Anton Chekov- A Portrait

• Born on January 29,1860 in Taganrog, Russia as Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.
• After he finished school Chekhov enrolled in the Moscow University Medical School. 
• While attending medical school Chekhov began to publish short stories to support his family.
• As a writer he gained serious fame in the year 1886.
• By May 1904, Chekhov was terminally ill with TB.
• He Died in sleep on July 15, 1904 at the age of 44.

(Medium: Pencil Colours)

LIKE...

Like an oasis in the desert

Like cool breeze in hot summers

Like a thousand roses in full bloom

Like a swish of sweet perfume

 

Like a pure drop of dew

Like a flower bud new

Like innocent chirping of birds

Like tiny bells of cattle heard

Are my innocent feelings for you

For pure love gives life a rosy hue!

(I wrote this poem long back but I am posting it now)

GHAM AUR RAHETEIN AUR BHI HAIN…..

Something caught my attention immediately, something that was bang on and that hit the nail. What happened was that while reading a poem by Sir Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a line simply described what I have always believed; I guess this is the magic of poetry, specially ‘shayari’. I have reproduced the entire poem here in English. I tried to translate it from Urdu; whatever I could is given here. That’s not my motive to make you read my translated English but the main thing is that life’s deepest philosophies can be described in a few words. In its simple Urdu words, it is equivalent to my hours of explanation about what I actually feel. The tenor of the poem is amazing and Faiz, as always, has weaved magic in this verse as well. Now let’s get to the poem but before that, two of my fave lines are given below :

“Aur bhi gham hain zamaane mein muhaabat ke sivah

  Rahatein aur bhi hain vasl ki rahat ke sivah”

                                  

“There are other sufferings too in this world besides the agony of love

There are other joys too, besides the joy of union”

(Vasl= Union)

There are many more wonderful lines as well but here is my translation of this entire poem:

My beloved, please do not expect that same love from me now

I used to believe that with you, my life is shining

Before the sweet agony of your love, life's miseries seem nothing

Your lovely face make springs to stay forever on earth 

In your beautiful eyes, lies my entire universe

My fate would be humbled if I were to get you

But all this was just a wish of mine, nothing in reality because,

There are other sufferings too,besides the agony of love and romance

There are other joys too besides the joy of union

The dark curse of savagery is there since ages

Woven in silk and satin, this is presented in a deceptive manner

Bodies are sold all along the markets and dusty alleys

Bodies are wounded and are smeared with dust and blood

Bodies are sick with countless filthy diseases

With pus still dripping from unhealed wounds

I see and I notice all this happening around

Your beauty is still that charming but,

There are other sufferings too, besides the agony of love and romance

There are other joys too, besides the joy of union

My beloved, please do not expect that same love from me now

That’s it! We live in a society and not in isolation. No man is self sufficient and it is hence necessary for all of us to manage the society and keep it free of pain and agony as much as we can. Love and romance have their own place. But my point is that we need to become a bit more sensitive towards our social responsibility too.

We are a family!!

Sometimes, even the most mundane things can give you deep feelings of joy and happiness and can put that wide smile on your face within a second. The best part is that all such things are free! What I mean here is that we just have to be a little observant of our surroundings and keep an open eye. A small birdie decorating its nest to a tiny and colorful butterfly fluttering around that yellow flower to two baby squirrels running after each other to a new flower bud and the like and can make you forget all your worries and take your mind off your problem. This post is all about such beautiful and happy go lucky creatures of good God.

Recently, two birds decided to build their nest in my storeroom. While the male bird would bring in all the straw and other material and would hand it over to its lady, she would do something really really cute; she would always ponder for 2-3 seconds and then place it appropriately as if some interior decorator is thinking about the exact placement of furniture and lampshades. I have been observing this pair since the time they started fluttering around the storeroom. 

Now, there lay two beautiful white eggs and I am eagerly waiting for them to get hatched so that I can listen to the sweet melody of two new lives, the most beautiful creation of God. I feel we all should imbibe this thing that we hold no right to kill any of the living creatures for food or fun; they also inhabit the same earth as we do. 

