Tomorrow.

Tomorrow

A question mark,

A mystery still to be fathomed

A question still to be asked

An answer not yet looked for

Why do you wish

To dwelve into things

Not thought of

Not looked for

Not asked for

Why do you wish to look beyond

When you have the present with you

The present of today.

--*--

The Dance of Death.

Silence speaks in whispers

As your hands do your thing

Your eyes stare into emptiness

Your smile makes me think

The unsaid words form a story

As you take my hand

To make me stand on my feet

And to make me dance

Each step elegant

Each prance a gesture

Each look a story

Each smile to treasure

I try to match steps

I try to walk aside

But each motion makes me follow

To your command I abide

Strange it is

Addicted am I

For what can I do

Your eyes make me fly.

Happy are we

for we know

There is no end to this madness

we let the reigns go

We fly to unknown horizons

watching the sunset of a million sons

We have lived a million lives

now it is time to choose one

Looking to the others eyes

we make our move

We dance past the lost memories

moving to the groove

The flight of the Icarus

Night talks in purple legions

The sky stays sullen

The red moon cries up above

Yes, the thoughtful one falls once again.

And why,

asks the sky

do you care so much for the rest?

Why

should it matter that you become the crutch

for everyone who cries

for everyone who needs a helping hand

for everyone who is alone

when?

They ask

will you start thinking for yourself?

The thoughful one gazes above

the same face as before

For 1000 years I waited

to see them change

to see them have fun at else’s expense

and let the energy drain

For 1000 years I waited

for them to realize

that what they did was wrong

and waited for them to realize

But now I think its time

for them to pay the price

Let them whisper

let them cry

let them houl for mercy

let them all arise

For there will be a time when the world will look up to me and shout

‘Save us’

 

and I will whisper, ‘NO.’

---

-Written on a Blood red moon night.

--Plagiarism ALERT : Last line from WATCHMEN, the Story.

Angel.

Silence spoke in whispers

The empty hallway called for the sleeping one

I walked by the shining moon into the dark room

The neon digits on the clock reminded me of the present

I should not be here.

Yet here I was by her side

Eyes closed, she was sleeping like an angel

Untouched

Unspoken

Talking to silence with simple breaths

I kept watching her till the birds started talking to each other

The sunrays walked slowly into the room

It was time for me to go.

I left the room with a smile on my face.

These were different times

These were different lives

It was a different me

It was a different her.

This time, it was not about death

This time, it was about life.

And maybe

Just maybe

about something more.

The Joker.

I think I have found a way out of this misery.

the small door is ready to be opened

…and pop will fall the clown out.

Nonsense!

Sometimes it is scary how you try to run away from yourself.

You try to hide, try to fight, try to look beyond what is there, has been there, and will be there

Into the unknown

Just to feel the unbounded satire that is life.

You grope around in the darkness looking for an answer, looking for the reason you are doing what you are doing,

Running around in circles just to realize that you do not have a tail, killing time, trying to prove that you are worthy of the air you are breathing, the food you are eating, the water that you are drinking, and each and every time you reach the same crossroad again and again.

Again you face the same path you crossed before, again the two signs reading the same in different languages.

Same shit, different day.

Life would have been different, life would have been better, life would have been so wonderful...

Ha! Jokes.

Shoot, or be shot.

That is the world we are living in.

Believe it!

Period.

---

Just another one of those days when you want to kill everyone around you just to feel the solitude.

Can anyone lend me a gun please?

Rants.

एक दिन  बिक  जायेगा
माटी के मोल
जग में रह जायेंगे  प्यारे तेरे बोल

In the long run, everything is forgotten. what remains are your words.

It’s a strange thing, Life is. And mine, at least, is the strangest I have ever known.

You know that movie in which all strings are woven together in the end giving a cohesive story with all answer told? Well, mine is not that movie. Mine is the brainless sex comedy which, no matter how much you try, you will end up without a logic and reason to it. You just laugh.

Everyday something happens which makes me think and rethink all that has happened in my life. And the moment I start making sense of it, I realize that there is no point making sense of it. Because up there, there is a bigger joker sitting, laughing his head off at each and every action of yours.

Life has learnings they say. I don’t think so. Not in my world at least.

