Friday, June 29, 2007

One more song that's poetry

With this song, I have never understood whether she is submitting herself or insulting her lover/listener big time.. its not just the lyrics of the song, its also the music, the pauses, and Neena Gupta's bindaas presence in the song.. All in all, i LOVE the mystery of this song..

शायराना सी है , ज़िन्दगी की फज़ा
आप भी ज़िंदगी का मज़ा लीजिये
मैं गज़ल बन गयी आप के सामने
शौक़ से अब मुझे गुनगुना लीजिये ..

आप सुन तो रहे हैं मेरे दिल की लय
इस मैं बेनाम सी इक उदासी भी है
इस उदासी में नग़मा कोई छेड कर
एक बचैन दिल की दुआ लीजिये..

आप के प्यार का जो भी मेयार है,
उस से कब जाने जां मुझ को इंकार है,
जिस तरह आप चाहें नज़र आऊं मैं,
मुझ को हर रंग में आज़मा लीजिये..

Shaayaraanaa si hai, zindagee kee fazaa
Aap bhee zindagee kaa mazaa leejiye
Main gazal ban gayee, aap ke saamne, shauk se ab mujhe gungunaa leejiye

Aap sun to rahe hain mere dil ki laya
Is mein benam see ik udaasi bhi hai,
Is udaasi mein nagma koee chhed kar
Ek baichain dil kee duaa leejiye..

Aap ke pyaar ka job hi meiyaar hai,
Us se kab jaane jaan mujhko inkaar hai,
Jis tarah aap chahcein nazar aaon main,
Mujh ko har rang mein aazmaa leejiye..


Really Bad Translation:

Life feels poetic, why don’t you come around, and enjoy it too?
Look at me, I turn into a poem right in front of you,
Take it to your lips and hum it as you like..

You, who can hear the rhythm of my heart,
Knows that there is also an unnamed sadness in it,
Strum a song to inhabit my sadness,
To bring peace to a sad heart..

Whatever be the standards of your love, darling,
I do not think them unfair..
I will present myself in the light that you desire,
Test me however you like…

PS: The song is from a little known film called "Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayi" from the Mahesh Bhatt stable. I still think it was a very well made film.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

You have to hear this

Remember the cute Airtel ads? Speak Out, they say. I am an obedient subscriber.

Last month, around this time, we made the payment on our Airtel landline. This cheque was not banked for 15 days. So we were requested to stop payment of the said cheque and were told that someone will come and pick up a replacement cheque from our place. That was on the 14th of June.

The next call came on the 20th of June. Again, someone promised to come and collect the cheque that very day. No one landed till the 25th.

On the 25th, someone called again, to say they are coming. The person was to come by 1230 hours, because we had to leave for some place after that. At 1220, he calls to say he will be around in another "1-1.5 hours". So we said we will just drop the cheque. This Airtel executive knew that the cheque was going to the drop box that day.

Next morning, unceremoniously, the outgoing was barred for both the landline and the Broadband. We lodged a complaint to re activate the outgoing and gave the cheque nos. - at 1445 hours yesterday. At 1730 hours, i called to check the status of the request and was told that no request is pending for restoring outgoing. So i made another request at 1730 hours yesterday.

This morning, I checked at 0930 hours to find out the status of the request. I was told that no request is pending for restoring outgoing on this phone. Great. A new request was lodged and a new request no. was generated.

At 1230, i called again to find out the status of the request logged at 0930 hours. I was told that no request is pending to restore outgoing on this phone. At 1230, ahem, we have lodged another request to restore outgoing.

On all the 4 calls, the supervisor was "too busy" to speak to us. What's more, i specifically requested that a written escalation should be created for this request. No escalation was created by the Airtel BPO executive. His name was Naresh Kumar and the manager's name is Anupam Munshi.

This morning, i requested a call back and was promised that Mr. Munshi will call back within one hour. So far (its 1300 hours now) Mr. Munshi is too busy to speak to us or call back.

I raised a complaint at www.core.nic.in, but don't think anything is happening.. what do u suggest we do??

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Random Thoughts..

We name the rivers. What do the streams care what we call them?

We name the hills, And do they care?
Do these hills, line after line, even think, of one, as distinct from the other?

We name the trees, And they do not know. And they do not care.

We even name the Animals
Do they name themselves? Or us?

We name the leaves
And the roots
The roads
And the streams
We name everything

And the hills, the streams, the waterfalls, the plains and the seas,
Laugh
And go on
What do they care??

Monday, June 18, 2007

One more song from Khamoshi




हमने देखी है उन आंखों की महकती खुशबू
हाथ से छू के इसे
रिश्तों का इल्ज़ाम ना दो,
सिर्फ एह्सास है ये,
रूह से मह्सूस करो,
प्यार को प्यार ही रहने दो कोई नाम ना दो...

प्यार कोई बोल नहीं,
प्यार आवाज़ नहीं,
एक खामोशी है, सुनती है कहा करती है,
ना ये बुझती है ना रुकती है ना ठ्हरी है कहीं,
नूर की बून्द है सदियों से बहा करती है...
सिर्फ एह्सास है ये,
रूह से मह्सूस करो,
प्यार को प्यार ही रहने दो कोई नाम ना दो...


मुस्कुराहट सी खिली रहती है आंखों में कहीं,
और पलकों पे उजाले से झुके रहते हैं
होंठ कुछ कहते नहीं कांपते होंठों पे मग़र
कितने खामोश से अफसाने रुके रहते हैं..
सिर्फ एह्सास है ये,
रूह से मह्सूस करो,
प्यार को प्यार ही रहने दो कोई नाम ना दो...

