नवरस की दुकान

मैंने नवरस की दुकान लगायी
सबसे ज्यादा, बिका ग़म 

शांति की ओर
किसी ने नज़र भी न उठाई 

श्रृंगार
खुद ही बिक गया

वीभत्स और भयानक को
चांदी का वर्क लगाया
तो कुछ लोग ले गए

हास्य
हँसते खेलते निकल गया

वीर रस
तेज़ गर्जना के साथ,
पर कम लोगों में ....
जिसने लिया,
पूरे मन के लिए लिया...
ये रस
आधा सेर नहीं मिलता...
पूरा सर ही खपाना पड़ता है..

अदभुतं
मेरे पास ही रखा है
इस के बिना
सांस नहीं आती..
oxygen सा है..

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linking to a post for posterity..

how can one not link to this post... :-)

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film review - ek main aur ek too..

here is the one line review - if u want to make a girl very very happy , and get brownie points, take her for this movie.. she will love the movie, laff very hard, and she will love you!!

and now, comes the longer review:
1. its VERY FUNNY
2. superb performances - by Kareena, Imran, and the restof the cast
3. after ages, is a rom com that is actually kid friendly
4. but most importantly... here is a film that talks about women..

for all those men wondering what women really want... watch this movie... its a very simple answer - women, want to be treated like people - thinking creatures, who are considered old enough to take their own decisions. people who have a right to decide what they want to do, have the courage to bear the consequences, if any, the moral courage to tell their families everything - share their failures and their successes. People who want to talk about their schools, hug, et al, without giving "hints" and correct the guy's perception when he "takes" hints that were never given.

and this film is about men... men who have the courage to accept they made mistakes.. to accept that they love someone, even if she does not love them back... to say it without ego... and to live with the truth too.. :-)

basically, if you want a serious discussion on the film, i highly recommend this post here.. which does the job way better than me...

in short, its a perfect v day gift for the woman in your life.. :-)

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what a day to lose Shahryaar !

दिल चीज़ क्या है आप मेरी जान लीजिये,

बस एक बार मेरा कहा, मान लीजिये...

Shahryaar will be remembered for a lot of his work in Indian cinema, but to me, Gaman... remains the anchor by which one remembers him..

what a day to lose the shayar whose poetry mixed love and sorrow with such effortless ease... RIP shahryaar... you will be much missed.

if you want to read more of this phenomenal poet, here it is.

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Don't Go Far Off - Pablo Neruda

Don't go far off, not even for a day, because --
because -- I don't know how to say it: a day is long
and I will be waiting for you, as in an empty station
when the trains are parked off somewhere else, asleep.

Don't leave me, even for an hour, because
then the little drops of anguish will all run together,
the smoke that roams looking for a home will drift
into me, choking my lost heart.

Oh, may your silhouette never dissolve on the beach;
may your eyelids never flutter into the empty distance.
Don't leave me for a second, my dearest,

because in that moment you'll have gone so far
I'll wander mazily over all the earth, asking,
Will you come back? Will you leave me here, dying?

Pablo Neruda

PS: Yes, i am on a Pablo Neruda trip...

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thank you! thank you! thank you!

from The Secret Daily Teachings (a mailing list urs truly has subscribed to)
Today, be grateful. Be grateful for your favorite music, for movies that make you feel good, for your phone that connects you with people, for your computer, and for the electricity that lights up your life. Be grateful for air travel that flies you everywhere. Be grateful for the roads and traffic lights that keep the traffic in order. Be grateful to those who built our bridges. Be grateful for your pet, for your child, for your loved ones, for your eyes that enable you to read this. Be grateful for your imagination. Be grateful that you can think. Be grateful that you can speak. Be grateful that you can laugh and smile. Be grateful that you can breathe. Be grateful that you are alive! Be grateful that you are You!
Be grateful that there are two words that can change your life.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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book review - kiran manral's the reluctant detective

i really, really wish this book was packaged differently. it is brilliant humour, making a reader like yours truly actually laugh out loud at certain places.

when the blurb talks abt becoming a detective between being a school gate mom and lunch parties, one picks it up with an assumption that there will be some level of murder mystery et al. but this is , pure and simble, chick lit, with a lot of humour thrown in. the very effective splotch of blood on the cover is so unnecessary.

this is a breezy read - perfect for a 2 hour flight, and great for end of day reading. you will go to bed laughing, and that alone guarantees sweet dreams. :-)

but please, package it as chick lit(the author prefers to call it hen-lit) humour. this is not detective fiction. this is not about a woman detective. or murders. or solving mysteries.


this is a book for women.. and if anyone knows where to get that stiletto on the cover, please let me know. i dreamt about it.. and will buy a green and beige dress, just to be able to wear them shoes.. yeah one is shallow that way and all that.. :-)

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book review - custody by manju kapoor

Manju Kapoor is a consummate story teller. She can weave a web right around your neck, and you love it.

The book is engaging. Full of stereotypes that you realise are still, unfortunately, too true to be dismissed. you empathise with the parents, understand the women characters, chuckle at the predictability of the male characters, though they appear to be different from each other.. but the more things change, the more they remain the same, na?

but most of all, what happens to the children, frame after frame, page after page, crushes whatever little faith one might have in humanity. Custody is NOT about the relationships, gossip, legal complications.. its about the mutilation(and the word is not lightly used) of children by their own families - by the ones who are supposed to protect them and nurture them - by their very own parents.

She places her camera at a height, so the angle is not the child's. and through the eyes of these thinking adults, she demonstrates, bit by excruciating bit, what we do to children.. you scream at the unfairness of it all and then realise how powerless the rest of the world can be when parents decide to mutilate their children.

would i recommend it? not if u love children. the book can be very depressing. as pure writing, its brilliant.

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