at length...

While searching for a particular e-mail related to some work, I stumbled upon those letters that i so fondly wrote at that time and some which others fondly wrote to me... :)

Some of them made me think,
is it the same me who had written all that??? or have i changed...
Are my relations with those people still the same as they were?? or have the equations been altered...
Are those people the same? or have they changed...
Did i not understand them completely then? or is it that i now don't...

Too many questions...no answers...or maybe the answer is just one... Everything happens for your good... Amen to that...

But believe me, all said above apart, it's a pleasure to read those past e-mails that you may have written or received from someone...brings back so many fond memories...

they sometimes remind me of duties and sometimes of good times...
some carry a message or word of advice which needs to be re-understood or has never been
more applicable than now ...
some strengthen existing relations while some replenish weakening bonds...
some make me feel foolish and trivial of what i did some time in the past...
some will make me wise and some will break newly formed ice... :)

And that is reason enough to continue writing them whenever i can... 'cause the nostalgia that it will create 5 years, 10 years, 15 years down the line when i read them, will be something invaluable...

You could also give it a try... M sure it works for each one of us... Open some past e-mails just to read thru them...relive those memories...................and then, just vent out your feelings... Send a mail to someone you've long wanted to speak to and just pour your heart out... and even if you may be talking/chatting everyday, there are a thousand things that remain unsaid... and those, instead of getting lost to time, could find place in that beautiful mail :)

Black-and-White

Yesterday I went for a musical show - Black and White...A production of 'Niche Entertainment' which is a sort of tribute to the films, film-makers, actors singers et al of the golden era - the black and white era of Hindi films. Wonderfully scripted and executed and a must-watch for anyone who is a fan of those melodies of the era,

meaningful songs and meaningful tunes, meaningful people and meaningful expression.

I really enjoyed every moment and didn't realise how 3 hours flew. At 1 a.m. in the night each person in the audience was as fresh as ever after the musical treat...

A narrator who acts as a guide for the audience through the complete history--- from the first-ever movie till the point when colour came onto screen with Mughal-e-azam - he was the binding force for the artists and the technicians and the audience. What an entertainer, great talent and great delivery of every minute detail... grand.

The show was complete with singers singing the master-pieces dressed in the costumes of the concerned actors and clippings of the movies and songs being projected on the white screen, and of course the wonderful tit-bits that the narrator provided about the film-makers, actors and their ways :)
(PS: Do overlook a li'l bit on the 'sur' front...)

If you get a chance do watch it!!! :) 4/5 stars :)

NOISE!!!???

Why is it that people are so obsessed with creation of noise these days??? Be it any of the smallest or biggest of functions...we have loud music blaring from those pillars of loud-speakers that are easily available to create nuisance!!!

Seriously..a few days back i heard the loudest music that i have EVER heard in my entire life!!!And even if that voice was very 'madhur' and even though it may have been the best singer in the world, at those decibel levels and at that pitch and at 1 a.m. in the night it was hardly melodious; and if i may say, it was rather a "heart-throbbing" (in the literal sense) or heart-thumping or heart-stopping or ..whatever nuisance to all those peacefully sleeping souls...

That day they managed with recorded noise, while this time cometh a bright idea - that of using the loudest and persistent cracker bursting noise!!! What's with these people??? "Aur ye sab raat ke us peher mein jab har seedhe insaan ko sukhad meethi nidraa aati hai". Perfect timing!!!

God knows when and how they will understand, that on religious occasions by playing the bhajans louder, it's not that the God's are going to hear it. The people who you respect and idolize(with due respect) are not gonna come back and bless you for playing loud songs in their praise! The happiness you feel on good things in your life is not going to double by blaring out noise from loud-speakers and getting drunk n dancing in front of the same speakers in a crazy manner. Do all this, if you have to, in your own home for heaven's sake and not on the roads!!! And by the way, no couple will have a happy married life just because the best and most noise-making, polluting and garbage-creating crackers were burst during the 'pheras'!!! Phew...! anyway... Jaago aur jagaao...but not-this way!!!

Alas... as of now...it seems it will only get louder by the day :( unless some strong action and good sense prevails...or some activists take charge of this for the common good rather than their hideous selfish political interests... Jaago aur jagaao...and yes-this way...

My experience of meeting the great Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj ji...

At this point, I could mention that I have been training in the classical dance form of Kathak for the past 15 years and am on the verge of completing my Nritya Alankar degree in this dance form.

By the grace of God and all thanks to my Guru, I had this wonderful opportunity of meeting the great and most acclaimed dancer of today, Pt. Birju Maharaj ji. It was surely one of the best moments of my life when i sat by Maharaj ji's feet,while he asked my Guru questions about me :) :) :). Its beyond my words to express the feeling that i had then... He mentioned that he felt really good to see young dancers learning for so long with the same Guru and continuing their learning with so much enthusiasm and dedication. He also asked whether I had finished my education and gave me a lot of aashirwad :) :) :) {read in hindi} 'Mera rom-rom dhanya ho gaya...'

