Besan Ka Halwa

From the Desk of: a Terrorist After years of violence- a life devastated By the sinister intention of harm screaming inside my troubled brain- I now stare in the face of silence. Endless days of shelling innocence And unending nights of ear-splitting noise Made by whizzing bullets And diabolical calls from vicious men Seem to embrace their closure. The inhuman hand that held a weapon capable of proving human mortality Now holds a pen Realizing the inevitability of the same. The ink in the pot Desiccated During all this time due to its futility Has been rejuvenated by hope And spoonful of water. And so I make the most of this moment of sheer bliss. Hello. I am a Terrorist. My name holds the least importance As do the names of others Of my breed. The world around me doesn’t seem much ‘intriguing’. Men women children: Potential targets condensed in flesh and blood- Bear the most important weapon of mine. Fear. The teeny drop ...

Red Earth An Essay on Terrorism Part 2 First and foremost, I wish a very happy new year to all the people of the Earth! Also if you are reading this, let me congratulate you for surviving perhaps the deadliest year of this century. I’ll try to be a little sanguine over here and would like to point out by doing so that the year that just bid us adieu was the year of the terrorists. 2014 witnessed terrorist incidents almost every single day in its calendar. This statement may not have been apt a decade or two ago but in the world of today I may safely say that the world is ‘unsafe’. Least oxymoronish as it sounds. 2014 saw the rise of ISIS, escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict, Syrian war, daily car bombings in Africa, village raids, ceasefire violations, suicide bombings, abductions, assassinations, aerial attacks et cetera et cetera. The Sri Lankan genocide controversy continued. The dreadful year culminated with the most horrifying act of terrorism of them a...

Wrong number…at the Right Place. ‘PK’ is set on the somewhat similar scale as Director Rajkumar Hirani’s previous 3 films. Though ‘3 Idiots’ is considered a modern day classic by the Indian movie-goers, only a few realize that its story and direction were a little more than very good but not outstanding. Its execution and mass appeal made the film and its crew especially its director Hirani ever so popular in the realm of Bollywood. After 5 years, the guy’s back with the same leading man Aamir Khan with ‘ PK’ . With Anushka Sharma (Jaggu), Sanjay Dutt (Bhairon Singh), Sushant Rajput (Sarfaraz), Sourabh Shukla (Tapasvi) and Boman Irani providing their support, PK totally totally belongs to Aamir Khan. He’s the soul of the film and his protruding eyes and huge ears come very close to playing the chief supporting cast. The screenplay is nicely written and populist in nature. Hirani, famous for his small trend-setting expressions that assimilate his films into the audie...

Black Day. An Essay on Terrorism: Part 1. Innocence is a fragile virtue. Perhaps the frailest virtue to be found in mankind. It can never be ‘acquired’ in its totality. It is congenital- this innocence- the most fundamental asset of a newborn. This virtue has forever been epitomized in the placid and harmless faces of children. Innocence for an average human being, it is said, follows a curved graph or a path shaped somewhat like ‘U’ : it begins to recede with age- hits an all time low- and then crawls up slowly till your dying years- but it never recovers its initial ‘wholeness’. However, the brittleness of this emotion is such that even minor acts of belligerence can hugely impact its presence in a child at a very tender age.   16 December 2014 was a black day in the history of not only an area segregated by an I.B. fence called Pakistan but of the whole world as it exists; and of course it is among the most unfortunate senseless terror-inspiring incidents for...

INTO THE FIFTH DIMENSION Beyond Time and Space…and Imagination The most awaited movie of the year is here! Legendary Director Christopher Nolan delivers another ‘legendary’ film after the huge successful closure to the Dark Knight trilogy in 2012. No wonder his production company is named ‘Legendary’. Interstellar, through its trailers, had built much hype in the past few months. It has something that Nolan’s previous films didn’t have- an outstanding cast line-up; with all lead actors at the peak of their careers: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Cane and Matt Damon. Most of the people have been comparing the look and story of the film with Cuaron’s last year Oscar super-hit ‘Gravity’. Let me first ‘categorically’ say that this film is very very subtle with respect to ‘Gravity’. This project of Nolan’s is the grandest and most wide-ranging than any other science fiction film till date. The film has a lot to offer; it explicitly has three ...

