Till distances do us apart

We’ll meet and share moments together
Moments, that we promised, will last a lifetime
A lifetime may not be enough, you said
To express the love that’s all mine

We’ll sit for hours, staring at each other…
And not say a word
We’ll just lie there, and enjoy the silence
 And let the stars say the story untold

We’ll be together, happy as ever
The madness will always be there
Your touch will always be as special,
And we’ll live life with reasons to cheer

All this and more… we promised to each other
We promised… separation- will happen never
Guess the stars have played their part
And distances have done us apart

We know, all’s not well
Not that we didn’t try… gave it many a chance
We simply, aren’t the way- for what we strived
But that’s all right, till the day we realized
We don’t speak the way we used to…
And neither do the stars

Still, I’d like to believe… all’s not lost.
That touch, that’s no longer with me…
I’ll try to revisit, holding my own hand
That love, which is fading away…
I’ll rekindle, with even more love and warmth
The fire, that once raged; The spark, we thought we had
I’ll reignite
The bleakness that’s abound; The darkness, that’s gripping us…
I’ll bring light

And I’ll do this all,
I’ll do even more…
To make sure
You are always mine

Then again, the stars may never speak up,
And we may never get off to a new start
But I’ll never fail to try harder
Till distances, really do us apart

It has began, I wish it never ends

The all new moments of love and trust

It never ends, I wish it never does
These last few moments of doubt and trust…

No more it matters if I win...
And it doesn’t matter if I win a lil less
It is meant to be broken, destined for an end
I see it going…was never mine
It never goes, I wish it never does
The last few moments of doubt and trust…

No more it matters if I will miss it
And it doesn’t matter if I ll miss it a lil more
Yesterday has disappeared, tomorrow will too..
I see this day fading away soon
It never fades, I wish it never does..
The last few moments of doubt and trust…

The dawn is elusive, the dusk is too
A Fathomless abyss between me and you
Where the doubt is charming, and the trust is too!

My Unheard plea

My Unheard plea

I want to live in a house by the sea,

With whose white spray my spirit could flee

Or may be I would prefer a house on a giant tree,

With whose red blossoms my heart could go free

A castle in the wilderness it might as well be,

In whose hidden passages my lost spirit I could see

Or may be my destiny is a quite plantation of tea,

In whose green bosom could be the answer to my unheard plea

I hear a soft tap at my door step, and I ask myself who would it be,

Would it be a heavenly breeze or an exasperating bee

I guess I will prefer to be in a wild spree,

Where I can breach all the ordained decree

Apparently, what a peaceful and tranquil place its gonna be,

With the solemn shades of swiftly moving trees

Mighty Media !!!

Each one of us killed Jessica!!!

Truly a great movie and beyond doubt a worthy subject to be portrayed on celluloid. Hats off to the directors, producers and the script writers for initiating such idea and implementing it further.

However I beg to slightly differ from them. Jessica is unquestionably another slap on the face of Indian judiciary who has yet again because of its laxity & slackness failed to give justice to a family who for years had been waiting for a fair judgment.

Conversely what did they get, trials trials & some more trials for 11 years altogether.

When in year 2006, media actually made a scoop out of this yet so attention deserving case, I also started following it recurrently. Obviously, by now it was an anecdote with all human touch attached to it, and hence gave media all the reasons to cover it to the dead ends…. Unfortunately in this open and shut case as rightly quoted in the movie “no one killed Jessica” and I very firmly believe all of us did kill her even after her dreadful death, all the 300 culprits got away with it.

Yes I somberly would declare all those 300 paranoids who despite witnessing a slaughter did not had the fortitude to speak against the perpetrators of the murder. Although I know my verdict does not matter, I know my voice no more can be heard, I know my opinion needs valid judgments & evidences to bolster the case nevertheless, I don’t have any of these above. If I have something, that would be a belief, a very honest & stern belief that Jessica was shot dead , only because she refused giving a drink to yet another bunch of drunken lads.

