The Inconvenient Truth

Just finished watching a documentary called "Inconvenient Truth" featuring Al Gore. At first, the name Al Gore put me off big time.

But from Minute 1, one was hooked. Its a strong "Must watch" recommendation. (I got it from the local DVD vala, so you might try your luck there too. )

The documentary is about Global Warming. One has already reached compassion fatigue with this subject.

I really do believe that human beings are digging their mass grave successfully(and rather quickly) with their wombs. If we do not stop exponentially growing, we are all going. But one did not know the extent. From 2 billion after WW2, we are currently at above six billion. As he says in the film, 10,000 generations to reach 2 billion, and one lifetime to multiply that by 3. Super!

There are people who really believe that human beings are a "resource". To produce what? As a species, we are parasites and saprophytes. We produce nothing that is of use to anyone other than our own species. In the utility order, we must be just below the crows because the crows at least serve to clean up their feeding areas. We do the exact opposite!

Then one person once told me "We are a resource because it is the children we produce that are creating the economic resources for this country. The BPO work force is coming from there. Its a matter of how you use this resource." I was dumbfounded. You want to produce children to work in BPOs! How completely selfless!

Seriously, I have nothing against this view. In fact, I quite enjoy the circus that is the human civilisation.

Personally, I am very happy when a natural disaster tries to wake us up. The Earth is really kind, because instead of going for one mega disaster and getting rid of us, it is still trying to give us gentle warnings. The earth will survive the mega disaster. We, apparently, will not.

But there is something that this video does : it gives us hope. It tells us that we might still not be too late. After the hard, irrefutable figures, that hope is a good take home. It lets you sleep at night.

A Tag by Neihal!

Thank you Neihal, and here's the answer.


Publish 5th paragraph of page 123 of the book you are currently reading. (if the page does not have 5th paragraph, take the last paragraph. And if the book doesn’t have page no. 123, take the last page.)


I read multiple books at the same time. At the moment, these books are

Super Sudoku Puzzles by J. Riley
At Wit's End by Erma Bombeck; and
Raat, Chand aur Main by Gulzar.


Let's choose Gulzar for this tag. (I would have liked to choose Super Sudoku puzzles, but blogger does not support grid paragraphs yet. ;-)).






बस एक पानी की आवाज़ लपलपाती है,
कि घाट छोड़ के मांझी तमाम जा भी चुके


चलो ना चांद की कश्ती मे झील पार करें।

I tag....Artnavy, ITW, Dharma, Chiya and Sugarlips.

I also tag the first 5 visitors to this post. So if you see this post and the no. of comments is less than 5, you are tagged.

I am a Minority!

I demand full minority protection complete with the benefits!

I belong to a small group called the "WTF" group. We are like this:

1. We see Arjun Singh's "I-am-Krissh-but-why-does-everyone-else-think-I-am-Dr. Dang" histrionics and go "WTF!"

2. We see a lot of new headlines in the papers and find that the myopic vision of 50 years ago on whether 2 ppl can have an inter-religious marriage or not, whether girls are old enough to decide whom to marry at the age of 16 etc.. we see reams of paper and air time wasted on these notions and go "WTF! As if these things are even worth discussing"

3. We see the K series of serials(for abt 2 minutes) during which we see the same expression captured abt 5 times and go "WTF! DD's Hum Log anyday!"

4. We see Rahul Gandhi and Aishwarya Rai trying to appear intelligent and go "WTF!"

5. We see the Sachar Committee Report that is trying to get jobs for a highly entrepreneurial community and go "WTF! Why are the real needs of the community not being addressed?"

The WTFs are a community that is not suited to living in today's India.

We are also completely unfit to watch modern television.

More thoughts to live by..

More things I read that lead to thinking and peace (none of these is mine): 

अक्सर वो कहते है वो बस मेरे हैं,
अक्सर क्यों कहते हैं, हैरत होती है!
aksar vo kehte hain, vo bas mere hain,
aksar kyun kehte hain, hairat hoti hai.

He, who is mine, often tells me that,
Why does have to tell me often? (bad translation)

गम होते है जहाँ ज़हानत होती है,
दुनिया मे हर शेह की कीमत होती है

Gham hote hain jahaan zahaanat hoti hai,
duniya ein har sheh ki keemat hoti hai.

There is sorrow where there is knowledge.
Everything in the world comes at a price.

हम से दिलचस्प कभी सच्चे नही होते हैं,
अच्छे लगते हैं मगर अच्छे नही होते हैं।
Hum se dilchasp kabhi sachche nahee hote hain,
Acchche lagte hain magar achchhe nahi hote hain..

Those, who are intersting, are seldom honest,
They appear nice, but they are not.

One liners

This is a set of one liners। All of them have been with me a long time, and like good friends, they whisper themselves in the ear at just the right time.


This, Too, Shall Pass....
- Most people think of it in bad times. It helps a lot to remember this in the good times too. We tend to attribute the bad times to fate and the good times to ourselves.

Honesty once pawned is never redeemed

Don’t accept unacceptable behavior.

You have never been given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true.
It took me a lot of years to understand this one. Precisely 10 years. The lesson at the end of 10 years is that maybe, not all dreams are worth fighting for.

Nobody remembers your achievements. They do not usually remember your name either. But what they will never, ever forget, is how you made them feel.