If it is possible to define "love", this is it..

Humne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mahakati khushboo
Haath se chhoo ke use
Rishton ka ilzaam na do,
Sirf ehsaas hai ye,
Rooh se mahsoos karo
Pyaar ko pyaar hi rahne do koi naam na do…

Pyaar koi bol nahi,
Pyaar awaaz nahi, ek khamoshi hai sunati hai kahaa karti hai
Na ye bujhti hai na rukti hai na thehri hai kahin,
Noor ki boond hai sadiyon se baha karti hai…
Sirf ehsaas hai ye,
Rooh se mahsoos karo
Pyaar ko pyaar hi rahne do koi naam na do…


Muskurahat si khili rahti hain aankhon mein kahi,
Aur palkon pe ujaale se jhuke rehte hain,
Honth kuchh kethe nahi kaanpte honthon pe magar
Kitne khamosh se afsaane ruke rehte hain…
Sirf ehsaas hai ye,
Rooh se mahsoos karo
Pyaar ko pyaar hi rahne do koi naam na do…

Limited Ability Translation:

We have seen the fragrant sparkle of those eyes,
Do not throw the blame of a relationship on it…
Love is just a feeling,
To be felt by the soul,
Let Love just be Love, do not place a name to it…

Love is not a word, nor a sound,
Just a silence that speaks and listens for itself.
It does not get extinguished, nor does it stop,
A drop of the nectar light that has been flowing for centuries…
Love is just a feeling,
To be felt by the soul,
Let Love just be Love, do not place a name to it …

The eyes, they smile deep within,
And the eyelids are lit with inexplicable illumination.
The lips, they say nothing, and yet,
How many stories rest on those trembling lips..
Love is just a feeling,
To be felt by the soul,
Let Love just be Love, do not place a name to it…

Thanks to Neihal... .

.. for reminding me of this song from the old Khamoshi...

तुम पुकार लो
तुम्हारा इंतज़ार है...

होंठ पे लिये हुए,
दिल की बात हम
जागते रहेंगे और,
कितनी रात हम ...
मुख़्तसर सी बात है,
तुम से प्यार है....

दिल बहल तो जायेगा,
इस ख़्याल से,
हाल मिल गया तुम्हारा,
अपने हाल से..
रात ये करार की
बेकरार है!!

तुम्हारा इंतजार है...


Limited Ability Translation, but do notice the directness of the words.
***********************************************
I wait for you...

How much longer
will the desire of my heart
stay on my lips?
Its a very small thing -
I love you.

This thought alone,
will gladden my heart,
That tonight,
you and I,
sail in the same boat*
This night of peace,
Is turbulent within..
**************************

PS: *"Sail in the same boat" means, are in the same emotional state.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Dharm: The film

All he had to do was to say "I Could watch Dharm", for me to get out of the house, jump into a car, and get 2 tickets of the film, before he'd had a chance to change his mind. (yes, wicked)

Pankaj Kapoor is a treat, getting better with time. It looked like a movie with an IQ above 10 (To me, the average IQ of a movie today is about 8). And the visuals showed promise of being worthy of a big screen. In retrospect, all 3 expectations got met.

The movie is subtle. As we argued later, a little too subtle for some people. The central message, as we carried back, was that every religion has to, at some point of time, make a decision between rituals and essence.

Hinduism is used as the example in the film. The motif of a pundit, or clergy, or ulema, or whatever, is universal.

But perhaps, the subtlety is too subtle for some minds. I also enumerated for the Other, the less positive messages one could take back from the film, and he said, "Well, people have specialised in taking dung out of the cow, instead of the milk, so can't be certain this film will get the right message across. Yes, sadly, people might make biogas from this film too."

There was one other interesting thing. The trigger for this conflict, in the film, is, interestingly, Moh मोह , or attachment. And then I thought, if Moh can trigger a thought process of choice between rituals and essence, then, is Moh bad, in that one situation? If attachment forces you to rethink what Dharma means to you, or your values, is that attachment, in that one context, bad?

What do you think?

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

My Favorite Posts

Since I am more of a reader than writer on Blogoria, this post is a compilation of other posts that I especially enjoyed lately.

This one is the first that comes to mind. Man! I can read this post 100 times and still laugh the 101st time.
http://www.twisted-dna.com/2007/05/14/delicious-looking-wedding-buffet/

I love the second picture on this photo post. When one thinks of it, its a practical apparatus to learn and enjoy cycling without worrying about... well, some of the necessary worries of life!
http://workinprogress2.blogspot.com/2007/05/for-change.html

I always love Sayesha's blog, but this post really had me in splits. http://sayesha.blogspot.com/2007/03/koffee-addiction.html

And this picture of a dandelion. Simple, yet beautiful.
http://reallyirritating.blogspot.com/2007/04/more-plants.html


Remember Nandan? That children's magazine that used to have a 2 page News section that combined the most amazing news snippets ever? This one reminded me of that.
http://hindinewspaper.blogspot.com/


Monday, June 04, 2007

Creating a personal diary on the net.

I found a way to create a personal diary on the net. Its like your personal journal and even if people know the url, they cannot read till they have access. Thought some of you might like to know.

Step 1 - Create a new blog.
Step 2 - Change preferances for this blog to not appear on your profile.
Step 3 - For the new blog, change preferances for reading options also. Ask for authorisation to read the url. Only people you specify as readers will be able to read the url.

There, as simple as 1-2-3. Now all your personal catharsis can happen on blogosphere too!