Godfather

"I'll make him an offer he cant refuse"... This was indeed the most famous dialog of the legendary actor Marlon Brando, who played the role of the don Vito Corleone in the movie Godfather.

Brad Pitt

I find him too cute :)


(Medium is pencil color
This is made on a paper bigger than the standard A4 size so some portion is cut while scanning)

Big B

Hii!

A pencil color portrait of Big B
   :)

LYRICS

Today while listening to a Hindi song, a point struck me. I pondered over the style of lyrics of bollywood numbers and English songs. Both are very popular and music of any sort tends to make you groove but this thing is a bit different. Indian songs, be it folk or regular movie ones, have thoughtfully crafted lyrics with deep meanings, and rhyming so beautifully that they make you sing and sway with the song. The songs become much more enjoyable because of these wonderfully woven words. I am not criticizing but except a few English songs, most numbers have a complete emphasis on beats and music and the lyrics are often ignored. The poetry and prose of Hindi songs and the descriptions of nature, emotions and beauty that make up a song are amazing. Although music gets you high , only lyrics make you feel the song in its right spirit. Good lyrics also make the song memorable.

Shera Speaks!

Madam CM ji, please have some pity,

These lake sized holes and roads dirty

Make my little heart go down

Though envoy,I feel like a clown

Crime has taken a toll

Law & order both went for a stroll

It seems you are sleeping and snoring

While the Delhi is weeping and howling

Please listen to our pleas

Delhi is also full of dirt and fleas

Ever since the Yamuna went crazy

A few hopes left  now, seem hazy

Anyways, now you have a different case

Since the godsend rain has saved your face

Now you have  got something to blame

And save your chair and your name.

But first please answer my question

You may even lose the election*  

Which causes more destruction?

Nature or this deep set corruption?

*Thanks SG

The Best Revenge

Every one of us, at some point of time or the other has felt ditched and used. It is a very common feeling but the most important thing is how we really manage our revenge and anger. Some people are extremely vindictive and they literally plot strategies and traps to hit back with double intensity. I read a quote by Gautam Buddha some time back; it said ‘when you throw a burning coal at someone, you burn your fingers first’, and I feel this is absolutely true. I feel there is no point in burning with vengeance day and night. I believe that success is the best revenge. Focus on your goal and become more successful than those who have hurt you. And believe me, ignoring and outshining your enemy is the best “clean” defeat he can suffer at your hands. 

I have tried to pen down my feelings in these few lines of poetry:

With my heart burning with vengeance, a curse came to my lips 

For I still remorse that time my heart was crushed to pieces

Words and more words, harsh as stones and poison arrows

Pierced through me and made an insignia of sorrows

But unlike you, I shall never stoop that low

And I forgive you for being reason of my woe

My lips stayed closed and parted not

My eyes now fixed at my own rainbow

I have attained freedom from all mental filth

For I know that revenge is a murderer

And two graves always she digs

I thank god for our separation

And that in you, I do not see my reflection

I am whatever, but not like you my foe

For it’s not thorns but flowers that I now sow

I refuse to take this path of darkness

Coz I know that my best revenge being only success

The True Saviour

While taking a stroll outside

Praising the deep, dark but starry night

Cool breeze, bright stars and the lovely moonlight

Like molten silver dripping from misty skies

When a painful cry caught my attention,

A tiny plant it was and to the ground it had fallen

Separated in one stroke, from its brethren

I decided to let it suffer not

But planted it in a new earthen pot

In a few days, it regained its sheen

From dull yellow to fresh green

Its joy could be easily seen

“You seem hale now I see,

Feel obliged forever and  be grateful to me”

Said I, swelling with pride and vanity.

With a mystic smile said he

“Though thankful I am to you but grateful only to Thee”

“But I saved your life, so why not just me? "

“Coz you were sent by Him only

The true savior of all beings is almighty

The good God lets no being suffer lonely”

Pat came his crisp reply with a meaning deep to imply

God helps all of us in the hour of need

For world is a rosary, every being but a bead

To His divine abode we all must proceed

With faces smiling and hearts without ego and greed.

