Affliction

Pain... is inevitable. We are often hurt by the people who matter to us the most (why else would we consider our feelings if they didn't matter to us anyway?!) .... and more often than not, it's painful. Hurt , is painful. It can also be regretful. Remorseful. And most definitely, sorrowful. But do we realize how it is this pain... and this sorrow... that makes life so much more meaningful? 

There's a depth in pain. And we always tend to over look this acumen and dwell in the more commonly known pain. But do we realize that it is that loss... that profound misery... that unexpected accident that actually reveals our inherent strength? Strength of mind and purpose.... it is in fact this painful regret that leaves us with a lesson learnt. Sometimes it makes us realize the value and worth.... and almost always, it shows us how things can also be the way we don't imagine them . 

I believe it is this pain... and more specifically hardship, that constitutes wisdom. We get to see the 'other side'. Explore the pitfalls of emotion... and appreciate the despair of defeat. Life is incomplete if one faces no distress.  It makes one incapable of feeling... if one hasn't felt the worst of emotions. And yet, it makes one incomplete if one hasn't felt the best of emotions either! As it's popularly known,

"Everybody hurts sometimes"....  and " ... falling down ain't falling down if you don't cry when you hit the floor"... 

Everything will be alright. Pain.... is inevitable.

Change.

Have you ever felt that surge to express? That heart wrenching feeling to just be able to materialize everything that's going on through your mind? A mad mad expression... continuous inexplainable flow of thought that comes barging at you with such dexterity that you are left with no other option but to let it flow out on paper? I have. The truth is, everyone has ... at least at some point of time or the other in their lives. Some go ahead with it. The others confine. They have, what I like to call, self learnt self control.

The bitter truth in this matter lies in the fact that society moulds us that way. It teaches us to think logically, always. To express appropriately, always. Everything has to make sense. Everything needs  to make sense. Man must understand, as or else, you're wrong. Your expression is wrong. Your art is artless and writing tasteless. Song tuneless and music rhythm-less. Do we want to be categorized as unworthy of expression? Of course not! So we confine. And we mould. We shape ourselves to be what the world wants us to be. 

But may be sometimes... just sometimes... one must let go! Let go of all this conformity. Let yourself indulge. Express!! Take those cartons of paint, and splash them onto the canvas. Let that feeling of expression... flow! Let your pen scribble on the whiteness till the ink blots. Let it not make sense! Let no historian analyse and over analyse and ruin the raw bohemian beauty of that piece of creation! All these patterns and trends and predictions... does it leave room for raw human expression? Does everything necessarily have to fall into a set routine or motion? I certainly hope not... this habitual existence has made us into mere conformists. Bloody emulating conventionalist's. It is said that change is inevitable... and so change there shall be. But only when we dare to break out of this mundane existence. Dare to be different. Dare to express, differently.

Feel the happiness?

I was talking to a friend the other day, when I stumbled upon a question that I hadn't really asked myself before, and yet, I expected an answer out of him. He was the recipient of some extremely exciting news... news that brought him both success and fame. On hearing about this good news I gently inquired... "Wow! What did you do when you found out ??"

And he said, " Nothing. I smiled"

"Just smiled? But this is big! How did you express your excitement??"

"I was happy! I smiled!"

He smiled. And I paused for a second. Just to give it a thought.

What would you do if you found out something superbly thrilling? Something that you had been waiting for all your life! A news that made you so supremely happy... the occurrence of an event that made you so profoundly proud... what would you do? How does one anticipate the expression of his excitement? It's strange, but the answer to that question is not that simple. At times I wonder if it's because these fleeting blissful moments are so rare that we don't really get to work on how to express it. But then again, that is what defines it. The rarity of an evanescent touching moment makes it so difficult to express when it does materialize... and makes it all that more beautiful and worth cherishing. Does the expression really matter? I guess not. The important part is that you feel it... that heart exploding feeling... of happiness.  

Growing up?

When I was younger I used to wonder... what will it be like when I grow up? What does it mean to be 'grown up'? It seemed so over rated... everyone was always telling me... 'you will realise this once you're older'. So that's what it is? Just a couple of more years of mere existence on earth? It didn't make sense. Was there a certain day when it happened? A certain situation that brought out the 'grown up' in me? But I realise now...

Growing up is a journey. One through which we learn many a lesson. Growing up makes one realise that a lot of our dreams , may not come true... for whatever the reasons. But dreaming is important anyway.. as that is what gives one hope... lets one strive. And many a time, it's what causes painful dissatisfaction. 

Growing up is a journey through which one learns that no one is ours for ever. As cliched as it may sound.. the truth to this statement can only be learnt over time. We own, no body. Be it an unexpected flip in nature or Gods will... no person's mind or heart belongs to us for ever. Or at least, we can't expect it to. The bitter truth is we grow out of people, and cherished friendships. But if time reveals the fairytale truth , it's the happy ending we're all looking for isn't it? And then again... the happy endings never really end there do they? There's always more... just unwritten lines on blank pages.

