Guldasta

A bouquet of flowers picked along the way ….

An experiment in Love August 28, 2007

Filed under: family,friends,life,love — gurdas @ :

Today, I sent a “I love you” sms to some of my closest friends and my family. The reaction did not surprise me. A few of them have called back and they all assumed it was a misfire. That I wanted to express my love to someone else (a damsel?) and erroneously sent an sms to them. They were all disappointed when I told them there has been no error!

I also recollect when some years ago (for the first time) I called my mom and told her “I love you”. She spent the next 10 minutes worrying what was wrong with me and whether I had landed into some trouble.  Things have changed since then. My family is more tuned to my impromptu expressions of love.

Isn’t it tragic that we have forgotten to express our love to people we love – friends and family? We go about our lives as if love needs no expression and nothing can be further from the truth. The expression need not always be verbose or grand gestures. Peaceful silence, a caress, a smile, are all expressions of love.

How have we arrived at this juncture? What makes it so difficult to say “I love you”?

How about you calling someone and saying “I love you”?

—- Followup thoughts —-

A few friends came back wondering what I meant by the message. Really, how complex is a “I love you”?

Another friend called and said “I have some bad news for you. I think your cellphone has been infected by a virus. I got this message from you … .”I had to cut him short before he wasted another second worrying for me  🙂

Is it that we are now seasoned to believe anything but that it is quite normal to say “I love you” to people you love?

 

The Journey August 27, 2007

Filed under: life,love,poetry — gurdas @ :

Sometimes it happens,
When you are caught unaware.
The sweet pain cuts through your heart
And all your feelings are laid bare

In that state of nakedness you find
The thread of love is what binds
You yearn to keep the thought for eternity
To escape and yet realise reality
It is then that you want to grow
To rise above and leave yourself below

The depth of your thoughts drown your doubts;
You dream about the eternal spring
And the end of the perennial drought.
The clarity of your own dreams dazzles you.
You look above and admire the sky so blue.
With your eyes wide open and all senses alert,
You take a deep breath and say
“Life is beautiful….”,
Hoping the euphoria continues for
Every night and every day..

Before one emotion dies you re-kindle another
Your intensity makes me laugh and shudder
Like imagination enslaved by a falling star
You capture my thoughts from afar
With every blink and every sigh
You posses each moment lest it fly

As the waves rise and fall
Hear the ocean sing a song to you
Must you not return the call?
Or is it that you have no clue?

Perhaps, you chose to ignore the signs
Binding you with endless twines.
The nudity of your own feelings intimidate you,
The overwhelming emotions are daunting too

You look at the sky
And fathom the endless space you have to fly.
You appreciate the joy that it brings,
Yet you hesitate to go out and spread your wings

To get the sun a rose must unfurl
The same is with wings and souls
And like the rose, every joy has its price
The sun brings gale and dust
The flight is a potential drop
And yet the rose petals out
Unmindful of losing itself
That and only that is living
For the rest is but existing

This poem written as a collaborative effort between a friend and myself. It was fun writing a poem over the email with each person writing alternative stanzas. It remained unfinished for reasons I no longer remember. But it was a lot of fun nonetheless.

 Interested in trying it out?

 

Partner (Movie Review) August 15, 2007

Filed under: Movie Reviews — gurdas @ :

Some movies are made for aliens. Partner is one such movie that leaves the competition (and you) gasping for breath. Touted as Govinda’s comeback vehicle, it made me wish Govinda never existed in the first place. And since I never missed his exit, I saw no point in being excited about his comeback.

Usually I choose which movie to watch. But sometimes, the movie chooses you. That is how it happened and I found myself huddled in a corner seat wondering how I ended up as audience to a movie I knew would be trash from the word go.

There is Govinda doing his silly act for the umpteenth time, jumping around like a jackass, making faces like a monkey and leaving you pulling your hair in desperation. He needs to woo some big-shot female (Katrina) who seems to be suffering from stunted mental growth. She is heading a big corporate and shows less sense than my housemaid. Helping Govinda is our resident maniac – Salman Khan. Like Govinda, he keeps dishing out the same stuff and expressions in movie after movie after movie. And people continue to enjoy the moronic contortions on his face as acting, movie after movie after movie. Both these ‘stars’ follow a familiar storyline in each movie. They will first act as brainless, then make some inevitable mistakes and then show the true love in their heart, finally winning the female lead in a rush of carbonated emotions. The female leads in this movie – Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif contribute to the monkey parade with their silly histrionics.  Lara Dutta’s journalist act is as convincing as a zebra trying to pass as a peacock. Rajpal Yadav provides some comic relief in the first sequence but then even he starts getting on your nerves.

If the movie and the audience are to be believed, acting prowess is measured by the speed with which you can jiggle the muscles on your face and blurt sentences through your mouth. Before you can say help, there is some new nonsense being dished out. The trick is to so overwhelm you with stupidity that you never realise how stupid the movie is.