LOVE

Again the misty morning came,

For each day the ritual was same

The leaf‘s heart desired for that bliss

Longed for a hug and prayed for a kiss

Once again the dew arrived on the leaf

Shining and happy for their meet

Than the dew disappeared in the ground

The leaf’s heart little was again drowned

One day he said to his beau, “why can’t I hold you forever?

Why can’t we be united to be separated never?”

The dew smiled and said “my beloved, this is the eternal wish of all the lovers,
You are not alone.

Union and separation is the holy wish, 
The wish of thee, One who wears the ultimate throne”

Said the leaf once more

“His wish I too adore,

But my love longs for inseperation

For I no more can bear this heat of desperation”

Dew smiled and said “love is not union, nor depression, 
nor desperation and not even the gloom of seperation

Pure love is fresh like some rose in full bloom

As pure as some child’s smile

Calming like wet earth’s own perfume

And as rich as some land fertile

When lovers long deeply in the silence of the night

Unknown to the sleeping world and their agony burning bright

From deepest heart they pray to see each other

To be embraced and weave dreams together

Beloved leaf, love means not only rosy days

But a heat of longing that never ever fades

No matter how deep cuts the separation’s blades”

The leaf smiled and the dew as well

Both had got the meaning of love

In each other’s hearts they dwell

And thanked for it, the heavens above!

UNLEASH

On my way to my rainbow

That is but in my mind,

I raced as always and met a spider

“You are mad” I said

Your web is nothing but a mirage

For you rule here alone

Unheard of, in a kingdom unknown

Too proud of your imaginary throne

Nay... friend, you are a like fellow too, said he

I live in my kingdom and you in your perception

That being but a faint shadow of reality

You erect huge walls and let not the ideas in

Stagnant frame rots and you dance in the sweet scent

Shunned ideas lay like dead and your merry your win

Are you not living in your own world?

My kingdom still is better for it is real and stout

And yours, made up of imporous walls

That keeps all new change far and out

In shame hung my head

How exact was each word he said!

I pondered and the spider was true

I am a criminal, the victim being my soul

As I broke the walls , like a bird it flew!

An afternoon at a school gate

(This is written by my dear Ashutosh Bhaiyya)

The afternoon sun beat down on my face forcing me to squint at the gate of the school which had swallowed my wife and somehow seemed to have digested her completely. I had prefered the glare of the Sun to the cool shade of trees on opposite side the street in which I had parked my car among the multitude of vehicles ranging from taxis, maruti vans, mini buses, bigger buses and a horde of personal vehicles belonging to the parents and other guardians of the students. 
At exactly 2.30 pm the school gates suddenly spewed out with a vengeance a motly crowd of big and small school kids who now turned the afternoon calm into a furious and noisy madness. The kids reminded me of dust particles seen in a shaft of light in a recently swept room. The random unpredictable movements created a melange of similarly attired.

A little calf trapped in the human crowd, children crying "cow cow". Calf gets hit by a car whose mudguard gets loosened.

The girls' fight turns to serious verbal fight, two kids chasing the calf. It hides behind my car. One small kid, lean, dreamy, snapping his fingers and listening to the sound by snapping them next to his ear. A musical child. Another jackson in making.

cars with parents, cars with drivers, cars with grandparents, choking the narrow street. The kids could have used the school bus. All big cars. Vulgur show of money. Small girls chiding the taxi driver.The girls' fight gets vicious. They take out their water bottles using them as clubs. One club hits my car narrowly missing the rear window. I shout at them but they go on fighting relentlesly. Three kids come to peek at the calf who is by now scared and confused. The kids try to scare him more to see it jump and bump into cars. I scold them and they back away. The yellow coloured battle tanks carry away the army of human offsprings. The future pests on the earth. The street becomes deserted. The calf dares to come out from behind my car and slowly trudges towards the far end of the road.

Motherless, shelterless, its food snatched by the mighty humans, the poor animal searches for some relief in this concrete jungle created in the name of civilisation.