I make a mistake. I learn from it. Then when the next time a similar situation arises, I use the learning just to realize that I should have acted in a similar way as the last time to make it work. The learning backfires. I should NOT have learnt in the first place!

In my world, logic is the last thing you would expect.

People: Illogical. 
Friends: Apart from few, all come in the people subset.
Acquaintances : Well, What do u expect?
Circumstances: Weirdly familiar but giving random results.

So what do I do? Do I run and hide and decide not to learn at all? Do I say enough is enough. Stop the world, and let me off?

Or do I keep playing the game of Poker that life is... Do I keep dealing hands after hands till I am down to that one last hand and hope to win it all. 

Maybe the mistakes made from the learnings are showing a direction. Maybe there is a missing link. Maybe, there is a bigger picture where all is connected. Maybe this is just the beginning of the movie and not the climax.

Remember Calculus? I am living in a world of dy/dx waiting for the integration which would give me the value of ‘why’.

Lets hope it is soon.

Till then, Life and lemons go hand in Hand. Lets see how many lemonades I can drink, or sell as for that matter.

---

P.S: All my friends who are reading this, you all are in the ‘amongst few’ category.

Holi.

This I write, after having one of the most eventful days of my life.

On 2nd of March, we Performed our play Holi, at Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai. An opportunity granted to us by Team Thespo for showcasing our show there for Thespo@Prithvi.

Two shows. Both House full. While complimentary tickets were being sold to let people in, and little fights were breaking for getting inside the theatre, there we were: Standing in the dark alleys of the backstage. Waiting for the centre stage lights to go off. The show ended with a standing ovation and a feeling of satisfaction.

Now I wouldn’t say much about How we performed or how good the play was. Coming from me or anyone who was associated with the play, It would be a biased opinion. But I Do have one thing to say. I feel proud to  be a part of Holi.

The crew, a group of individuals who are as determined as the day, as powerful as the sun, and as playful as a new born baby. Each one different and unique in one way or the other. And each striving for one common goal. To produce a perfect show at Prithvi.

What started off as a play for Thespo with a bunch of people in a small flat in 7 bungalows, slowly became much much more than that. It became a ‘Revolution!’. A Fu**ing REVOLUTION!

Faces changed, locations for rehearsals changed. So did the moods, energy and tempo of the crew. Several charactors skipped bodies. Dialogues were changed. More and more improvisations came into picture.

The Best addition to the play was the Band. Ah! The Band without the drummer, How can we forget that. The group of people who started off with ‘Oh man! we don’t have anything interesting to play.” ended up catching the breathes and pulse of the whole audience. People swooned, people gasped as the plot was woven by the tunes of the music. Interestingly, we actually WERE looking for a drummer till the very last moment. But Oh well…what the hell. We got a photographer. :P

What we saw in Prithvi was just a matter of toying with the idea of how to improvise with not just the story, but the whole design of the play.

And it was all possible because of the stone like determination of Our director, the guy who was forced to take up the most important role in the play, that of Anand, at the very last moment, the one who always believed in each and every one of his Actors, Anuj. No matter what happened, whether we were kicked out of houses because of being too loud in a residential neighborhood (that happened twice by the way), whether actors suddenly decided to pack up and leave, or whether time decided to run a race against us, He would just not give up.

The rest of the crew was AMAZING! to say the least. No matter how much you try, it is difficult categorizing all of them in a single genre. Each one of them is as different and unique, as an apple from a mango. Still, I will try to summarize them in a as few lines as possible.

• Gopal urf Bhardwaj: This guy is the Kay kay Menon of our group. You want ideas about improvizing, want to know more about your character, want to present a scene in a better way, this guy has all the answers.

• Lalu and Taimur urf Gaurav and Mayur : You cannot take their names separately. For the sole fact that they are inseparable. The ‘aplu Taplu’ of the group, the smallest and the wildest ones, are a powerhouse.

• Ranjeet urf Rajat: The Dude! of the crew. IITB Passout who left the 9 to 5 job to do what he loves the most.  No nonsense guy who knows who he is playing.

