When voices are stifled, songs will speak...

Far away, in the distant land of paradiso, the streets are speckled with the all too familiar shade of bottle and olive green- the colour is actually known by an exclusive name as well, based on the very thing it camouflages. As the green sweeps the valley freely, the honour and shame of its women are increasingly being violated. Who is to blame? No one knows.

Oh, but the whispers in the air and the small print in the newspapers do throw up a name…...

......while an old melody crackles its way into the streets- innocent in its accusation, clear in its suggestion, the sweetness of its voice and tune intensifying its horror by virtue of having a confident plainness and frank purity afforded only to those who have lost everything they had to lose, and nothing to gain from lies.
……

“Hamri na maano, sipahiya se poochho
Jisne bajariya mein chheena dupatta mera”

(If you don’t trust my word,
Ask the soldier
Who grabbed and snatched my scarf

In the middle of the crowded street)

To Sir With Love

One of my few artistic attempts. This one I am actually quite proud of!

inspiring, loving, confusing, funny, friendly, witty, musical, mystical, whimsical, infuriating, understanding, and absolutely charming!

And then there were none...

Ever wondered about those wonderfully hopeful words that seem to find a place in nearly 50% of all Bollywood films? I am speaking, of course, of the several references to the "Saat janam" or seven lives that all men and women are entitled to. "Humara saath is janam ka hi nahi, saat janam ka hai" (Our relationship isn't just for the duration of this lifetime, but for all seven" or "Main is janam mein tumhara nahi ho saka to kya? Agle janam mein tumhara ho kar rahoonga" (What if I can't be yours in this life? Come what may, I will be yours in the next one)

The strange and hilarious thing is that all of these are pregnant with the assumption of there always being an "agla janam" or next life. What if there isn't? What if you're actually sitting there going on and on about how you have six, five, four, three, two or even one life safely stored away somewhere, oblivious to the fact that - uh oh!- this IS the seventh one?? Last. The end. El fin. Tamaam.

How come we never get to hear any other numbers? No one seems to say, "teen janam to ho gaye, ab sirf chaar janam ka saath baaki hai" (three lives have been spent and only four remain)

For once, I would like to watch the heroine kick the hero in "the place that god created only to be treated nicely" when he makes any references to a subsequent life and say "Bewakoof! Shut up with your agla janam pagla janam! Your quota is finished!!"

I mean, really! The cat can't always have nine lives can it?!!

And then one day, it will be outraged to find that it has been respectfully transported to heaven. When it purrs in protest - "Wait! There must be some mistake! I am not supposed to be here! I am supposed to have nine lives aren't I?!" - a voice will answer : "Sorry love, weren't you keeping count? That was actually the last one."

Happiness may be transient, but this is what it is wrapped up in...

All misery forgotten, and a realisation that all that matters...

Is the comfortable warmth, and blissful freedom that is found,

In a pair of arms that lovingly hold together,

A spirit that is wounded, and a life in tatters.

Not single, but not really double either...

From The Great Indian Novel

"Are you married?" Arjun asked gauchely
"No" Krishna replied, flashing those white teeth of his, "but my wife is."

Wah wah! (a very poor translation would be "Wow")

Fine usage of words to convey a meaning that colours many relationships.

Krishna has a wife, but isn't married to her. Or lets say he is married to her, but isn't married to her. The first usage indicates the ritual of marriage, while I use the italicised word "married" to mean a close and intimate relationship in which two people have pledged themselves to each other in the manner of a husband and wife, with a certain commitment, affection, romance, love etc. thrown in in varying amounts. He, being who he is, can't be tied to one person exclusively.

But being who he is, that is, a part of this world, he went through the rituals of marriage- after all, no one knew he was the almighty, and it would be considered a serious anomaly for an adult man to be unmarried now wouldn't it?

There are several like him, not avatars of dios, but plain and simple boys and girls next door, who go through the prescribed stages of life in a robotic mechanical fashion. Doing this and that because they have to be done, not because they want to do them. Unfortunately for them, they don't have the excuse of being the omnipresent one, who is free to be many things at many places at many times and everything at every place at every time. They are their wives' husbands, and their husbands' wives.

Instead of grin or a laugh, the same statement, if made by them would probably be accompanied by a sigh.

Oh, and then there are always relationships in which one feels bound to the other by a love that is not limited by or dependent on the relationship, while for the other, it is the relationship that binds him (or her) to the other and love is either absent or elsewhere.