Charandas Chor: Thefts...Promises…and much more… [*I am no one to present a critique on this but I have been compelled by the stuff I just saw, being a part of the audience. So, here’s my review of the SSC Sabha’s adaptation of Habib Tanvir’s classic ‘Charandas Chor’ .] After dark, complicated and sort of ‘Freudian’ stuff put up on it quite recently, the St. Stephen’s College Hall stage was in dire need of a light comic drama which would soothe the ‘nerve’ of the audience. Enter ‘Charandas Chor’- the loveable, humorous and (not to mention) ‘honest’ thief brought from the legendary writer Habib Tanvir’s story to life onto the stage by the Sabha. The play, titled the same as its protagonist, has been directed by Monica Thomas and Ankita Srivastava commendably. The play, according to me, was a huge risk as this story had been adapted quite a few times- the most famous of them being the film ‘Charandas Chor’ (1975) by Shyam Benegal. But the play’s script is very subtle from...

I haven't watched theatre as much as feature cinema and so reviewing play performances is no way my cup of tea. But what I saw today compelled me to at least mention the extraordinary stuff put on by the boys of The Doon School. Their play is called "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare" with a small "abridged" tag in parenthesis which makes it "The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (abridged)". And as its director- Shrey Nagalia says - 'in all humility...' that his directorial musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' was his magnum opus. So this production scripted by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield presents a collection of parodies of all Shakespearean works- from the least popular to the most prominent. And with respect to its staging at the St. Stephen's College, Delhi by the boys from Doon School: I would say- What an amazing performance! Awesome script (not sure if Shakespeare would...

“To watch or not to watch?” If that is the question then the answer is “Definitely! Go for it!” Vishal Bhardwaj is back with his 3 rd Shakespeare adaptation which completes his trilogy. After Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello) comes Haider- the Hindi film adaptation of ‘Hamlet’. Hamlet, being one of the most prominent and widely read plays by the Bard of Avon raises the risk for any artist trying to adapt it in any art-form. Moreover, a Bollywood film won’t be one of the forms in which you would want this magnum opus to be in. But Haider goes all out and rubbishes these doubts andbreaks all stereotypes. Bhardwaj has set his version in the Kashmir of 90s. The film has been shot entirely in the valley and hence the cinematography gets a superior edge. The landscape has been captured beautifully: chinar trees, all that snow, wooden houses, the downtown locations and outskirts- marvellous! The Kashmiri folk and their unpleasant situation has been shown aptly. The Kashmiri a...

“Rain is the best and most effective tranquilizer in nature. And the admirable ambience it creates is a sight to behold!”  Jewels from Heaven     A contented sigh I take, as trees Sway to and fro. The sweet breeze Strikes my hair as if mother’s own Hands. I sit beside the lone Silence across the window. All over Is darkness, then pearls begin to hover On my head- from the sky and Through the open window. Land On my nose the fragrant jewels from Heaven. Wriggles up the sill- a worm Celebrating the arrival of His blessings. As I look on, the children from their dwellings, Follow the same ritual. Sing, dance, throw In between the dark. And there’s glow And there’s not. And then there is the show Of thunder and then there is not. While the earth rejuvenates, the aroma- I snort Into my body and into the brain. Like A drug from nature, it refreshes the psyche. I smile to myself as in slanted lines, The raindrops jiggle ...

The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book Ink and Solitude. “The following poem has been written on a quite universal theme- with a touch of hyperbole. It delineates the world through the five senses of man. The repetition of the word ‘never’ makes it a simple and interesting read.” Never When I breathe, I’m reminded of ‘life’; Never does it, bend or turn back. Never does it lack greed or disgust. Never does it wait for the others. Never will it accept timely defeat. When I hear, I’m reminded of ‘silence’; Never does it like the hate and crime. Never does it sit to tease the daylight. Never is it ready to separate chaos. Never will it turn out off the deaf. When I speak, I’m reminded of ‘words’; Never do they stop criticism or abuse. Never do they enforce any action. Never are they devoid of flattery and hypocrisy. Never will they collide to be heard the same. When I smell, I’m reminded of the ‘air’; Never is it f...