WHAT IF...A PRANK GOES WRONG??

As soon I finished watching the second episode of Channel V’s ‘Axe Your Ex’, I sat down to pen my thoughts. Firstly, this is a new reality show that Channel V has started. In this people spoil the day of their ex and the channel plans all the nightmares for the poor ex in advance. Today’s episode featured a boy who wanted to axe or spoil the day of his ex-girlfriend. The girl was a 20 something and surprisingly her roommate was involved in this dirty game too. She was firstly called to this mall where strangers would come up to her to give her presents and flowers. All this was set by the channel to irritate the girl. One stranger even gave her a bikini set and asked her to try that out, much to the embarrassment of the girl and all the people sitting in the mall where all that drama took place.

Finally, the worst prank played: An actor was asked to play the role of a psycho killer and scare the hell out of the poor girl, already tired and irritated. As soon as she entered her apartment, she spotted a dead body (fake, of course!) and then a new drama started. She was even made to do sit ups to apologize for something she had never done, all that on a knife point and on the public television. And in the end her ex-boyfriend and the channel crew came in and told her that it was only a prank! You should have seen her face; she was scared and frightened as hell and burst into uncontrollable tears while that stupid boy, the one who staged all this to take revenge was laughing all the way like a sadist enjoying torture of his victim to the hilt.

Now, I did not find anything enjoyable in this entire drama. What is the channel trying to teach us? Barbarism? Sadism? Bitchy tricks, or to laugh when someone is going through a rough patch? Or enjoy when someone’s day goes wrong? All this humiliation, that too on a national TV can be enough to drive anyone to take drastic steps. Who would be responsible if the ex commits suicide out of embarrassment? What if she gets a heart attack during that idiotic prank? World is round; what goes around comes around too. Enjoying somebody’s problems is not ethical and it is not right. What if a prank goes wrong??

YOU

When life takes a toll

When soul needs a stroll

I think of Your power divine

That can bless this life of mine

For You are there in every sphere

In gloom, in joy, in sadness and cheer

In every single soul, rich or poor

You manifest everywhere

Thinking of You frees my mind

All basal desires are left behind

As I move to Your sphere

I can feel you close and near

You are my lover and my friend

For such bonds stay, even after life ends

Sir Albert Einstein

14 March 1879- 18 April 1955

He is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.


(Wikipedia)

EGG TALES!

To have them or not is a big debate. While some people are frantically against them, some need them every day…I am talking of eggs (cultured artificially). I have been eating eggs since childhood. In fact, when I was in nursery class or so, I was literally crazy about boiled eggs. Vegetarianism has been divided into  two major categories- egg and non egg eaters. I am absolutely against non vegetarian food but despite repeated attempts and requests from PETA crazy classmates I still find it difficult to stop taking eggs. I have not eaten them since 2008. It has been two years and I am not going to continue this trend further!

Making promises is not difficult at all, keeping them is. But why do we have this tendency? Why do we love making the same mistake twice? Why do most of us fancy ourselves as outlaws’? Why is it so very difficult to keep a vow? I think, when you take a vow of not doing a thing, you feel like doing it even more, that too, with a new intensity. That is why most New Year resolutions fail badly. One needs a great amount of zeal and enthusiasm towards the thing you have taken vow of not repeating.

MY AMAZING THEORY!!!!

Since last week, I was thinking over something. Not only thinking but in a way properly pondering over it. I tried validating my newly found theory too and to my surprise, the results were very positive. Actually it was a serendipity, my eureka moment!!

Actually, one fine morning when I was lost in my thoughts when suddenly something struck my mind. There are some people who think before speaking. They weigh every word and each word spoken out carries a meaning. They speak less and that too very carefully. It is often difficult to get information out of them easily. It is very difficult to lure such people into a fluke or take them for a ride. Now, just go a little deeper, analyze them as shoppers and customers. They might see lots of attractive things in the market but will select only a few. It becomes very difficult for sales staff to lure them into a bad deal. Each item they select has a specific use and provides full return on the investment. In a nut shell, such people are careful shoppers.

