Why I write...

I write to express my opinions, feelings and desires. I can express my joy and share both happiness and sorrow through writing. I write to voice my dissatisfaction, angst and frustration and to express pain or disbelief.

I write to record significant experiences; experiences that touch me or events that move me. I can then come back to events or interesting moments, days, months or years after they occurred. I write to forget unpleasant people, situations or things.

I write to capture and pin down fleeting ideas before they vanish from my mind. I write to let my mind travel freely and come up with crazy ideas. I write to refine ideas. Writing gives shape to and helps mould my ideas and thoughts. I write to visualise my dreams and wrench out my hidden fears. I write to face issues I have been avoiding. I write when in doubt and when I am seeking answers or to search my soul. I write when I want to be sure of my words and to ensure that I use the appropriate words.

I write to ask for forgiveness when I have made a mistake or hurt someone intentionally or unintentionally. I write to thank those who have made a difference. I write to appreciate beauty around me. I write to raise concerns and applaud achievements. I write to admire and acknowledge brilliance and virtue and to deplore vices around me and within me.

I write to keep in touch with touch with old friends and relatives and to make new acquaintances. I write to communicate at work with colleagues, clients, suppliers and the media. I write to share information and to ask for information. I write when I want to reach out to many people at the same time.

I write to comment on happenings around the world and to contemplate on life. I write to celebrate the joy of living. I write to ridicule the irony of life. I write to express and share the joys of travelling and discovering new places, people, cultures and cuisines.

I write to improvise my writing skills. And yes of course, I write for the sheer pleasure of writing!

dil ki udaan

mera yeh dil deewana
jaane hai kaise rukta na
iski udaan..

manoo hai koi panchi yeh
ude hai jo gagan mein yeh
phaila ke pankh

armaan iske haaroon zalakte boli mein
ghule hai jaise rang saare holi mein

(just keyed in somethin tht came to my mind... may keep refining it.. :)

I am finally done with the Fountainhead (Better late than never..) well but I am not going to review the book here or comment on my opinion about it... just am quoting some of her brilliant evocative, lines ..

"The people has come to witness a sensational case, to see celebrities, to get material for consversation, to be seen, to kill time. They would return to unwanted jobs, unloved families, unchosen friends, to drawing rooms, evening clothes, cocktail glasses and movies, to unadmitted pain, murdered hope, desire left unreached, left hanging silently over a path on which no step was taken, to days of effort not to think, not to say, to forget and give in and give up.

But each of them had known some unforgotten moment - a morning when nothing happened, a piece of music heard suddenly and never heard in the same way again, a stranger's face seen in a bus - a moment when each had known in a different sesnse of living. And each remembered other moments, on a sleepless night, on a afternoon of steady rain, in a church, in an empty street at sunset, when each had wondered why there was so much suffering and ugliness in the world. They had not tried to find the answer and they had gone on living as if no answer were necessary. But each had known a moment when, in lonely, naked honesty, he had felt the need of an answer."

All Girl Squad

Here's an interesting article that I found on BBC World... Kudos to the All Girl Squad from India!!! I wish them all the best in their endeavor to establish peace!!!


ALL GIRL SQUAD!
This World meets the first all-female unit of United Nations peacekeepers, who have been based in Liberia for six months

Do women make better soldiers, especially in war torn countries? As a trial, the UN recently deployed a unit of Indian women to be the first ever all-female peacekeeping force in the West African country in Liberia. The women are part of India's Central Reserve Police Force, and were hand picked from across the country for this mission. They are experts in crowd control and veterans of many conflicts in India, including Kashmir and fighting in the north-east of India.
Conflict in LiberiaLiberia is recovering from 14 years of civil war during which child soldiers roamed the streets and sexual violence was common. Today the presence of thousands of peacekeepers keeps it stable, but rape is still a major problem.The UN is experimenting with all female units because female soldiers are seen as less threatening and more approachable in post conflict situations, where populations are recovering from years of violence and fear. In Liberia this is of particular importance because the country has experienced an epidemic of sexual violence against women. But will the presence of armed Indian women patrolling the streets empower local women, or will the culture shock the Indian women face - in their first visit out of India - stop them from interacting with local Liberians? This World accompanies the women on their mission. If they are a success, they could be the first of many women soldiers to wear the famous UN blue helmets.