In The movie NO ONE KILLED JESSICA the director had to offer one perspective of the movie to put forth the frightening truth on to the silver screen. Apparently, prior to the casting the film shows a disclaimer that “this is an amalgamation of events in real & fiction and hence is no documentary” still I believe, positioning every thing to the disposal of media in the film was a wrong act. Undeniably the effort put in to bring the case from void to life is an outrageous task by Rajkumar Gupta.

Nonetheless, how far is it right to show case that only because a journalist just returned from the fame of covering terrible Kargil war did not find this story worthy enough to be covered and hence discards it with a verdict that a highjacking case is more significant than a girl killed in Delhi at wee hours. It took that well acclaimed journalist 6 years to understand the importance of the story , to understand the importance of chasing the minute details of the story , to understand the if media gives leverage to the case Lall Family (Sabrina) might get justice , since her appeals were going unheard. Very soon after six diminutive years the correspondent of distinction realized that this case demands her attention too.

It was year 2006, when Manu Sharma along with his accomplices in the crime sentenced to a punishment of life imprisonment and 4 years imprisonment for the others subsequently.

Incidentally, nothing happened to Shayan Munshi the eye witness to the event who for 7 long years continued & preferred to be hostile. Contrary to the judgment, nobody could touch those 300 cowards who time and again made mockery of the Indian judicial system.

Our judicial system is so strong that even after you have a list of 300 eye witnesses, you can get away with a murder for 11 long years. Our robust public administration can be tweaked and twisted with monetary inducement for almost anything. Then it can be a Jessica at stake of justice or a Arushi at the bet of UP police, trials.

We very agreeably on the grounds of lack of evidences would transfer the case from police supervision to CBI command. Post which CBI gets another 2 years to sleep over the case and gather evidences which they would never get hold off. During this time the Judiciary the law makers the Lawyers, very often the law manipulators, our own Politicians and always the law breakers and the influentials would play with the case. Bribing & threatening of witnesses and before I forget we the spectators the TRP MAKERS would very satisfactorily enjoy the story being ripped apart over our breakfast and dinner tables. We would certainly give story its due importance, we will fail nowhere in our duty to mention about the updates of the case to all members of our social circle and feel proud about being updated.

I believe that each one of us has killed Jessica all over again in our own right. The corrupt investigating authorities, the tainted ministers, sloppy judiciary, dawdling media.

Well done Benegal !!!

Right from Mandi to welcome to Sajjanpur, Shyam Benegal has always used satire and simplicity as the strength of his comedies. For audiences fed (up) with an overdose of slapsticks, this is as refreshing change as having healthy homemade food when consumption of regular roadside junk leads to constipation.

Adapted from a short story Narsaiyyan Ki Bavdi by Urdu writer Jeelani Bano which was also translated into a tele-film in Doordarshan days, the anecdote has since become part of Indian folklore. Interestingly the age-old political parody holds relevance even in present times. Well Done Abba also credits Hindi author Sanjeev’s ‘ Phulwa Ka Pul ’ and a screenplay treatment by Jayant Kriplani ‘Still Waters ’ as its source materials.

The story opens with Armaan Ali (Boman Irani), a car driver in Mumbai, returning to work after months of leave. Almost on the verge of losing his job, Armaan seizes the opportunity of explaining his boss the reason for his extended holiday en route a long drive to Pune.

The casual visit to his village gets long-drawn-out when Armaan Ali comes across the water shortage there and decides to get a well dug in his barren fields. As he literally runs around bribing everyone from officer, collector, engineer, village-head to even a photographer, you can visualize him playing Pankaj Kapur’s part from an episode of the popular sitcom Office Office . And like the sitcom, Benegal bestows an upbeat mood to the film over making it look like a depressing drama of distress and difficulty.

And just when you wonder if the film is a neorealist take on Armaan Ali’s well-wish in the vein of classics like The Bicycle Thief or Do Bigha Zameen , the second half goes in complete reverse gear where Armaan Ali gives the perpetrators a taste of their own medicine. The well that never existed is reported as stolen in police files and everyone involved in its ‘well-being’ is questioned. The series of events that follow thereafter makes something as impractical as the theft of an immovable asset credible thereby initiating a believable black comedy.