Now reverse the situation, people who speak without thinking too much are more likely to find themselves cheated. They have loose controls on their purse strings and, on a little persuasion, are highly likely to buy products and services they do not really need. It is also very easy to extract even the most personal information from them.

The reason I think for this is that hand is ultimately a function of mind only. Self controlling power is important, it reflects in everything. If you can control your words well, you can control your wallet very well too. Conversely, those who are generally careless and footloose shoppers are hardly likely to keep a secret to them selves. Some people get what attracts, rather whatever is made out to attract them, even if the merchant is charging many times the actual amount. That’s because it is difficult for them to control their desires; they have to do what they are feeling like at that very moment. They succumb to the impulse of the moment. Such people cannot be trusted with confidential information and secrets. And on the other hand, people who can see through marketing gimmicks and strategies and hold their money tight are less likely to spill your secrets to the world.

I applied this hypothesis to many of my friends and relatives, and to my surprise, the theory came out right almost always. I don’t know if you will accept my theory or not but I have started believing it. Some of you may find this thing nonsensical, but just give a try and please let me have your feedback too!!

WOMEN RESERVATION - NO THANKS!

The debate is always heated up on the women reservation bill. In fact, it has been going on for last 13 years. Despite a lot of uproar, the Rajya Sabha finally gave a nod to this bill. Now a good 33 per cent of legislative seats in the Lok Sabha and the state Assemblies would be reserved for women. But it’s not over yet, a last step still remains. As we all know the real power lies with the Lok Sabha; its approval is still awaited.

But I perceive this entire bill thing to be nothing more than just another political crap. What advantage would a common Indian woman have if this bill is passed? Nothing. A common lady would receive nothing out of this political cocktail. There are other chronic problems that literally are curses for women, like female feticide, female illiteracy, eve teasing etc. These demand attention rather than that nonsensical bill lying in the Lok Sabha for approval.

 

I was literally shocked by a recent news item. Some delinquent youths harassed and abused their 13 year old house-maid. They even had the audacity to post the appalling video on YouTube. But the most unfortunate part of the whole story is that they were granted bail. Now why doesn’t the government try to make laws relating to abuse and harassment more stringent? Such psychopathic youths need a lesson or two.

Eve teasing is much more ubiquitous than we can ever imagine. Just pay a little attention, go a bit deep, you will notice that most men do this the whole day. It has become their favorite pastime. Most women prefer to stay mum and avoid giving a reply to such odious comments. The behavior of police too, is very non-cooperative in such cases. Why doesn’t the government make policemen a bit more sensitive and aware of their duties? 

One more recent news showed some thing extremely obnoxious and gory. Several underdeveloped female fetuses were found in a garbage bin in Ahemadabad (Gujrat). Steps need to be taken to implement the rules strictly to make female feticide impossible.

Domestic abuse is another problem. Most women suffer agony in silence for years. Instead of arguing endlessly for seats in Assembly, don’t you think it is better to do something that can provide a sense of safety and security to women who are victims of domestic and/or dowry abuse?

And one more angle is involved. I strongly feel by giving reservation to women, government is openly accepting the fact that women are weak and they need support. Rather government should try to cure the basic underlying problems that are compelling ladies to demand reservation. After all, prevention is always better than cure. Isn’t it?  

A Case Of Exploding Insults by Mohammed Hanif

Currently I am reading the latest book 'A Case Of Exploding Mangoes’ by Mohammed Hanif, published by Random House India. Indeed the book is really a good read with a dark and subtle political humor BUT there's one thing that has put me off and that is the derogatory language used against the two great singers of India: Asha Bhonsle and her sister Lata Mangeshkar. The scanned page is given (page 81) . Incidentally this man, the author had been a Pakistani pilot officer, such a language is not expected out of an intellectual who claims to have worked with top newspapers and magazines around the world including a stint at India today as well. Mohammed Hanif must apologize and I wonder why there has been no objection yet? And I also wonder how this manuscript was given an OK by the content editors of the publisher?