My sister called me up this evening and said that Benazir Bhutto was dead, she was killed… I was shocked, and my immediate reaction was of disbelief. By the time I could ask how, when, who?? my sister had hung up. I rushed home and joined Dad and Mom who were glued to news channels. For once, Mom too had sacrificed her serials!!!
Allegations of corruptions apart, Benazir was a woman I admired as a truly charismatic leader. I still remember my school days when I would keenly pay attention to the smart, young, fearless lady addressing rallies and promising to lead Pakistan. She in fact that went on to become a woman Prime Minister of a hard core Islamic nation (that too one with a mind of her own, not a mere puppet!). Whenever she spoke, whether to the large masses in rallies or in interviews on Television, she was always confident and poised. A truly charismatic leader! She spoke with conviction and dignity.
Another fact that I admired about her was that she was well-educated (learnt today that she went to Harvard and Oxford) and often spoke of the need to improve the deplorable state of women in Islamic nations. A moderate Islamist, she was one of the best options that Pakistan had in a scenario where one was trying to establish democracy.
She didn’t lose heart, inspite of having had to face a troubled personal life, with her father Zulfikar Bhutto being executed and her brothers assassinated.
Her assassination was totally unexpected, especially at this point in time, when there were signs of democracy being restored in Pakistan. Just when India and rest of the world thought that the storm in Pakistan was finally beginning to settle, the nation is caught up in yet another turmoil. This incident will have strong repercussions not only on Pakistan’s efforts to bring in peace and order and on Indo-Pak relations, but also on the global war against terrorism...

18 days... no news??

I don't believe it's already 18 days since my previous post... no new posts... and I thought I'd have something to say or the time to say something, at least every alternate day or maybe once a week but it's past a fortnight, and so I just had to post something...

Aaja Nachle to the tunes of Mayawati

With my daily cuppa tea in my hand, I switched on the news channel this morning as usual, to check out whether the world changed while I slept ;P

Well the past few weeks have been quite eventful. News channels have been doin really well I bet! Full of action, drama and emotion they had all that it takes to keep the audiences hooked! There have been interesting, significant, unbelievable, shocking, surprising, disturbing, digusting happenings throughout the country and across the world, be it Nandigram and the left suddenly relaxing its stand on the nuclear deal post the incident & allowing the government to go ahead with the IAEA talks, or the Taslima issue, scenes of Adivasis being beaten up during their protests in Assam, or yet another incident of stone throwing protesting a Reliance Fresh outlet, emergency in Pakistan, violence in Paris, bomb blasts in UP, Narendra Modi and Godhra politics.... well I could go on ...

Today i heard of something as ridiculous as ridiculous could be ... of Mayawati banning 'Aaja Nachle' in UP as one of the songs happened to insult Dalit sentiments (????)... now i wondered what would have been the lyrics that could have possibly hurt the sentiments of dalits from UP... was it the line that goes... The only line I found some connection to UP went "mera jhumka gira tha bareilly ki bazaar mein..." nooo couldn't be that one....well when the reporter announced that the lines in dispute were "mochi chala sonar banne.." i looked at the TV screen with utter disbelief - how on earth is this going to affect Dalit people... Well then one would have to actually ban tonnes of movies which have similar dialogues...

Well the director was forced to apologise and edit those lines and the 'BENEVOLENT MAYAWATI' withdrew the ban... though Punjab n Harayana got inspired and implemented a similar ban... (incidentally Punjab has the largest number of dalits in India, well another statistic that was new for me). Yet another case of politicians playing the caste card. When will politicians like Mayawati stop taking advantage of the ignorance of the large uneducated masses???

All I can say for now is that ultimately hope all this publicity works postively for the movie!!!