Characters are found breaking into a song and dance sequence of their own volition, much like a gang of baboons after they have had a drink too many. I forgot to check the credits but did this movie have a script writer and director in the first place?

And when will our movie makers learn to show some respect to the differently abled? For as long as I remember, they have been pulling cheap jokes on characters inflicted with stammering. And the latest craze is gay jokes. If the mark of a society’s evolution is its sensitivity towards others, Indian cinema gives the impression we are still in Stone Age.

Here is a mind bending sampler:
Salman’s sister is married to Sohail Khan who works with NASA. It seems after Shahrukh in Swades, the recruitment wing at NASA has thrown open their doors to Indians. And Salman’s nephew, true to his blood, has designed and developed a rocket at home. Never mind that it requires a certain knowledge of physics, if the director wants, it can be done. Right? And the rocket triggers when its developer say “go, baby, go”. If that has you tearing your hair out, the rocket gets fired and with a precision that would have the guys at NASA sit up, tracks Salman’s watervehicle and destroys it. And you dare not even think of the science of combustion, flight trajectories, coordinates etc. And yes, in case you did not know, keeping live rockets at home is within the law.

Have mercy on yourself. Stare at a wall if you have nothing better to do; but do NOT watch Partner.

 

A slogan, a jingle and a pair of twins

Filed under: advertisements — gurdas @ :

We have all said or heard “Nothing is Impossible” some time or the other. I did too.
However, it never occurred to me how switching places between the words can create a far greater impact. Until I heard “Impossible is Nothing” – Adidas’s punchline.

Suddenly the focus is on the word ‘impossible’ and the new arrangement gives a feeling that one can demolish the idea of anything being impossible. Awesome!

http://www.adidas.com/
http://www.impossiblestory.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas

—-
The Tata Indica Xeta campaign with gorgeous buxom beauties out on a holiday and looking for some fun, is, actually powered by its jingle. Not that I would have liked the ad without the ladies! It’s just that however many times I hear it, the jingle still sounds refreshing and perks me up.
This follows from the earlier (and equally refreshing) campaign where they have a liar having a bad day with his lies until he markets the Tata car.

http://www.tatamotors.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Indica

—-

 UTI -Axis twins    UTI kid Shreya

My current fave ad campaign is the ‘UTI Bank is Axis Bank’ ad that has toddler twins walking one after other into a kindergarten playroom. I just adore this ad. Look at the twins smiling into the camera and your heart misses a beat.  I feel like rushing into that room and hugging all those kids. For once, kids are shown the way I like them – playful and curious. Which is contrary to the recent trend (in Indian cinema and media) of having kids act and talk as grown-ups.

Thank you Ogilvy & Mather for those amazing, amazing kids. And the very expressive teacher.

http://www.livemint.com/2007/08/13010100/It8217s-different-but-the-s.html
http://www.axisbank.com/personal/index.asp

—-

So, what is your favourite advertisement?

 

Is Saving Private Ryan Spielberg’s Best? August 11, 2007

Filed under: Movie Reviews — gurdas @ :

 Saving Private Ryan

Yes, if you were to ask me. With E.T and Schindler’s List together at number 2. Jurassic Park and Jaws come next. And yes, I did not like the Indiana Jones series.

Flipping through channels, I came across the screening on HBO. Having first seen it some 8 years ago, I was eager to relive one of my all time favourite movies.

From the initial scene of the WWII Normandy invasion of Omaha beach to the climax battle in the town of Ramelle, Saving Private Ryan is movie making at its best. No war movie that I have seen is as realistic as this or gives you that edgy ‘in the thick of battle’ feeling.

Interlaced with human emotions, nuances of thought & action, and questions of life & death, the movie keeps reminding you of the horror of war and the sad necessity of it at times.

My two favourite scenes are (1) the kid girl slapping her father for leaving her alone in the face of attack (he was trying to keep her safe) and (2) the slow knife driven into the chest of Private Mellish by his German adversary.

Tom Hanks as Captain Miller pulls off a great role, ably assisted by the motley group he assembles to find Private Ryan (Matt Damon), who must be brought back from behind enemy lines because he has lost three brothers and is the last remaining son of his family.

If you can take some of the most graphic depiction of battle violence (read body parts being blown apart, blood oozing etc), then get your hands onto Saving Private Ryan.

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—– Further reading —–

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan
http://www.casenet.com/movie/savingprivateryan.htm
http://www.moviedeaths.com/saving_private_ryan/private_stanley_mellish/
http://www.rzm.com/pvt.ryan/
http://www.filmvault.com/filmvault/chicago/s/savingprivateryan1.html
http://www.rjgeib.com/heroes/draper/saving-private-ryan.html