It was a very short meeting that lasted about a few minutes, but its something that will remain in my heart forever. It's rare that at such a young age one gets a chance to interact with someone soooo great... such a great personality...I was actually awe-struck and wondering whether it was a dream...cos it was indeed a dream come true. And i also got a photograph with him!!! :)

It's so true when people say that the more u grow, the more u earn name and fame, the more humble you become... and that I could see personified in Maharaj ji.
The evening before i.e. Saturday, May 2nd 2009, I attended- 'Shraddha Suman' a show organised by Taalayan Music circle that had Pt. Kumar Bose, Pt. Rajan-Sajan Mishra ji and Pt. Birju Maharaj ji offering shraddhanjali to the great Pt. Kishen Maharaj ji at Ganesh Kala Krida Mandir. The next day, that is Sunday, Maharaj ji was in Nigdi to conduct a workshop for aspiring dancers. Accompanied by Saswati didi who taught to the young dancers, Maharaj ji gave tabla-accompaniment. Many of the kids there are probably too small to understand the greatness of the experience they've had, but they soon will, as they grow.

It was worth learning from Saswati didi, the way she handled the youngsters, the beginners, the little-experienced lot and the very experienced ones. It was beautiful to see her teach them. Gentle, yet firm fun-loving and extremely understanding.

This experience has taught me innumerable things and these i would love to keep forever with me... Putting a few of them down...
Maharaj ji related all the Kathak movements to the nature, it was indeed a beautiful thought that even the youngest dancer present could understand. His depiction of this thought was out of the world.
He re-infused that feeling which my Guru has put into me that your dance should be enjoyed by you, loved by you and then everyone will love it. 'Har ek movement par prem karo. Upar dekho to sundar chaand nazar aaye.Neeche dekho to sampoorna dharti ki sundarta. Saamne dekho to prakriti ki sundarta...'
Saswati didi said...'Ye jo nritya-kala,vidya humare paas hai, wo aisi hai jo koi kabhi bhi humse nahi cheen sakta...kitni bhi koshish kar le..ye humari apni hai...baaki sab jaa sakta hai lekin ye sadaa humare saath rahegi...isko jitna badhao utni badhegi,phoolegi.. '
:) Beautiful thoughts... :)
I hope I can take forward these aspects and keep them always with me by putting them into practice...

In a few words, this was an unforgettable experience for me...
Thank you Tai for this wonderful opportunity... :)

International Dance Day :)

Dance thru the day, dance thru the nite,
Dance all the way, Dance all your Life!!!

Have a life full of Dance,
And do a Dance full of Life!!!

And...just Live to Dance!!! :)
And Dance to revive!!! ;)

Change...

Change is the rule and essence of life!!! :) :) :)

Soooo true!!

"Being tough, sexy, super intelligent and "cool" is useless if you don't have ethics."
-Arun Bhatia

Picked this up from one of his writings and I soooo agree with this one... I must have had this thought a thousand and one times...In fact I'd rather say...
All your achievements and good qualities are nullified if you're unethical.

Dad has always taught this to me...i just put it into a couplet... :)

Treat every day like a new beginning,
And every meeting like a fresh start,
'Cause sorrow and grief will poison relations,
The more you hold on to the past...

Fire-beyond-Water

I call this one fire-beyond-water - for obvious reasons :) ...clicked on the bombay-bangalore by-pass with the teeny meeny 1.3MP camera in my phone and across a tinted glass window...and the results were better than I expected :) ...

This should have been my first post...but none-the-less....

Have been long thinking of beginning this wonderful 'activity' of blogging...but probably wasn't convinced enough till today... Now that I am, I must thank a few of my friends for the encouragement...Having gone through their blogs and having thoroughly enjoyed the process I say thanks to S.T. and Ashkelonian Relic for having 'inspired' me to do this :) :) :) along with many others whom i don't know in person...
And there is one more person...who always righteously encourages me in whatever i do...to do what e'er gives me happiness...& this is a special mention for that person...my pillar of support (you know this one's for you :) right...)

It's a great feeling to post and to anyone reading this I'm sure u'll share the same feeling once you begin...just give it a try.... :)

One-liners...I love them!!!

Starting with one that I thought of recently... :) will keep adding more to this tag...

A little amount of weakness is good for health!!! ;)
(Yeah!!! a paradox...)

Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious

Learnt this one in school...and can never forget it... :)

Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious,
If you say it loud enough u'll always sound precocious,
Supercalifragilistic-expi-ali-do-cious!!!!

Um-did-didley um-didleye! Um-did-didley um-didleye!
Because I was afraid to speak when I was just a lad,
Me father gave me nose a tweak and told me I was bad!!
But then one day I heard a word that saved me aching nose--
the BIGGEST word you've ever heard and this is how it goes...Oh!!!!!!

Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious
Even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious,
If you say it it long enough u'll always sound precocious,
Supercalifragilistic-expi-ali-do-cious!!!!