• Basant urf Dilip : “U want Natural laughter? Wait. He he… off.. sorry, He Ha!” you know what I am talking about. :P

• Shrivastava urf Nikhil: The one who joined the last amongst the main team and who, effortlessly, blended in. As we found out later, we are from the same school. Different batches. :)

   

• Pandey urf Amol: Bhai Banda Smart hai bhai. Another IIT Grad who is better in acting than in crunching numbers. And how! Its amazing how some people can adapt to a role so quickly and effortlessly.

• Shreya urf Nidhi : “Hello guys.. ik Cigarette pila do…” Ah! this girl is fun-tastic.

• The guest aka Kartik : Calm, composed, silent, The official Photographer of the crew, and Yes. Dr. David. In one word: Cool.

• Warden sa’ab, vocals, guitars aka Arjun: The singer with the golden voice who dawned the robes of the Warden too. His voice set the tone of the play. His guitar strums took it forward, and ended it fashionably. Cool, funny and a lover of Beer. And yes, his I-pod. 

• Princi, Keyboards aka Nikhil : The synthi of the band who also played Princi Pandey has the uncanny habit of appearing sleepy. But more often than not, you would find him immersed in either the keyboards or his smoke. Wonderful guy.

• Announcer, bass guitarist aka Demitirius: A mike shinoda Look-alike, he is the most fun loving, cool, crazy, broken hindi-speaking guy you would ever come across. When he first entered the team, he could only speak bits and pieces of Hindi. And he fit the Role Purrr-fectly.

• The Chai wala urf Nimesh: The Last minute addition to the group who was supposed to stand under a tapri and serve chai to eveyone. Little did we know that onstage, he would become one of the most important part of the crew. During our first performance, the Roof of the tapri fell during a fight sequence between pandey and Basant. What was interesting was the coverup by Nimesh and the rest of the crew. While the chai wala looked dejected and sighed ‘ye kya kar diya saab’. Anuj while exiting quipped, ‘Theek kara lena bhaiya”. The second show saw him standing by the stand of the tapri so it doesn’t fall during the fight which, incidentally, again bumped the tapri. But thanks to our smart Chai wala, all went well.

• Lights by Anmol: The ‘anmol’ part of the team who took upon himself to do the lights for the play in Prithvi. Understanding the role of lights and effectively producing an impeccable ambience on set within a week’s time, this guy with a heavy voice and seemingly rough attitude, has a heart of gold. A workoholic who eats, drinks and sleeps work.

Looking back at the whole experience, I have just word to say: AMAZING! It has been one of my most wonderful experiences which I would cherish for a long long time. I had some really good moments, got to know a bit more about myself, and yes, made some wonderful friends.

I hope the journey continues with as much fun and frolic as it has till now. Learnings will happen along the road, and for whenever a ‘tapri’ falls during a running play…. we will improvize. :)

--G--

A Special thanks to Quasar and to Team Thespo, without whom this would never have been possible. They were, infact, the starting point of the whole Journey. Lovely People. Lovely chemistry. Wonderful attitude. Never-Say-Die Hearts.

Thespo XIII Beckons.

---

Photos Courtesy: Dilip, Anuj, Kartik

2011 | For whom the Bell tolls.

Another year ends

A new one begins

Life, it seems

Continues to play its own music

…and we

Continue to dance to its tunes.

---X---

The year 2010 draws to a close.

Like every other year, this year too leaves us with memories which, like the footprints on the sand, wait to be washed away by the waves of time.

Like every other year, technology took quicker steps towards the future, governments made more and better allies to safeguard their nations, new policies were made and newer ways to walk past it were found. Perspectives towards people and social norms changed, new heroes were born and older ones buried. We lost good people, and hoped better ones were born.

We all made promises.

Some we followed, others bit the dust.

And like always

We prayed for a better tomorrow.

Was this year any different from the rest of the years that went past us?

And would the coming year be any different from the one we wave goodbye to.

The answer, I guess, should not be looked for in these words written by a nobody or in someone else’s preaching. The answer lies within.

---X---

We make our own days

We create our own nights.

We live by ourselves.

We fight our own fights.

So, let the future be ruled by own.

Let the past begotten be gone.

For we all know

For whom the Bell tolls.

---X---

Let the new year be the year of change.

Welcome 2011.

We are waiting.