If your mother says you’ll regret it, you probably will.

When something appears too good to be true, it usually is.

One more TAG

When you think of everything ever posted on ur blog, which is the first post that comes to your mind.. ONLY the first post.

You can answer in the comments, and will be really nice if u can also add the url of the post.

Here is my answer. I love the simplicity and the power of the parallel in this.

Tumhara Naam

Bulle Shah!

मेरे एक दोस्त ने आज मुझे बुल्ले शाह का कलाम भेजा.. पढ कर हैरानी भी हुई, और बहुत खुशी भी. उसे Thank You का मेल भेजा तो उस ने लिखा, "दर असल ये तुम्हे याद दिलाने के लिये था कि कभी तुम्हारी ओर से बहुत उम्दा कवितायें ढूंढ कर सब को भेजी जाती थीं. बहुत महीने हुए, वो कवितायें कहां हैं?

मैने जवाब दिया, "अब मेरे blog पर मिलती हैं!! "
;-)

आईना ने अमृता प्रीतम की बहुत ही प्यारी कवितायें इक्ठी की हैं. य़हां.

और मेरी ओर से, ये बुल्ले शाह, जो आज मिला:

One of my friends sent me this really nice Bulle Shah poem. Wasboth surprised and happy to get it. When I sent him a note to say "Thank you!" he replied, "That was actually to remind you of your lovely poetry forwards. Where are they? " I replied, "On my blog now! "

Aaina has compiled a lovely set of Amrita Pritam poetry. You can read it in Hindi here.

And on my post, the poem sent by my friend.

" ਜੇ ਰਬ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਨਾਤਯਾ ਧੋਤਯਾ,
ਮਿਲਦਾ ਡਡੁਆ ਮਛਿਯਾੰ
ਜੇ ਰਬ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਨਦੀ ਮਸਾਨ ਵਿਚ,
ਮਿਲਦਾ ਚਮ ਚਿਣਿਕਿਯਾੰ,
ਜੇ ਰਬ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਜੰਗਲ ਵੇਲੇ
ਮਿਲਦਾ ਗਾੰ ਤੇ ਬਛਿਯਾੰ,
ਬੁਲਲੇ ਸ਼ਾਹ ਰਬ ਔਨੁ ਲਬਦਾ
ਜੇ ਨੀਯਤਾੰ ਜਿਨਾ ਦੀਆੰ ਸਚਿਯਾੰ.... "

In the translation, "was in" is to mean " If God could be attained/reached by"

If god was in physical purification by water,
He would live among the fish and the toads
If god was in the cemetries,
He would be among the leather mongers
If God was in the forest,
He would be attained by the cows and calves.
Bulle Shah says the only way to attain God
Is for those with clean intentions..

For people outside India: This is aimed at the various practices adopted by sects for self purification and attainment of God. Some sects believe in self purification by keeping the body clean and sticking to rituals. Some other sects believe that self flagellation and torture is the only way to get closer to God. Some others believe in meditation deep in the forests. Bulle Shah believes that the only way to get God is to keep a pure heart that wishes no evil.

More Javed Akhtar..

The last ghazal could not be translated at all.. it was too good for that.. am making some effort with some of the shers in this one..

हम तो बच्पन में भी अकेले थे,
सिर्फ दिल की गली में खेले थे.

एक तरफ मोर्चे थे पलकों के,
एक तरफ आंसूओं के रेले थे..

थीं सजीं हसरतैं दुकानों पर
ज़िन्दगी के अजीब मेले थे..

आज ज़हन-ओ-दिल भूखे मरते हैं,
उन दिनो हम ने फाक़े झेले थे..

खुद्कुशी क्या गमों का हल बनती,
मौत के अपने सौ झमेले थे..

ham to bachapan me.n bhii akele the
sirf dil kii galii me.n khele the

ek taraf morche the palako.n ke
ek taraf aa.Nsuuo.n ke rele the

thii.n sajii hasarate.n duukaano.n par
zindagii ke ajiib mele the

aaj zehan-o-dil bhuuko.n marate hai.n
un dino.n faake bhii ham ne jhele the

Khud-kashii kyaa Gamo.n kaa hal banatii
maut ke apane bhii sau jhamele the
**********************
I was alone even in my childhood
and the alleys of the heart, the only playgrounds I've known..

Brightly lit desires on the shops,
In the strange fair called Life...

The other ones are too nice for me to mutilate them in translation..

Worst Film of the Year Award

... goes, beyond doubt, to Nishabd: The Film

Saw it yesterday and just HAD to blog about it. Though I've seen over 20 films since the last film post - Kabul Express, this one REALLY takes the cake.

What's wrong with it?

One, someone should have spent at least some time on the characters before putting them on paper/film. They all seem to have come from 1 line briefs! It is supposed to be a credible story, but nothing about it ends up being credible.. because everything is so... wispy! (for want of a better word)

Two, the movie needs editing, and lots of it.

But the worst assault of the film is its cinematography. The cinematographer should be criminally prosecuted for that assault on our visual senses. Can you imagine a location like a beautiful, verdant tea estate among the mountains, and a grey/blue/green filter with black and white effects on this scenery for the WHOLE DURATION OF THE FILM? Can you imagine that?? 3 hours of mutilation of such amazing locales!!