The film primarily points out the prevalent bureaucratic corruption that hijacks several schemes initiated by the government for the underprivileged, thereby hindering development of the society and hence the country. It also intelligently brings out the irony of how staying below the poverty line has rich outputs.

The multilayered screenplay by Ashok Mishra is adorned with a horde of varied amusing characters. Armaan’s support system is his daughter Muskaan (Minissha Lamba) who makes way for the mandatory love track (with Sameer Dattani) which slackens the pace in start, but soon their romance progresses simultaneously with the narrative and is refreshingly restrained. Armaan also has a twin brother and a sister-in-law (Ila Arun) who, though don’t contribute much to the central plot, are interesting characters in their own right and thankfully not the scheming stereotypes or saccharine sweet. Another ‘potent’ial character is a virile engineer (Ravi Kishan) who forever has his wife (Sonali Kulkarni) on his mind. However the track of an inspector (Rajit Kapoor) and his bickering wife seems half-baked and peripheral to the plot.

Despite being a trail and tribulation journey, Benegal’s direction has a feel-good charm to it. The simplicity in his storytelling is so charming that even when the film extends beyond its climax into a celebratory song, you don’t mind much. The authenticity of a rural setting is something that can never go wrong in a Shyam Benegal film. The geography of his setting might change from Uttar Pradesh to Andhra Pradesh with films but the maestro has a history of perfecting the milieu and mannerisms of any region.

From Ashok Mishra’s immaculate rustic dialogues, Samir Chanda’s production design, Pia Benegal’s costumes to Rajan Kothari’s easygoing cinematography – every technicality is ‘well’ handled. Shantanu Moitra’s countryside composition isn’t chartbuster material but goes in sync with the mood of the film. And the random choreography in the title track is truly trademark to the territory. But while realistically recreating the rural backdrop, Benegal imparts a pertinently progressive outlook to his protagonist who prefers his daughter going beyond the burkha . Also the director subtly touches the issue of how naïve parents push their daughters into furtive flesh trade by marrying them off to loaded Arabs in hopes of better living.

Shyam Benegal ensures that his actors excel in their characters right from their traits, dialect, accents to acting even if they have to play a walk-on part. All Benegal regulars from Ila Arun, Rajit Kapoor, Ravi Jhankal, Rajendra Gupta to Lalit Tiwari play their part earnestly. Ravi Kishan is loud but still has an amusing character. Minissha Lamba surprises with an absolutely natural and lively performance. This is certainly the best performance in her career so far. But ultimately it’s Boman Irani in a title role and a twin character who is dependable as always and glides through the part as if it were tailor-made for him. Even in a scene as elementary as posing for a ‘passport size photograph’ in a photo studio, he has you in splits through his expressions proving his screen presence is as immense as a ‘blow up’ picture.

Shyam Benegal crafts a clever and caustic political satire with Well Done Abba . This ‘well-made’ film is worth a watch!

I love u deeply

I love u so much

The warmth of your arms

And the way you clutch

I Love the sound of your voice

And the way you touch

I love you deeply

Oh I love you so much

I love your gentle smile

For which the delight is such

I love you deeply

I love you so much

I love the treasure of your care

I love to nestle in your crutch

I love you deeply

Oh I love you so much

I love u intensely

I love u so much

The warmth of your arms

And the way u clutch

I Love the sound of your voice

And the way you touch

I love you deeply

Oh I love you so much

Pinki ;-)

As I sit back today at my window, my eyes fixed at the sky up above

I cannot defy thinking about my life my love

Many other starrs in the sky I see

But in my eyes, no starrs like thee

The sparkle in his eyes with the glow on his cheeks

Make me go mad and make go week

Today I wish to share some vows together

To tell him that I will be with him forever

A day appears too less to rekindle the spark

Wondering, my words may perhaps blow away the dark

I wish I could ever say , how much I love n care

Still a silent, effort to express, without him I will all be bare

On this pious day of saint valentine

I shall pray to divine, he always remains mine