Growing up is a journey through which one learns to make choices. Some very life changing choices too... and one learns how to live by them. It's the path you choose... and once chosen, there's no turning back. Live with it.

I was watching the Grammy's today. I hadn't the faintest idea of the nominees or the performers... in fact I hadn't even heard of some of the winners before ... and yet, i made it a point to watch. It's just something I do. Watch the Grammy's religiously year after year... I guess it has to do with certain associations. It reminds me of all those times when I was younger... and I'd watch the exact same award ceremony... with the exact same people... sitting on the exact same couch... only with dreams and aspirations that I hoped to accomplish someday. But as juvenile as those aspirations may seem today, it reminds me of all those times when I had ample possibilities before me and I actually dreamed big... and believed in all those things that I'd be one day.

Dhobi Ghat (the mumbai diaries)

It's funny writing this review after my last post, considering how this movie, in my opinion, is 'beautiful' in every sense of the word. From perfect screen shots to the delicately crafted characters... it is a movie in so many layers that one watch may not suffice. 

Four people. Four dreams. One busy city. It is a story that unveils four very strong characters who have come to accept their present reality. And among the many colorured threads that hold the movie together, the one thread that stood out to me the most, was that of inspiration. Four bold stories of inspiration. A lonely married woman, who sees happiness in the simple things in life. Notices the power of the natural beauty that surrounds her and who comes to accept her fate, not bitterly, but by reaching out ... hoping that someday a loved one will receive her messages. An artist, quite maturely understanding of the world and its ways... who finds his muse in these preserved recorded messages. He discovers a hidden world that inspires him to throw light on it... and he tries to re create what he understands of it... 

A banker, back in town to work on a project that requires her to take photographs of small businesses... she meets the everyday man... a dhobi... who inspires her and befriends her... And he himself who desires to be an actor someday. Now that I'm attempting to re write what I saw in the movie, I realise how difficult it really is on my part to do so! There were so many intertwined stories... and I've only tried to bring out the one on inspiration. How four individuals, from completely different strata of society come to play such an important part in each others lives... how they unleash creativity and subtly encourage the other to really reach out in whichever form... how we may never realise it, but we are what we see around us! We are a combination of the people we've met, and the company we've kept. 

But then again, all four individuals knew their place... the entire movie was like a brief two hour entry into a diary of how the lives of these four people changed, and how then... they moved on... there was no specific happily ever after (as there always seems to be in the filmy reality) but instead there was an intense show of passion  ... and the movie, redolent with innocent human emotion, also show cased some beautiful aspects of the busy city of Mumbai. All in all... I believe this was a film that exhibited so many different forms of simplistic love and emotion... stories of inspiration .... that the viewer would see things in the same angle that he would reflect on his life. That is what makes this movie so beautiful... true art in true art forms. A painter. A photographer. An aspirant actor. And the recording of a simple woman, with simple human wants. 

Art is Life is Art.

This was the tag line of an advertisement I'd recently seen on television. It stood out. Life is art, isn't it? At least it's meant to be. We're meant to live in an 'artful' way. Beautifully. Tastefully. We should be able to capture every passing moment in a picture frame. Bright colours and polka dots…flowing laughter and frills… there’s meant to be beauty in what we see and how we see it. It should all be pleasing to see and hear. Full of rhythm and life … and yet, is that how we live? The reality, drowned in black and white paint, seems more stagnant.

It’s money that we’re taught to sought after and not this beauty. Happiness is apparently waiting at the end. But is it? People spend years on end working , slogging hours day in and day out… earning. Where’s the beauty in all of that? It’s just a mere fulfilment of necessity. Where’s that tasteful element of pleasure? Where is that fleeting moment of bliss? All lost in this mad race to reach the top?

Is art life? Of course it is. It is what we see, that we portray. If one were to analyse art down the ages… you can see how the perspective of man has changed. I consciously refrain from calling it ‘evolution’ as I believe it is not progress but quite the opposite that has resulted. Previously, art was beauty. It was definite. Defined. Colourful and pleasing. And now, good art is when it is more abstract and yet, more blunt. It has to throw the message at a person’s face and leave you shocked. It would be a little too cynical on my part to completely deny modern day art of any beauty… but that element of sheer simplicity seems to be lacking.

Art today, is a blatant reflection of the modern human creative mind. We’re all changed beings, chasing ( in my opinion and in strictly my cynical opinion alone ) some very meaning less and valueless goals in life. The absence of that simplistic tasteful sense of art, be it in which ever form, leaves one sighing.

  

And I'm back!

Well, I'm back to writing again! Here are some of my previous posts that I had preserved ... Looking back, it sure does seem like I've grown! But more on that in my next post.

Oh... and here's wishing you and your family a peaceful new year.   :)