iDEAL

" You are either really smart or extremely dumb." 

Throughout your whole life you meet people who may or may not agree with your POV. People who are as adamant about their world view as you are. For me, most of the times, there's no point in arguing with them as they will hold on to their opinions and you won't relinquish your belief systems either. Hence, it would only escalate to a stubborn war-of-the-words with both parties refusing to budge. Saving your precious time and energy for something much more fruitful and respecting the other's thinking would be the only way out.

It was during one of my charred-with-carefreeness college days, that I had the chance of coming across someone who, because of my one such candid admission, gave me an earful every single time we came face to face. The lady in question happened to be one of my professors. I'm sure that we've all had teachers who have been great influences on our minds, who've had sizable contributions in shaping us the way we are, the kind that make us want to go back to school/college again. And then there are those who we had to endure. Most of them out of fear. Some out of respect, which some perceive as also a by-product of fear.

Amidst a rather tolerable lecture for Foundation Course, she sprung a question towards us.

"Who, according to you, is your ideal?"

She further elaborated to the just-woken-up-from-a-daze faces.

"It could be anyone, your Mom, Dad, an elderly person, a known personality."

Pah! That's easy! Everyone started coming up with answers ranging from celebrities to parents.

I was racking my brains trying to come up with a name. Any name.

When it was my turn, I stood up and replied, "No one."

Her expression still graces my memory. It was somewhere between being aghast and ridiculed, or both.

"No one?" she asked, stunned.

"No one."

"Not even your parents or grandparents?" she hoped.

"No."

Then came the reply that started off this piece in the first place. I was miffed. Having an opinion that differs from the rest is NOT a crime in my dictionary. I shrugged my shoulders and replied,

"Maybe."

I was told in a stern voice to sit down.

Why do we as humans always need an ideal? Someone who we want to be like? Aren't we perfect just the way we are? Why can't we lead life and learn our own lessons and navigate unchartered waters with inexperience? Isn't that what our 'ideals' did too? Weren't they just as human as we are? They made mistakes too. How can they be placed on a higher pedestal?

There are innumerable well known and respected personalities from various fields who are revered like Gods. They are made out to be someone who possesses a persona that exceeds mere mortal boundaries. While it is absolutely essential to acknowledge the gargantuan and laborious efforts that these people employ in their various disciplines that earns them their credentials, treating them as someone incapable of making blunders and touting them as ideals is the worst form of exaggeration.

There are people who stand by certain principles and the same people denounce it somewhere down the line. Many a times, in a discreet fashion, which then forms the base for a crispy headline. The same people who worshipped the 'inspiration' start loathing him. Then begins the name-calling. People who expound themselves as being morally correct are the first ones who illustrate just the opposite. One weak moment, and snap!

We create idealistic notions of certain people in our heads but forget that they are but human beings too! I don't mean to disrespect anyone when I say this but I don't think we were made with such a degree of finesse or perfection that it would warrant us being idolized. We are all characteristically flawed. Be it people we admire from afar - celebrities we read about every day, great leaders that have paved/scarred nations, alleged God men with displaced ideologies, politicians with faces aplenty or those we meet during the course of our normal lives - teachers, friends, colleagues, etc. We are all fickle creatures. I don't deny the fact that I myself admire some known faces as well as those unknown. People that I don't know but see every day. But I know that the moment I start idolizing them they will be preceded by a bad decision adversely affecting them and/or the people around them. Sometimes its effect resonating through ages, on people who aren't even born yet.

Hence, it is better to rather piss someone off with your true opinion than adopt a code of belief riddled with double standards.

The Orb of Reality

Places she goes,

The dreams she conceives,

The souls, the minds touched,

The stories imagined,

The images of joy and mirth,

Of authenticity there's a dearth,

The hearts pronounced with cruelty,

She fills them up with humanity,

If only in her mind's eye,

They're all but unkind,

Shadows that belong to strangers,

Faces with innumerable masks,

A charade in her head,

To venture out there, she's afraid,

Of monsters, known and unknown,

Of a world so far thrown,

Actuality doesn't belong here,

It's a safe haven against danger,

But she does herself a favor,

She never treads further,

And never fastens her ruminations,

To the uncertain bond of expectations,

The orb of reality always by her side,

To take a good look inside,

Pulled back by truth's zephyr,

Whenever she drifts afar

With her hands pressed to the cold bars,

That open to the doomed path of covetous hours,

Whenever she lifts her eyes filled with yearning,

Whenever she feels that familiar aching,

The orb, heaves her back to realism,

To her carefully guarded life in a prism...

A Worthy Cause for A Better Tomorrow

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An initiative by www.900afghangirls.org

A true fright fest!

 

It's been a little over than a week since I watched The Conjuring and I must say it still scares the daylights out of me. I've always been a fan of this genre. And it had been quite some time since I had seen a 'good horror movie'. Okay, let me tell you what, according to me, a 'good horror movie' comprises of. It needs to have those three very important things: A good story, good characters, and a good score. And that is why this film is a horror movie buff's dream come true. It's the kind of movie that would stay with you for a long time. The kind of movie that would make you sit up at the slightest sound. The kind that would make you think twice before venturing in the dark all alone or make even random objects seem unearthly. The classic horror movie feeling (The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror) brought back in vogue, courtesy - Director James Wan (Saw series). Personally, I prefer horror movies that have the ability to instill fear in you even without someone's brains spilling out or a ghoul with freakishly long hair that inexplicably keeps getting in the way of everyone involved, or a lot of blood and gore. It does NOT mean that I can't handle it, but I just prefer the whole tension building element in a movie. It is more fearful when you know that there's someone out there but you can't see it rather than having a ghost coming right at you. The story is quite engaging as it unravels slowly and gradually and everything that has been shown in the movie is related at some point, like the Annabelle angle. I also liked the way they've weaved two stories together - that of the Perrons and the Warrens. Their stories move in sync and you are introduced to each of their lives simultaneously. The characters are believable, their problems are authentic, their pain is convincing. Especially Vera Farmiga, who does an amazing job at making even trivial things seem scary with her credible expressions. Loved the ruffled collar look. Lili Taylor as the harrowed mother of five is truthful in her portrayal. And finally the score! Joseph Bishara gives a spine chilling background score that only amplifies your fear. Even in moments in the film when you won't see something lurking in the background you'll surely be going crazy anticipating something due to the music. There were quite a lot of scenes that give you that familiar jolt that only a genuine horror movie can give. One of the scenes had my mom shrieking! (Sorry, mom) Still, the above was just MY opinion of the movie which I found to be quite engaging. There are some pinheads out there who just don't know / can't appreciate a good fright fest when they see it . But a movie like this makes me brood over why we can't come up with stuff like this? Genuine horror that doesn't need the crutch of 3D viewing to lure people inside the theatres. This one's surely going to go in the DVD library! Loved every minute of it!

True Independence

    Come August 15th and we will be celebrating our Independence Day. Flags would be hoisted everywhere, in government edifices, schools, institutions, residential buildings, etc. Little kids would proudly roam the streets with the tricolor badges pinned to their attires. Patriotic songs would reverberate throughout busy lanes. Powerful speeches would be made by various political parties. The media would be addressed. Stories of our glorious freedom fighters would be telecast everywhere. People would greet each other with warm smiles and a "Happy Independence Day."

    But what does freedom mean to you and me? What does it feel like to be free? Is it a state of mind? Or something tangible that you can actually feel? My mother often tells me that a nation can never be fully independent or can never progress until the women of that country are respected, protected and safe. Are we safe? Am I safe? I ask myself this question and a gruesome incident that happened here, just as 2012 was coming to an end, comes to my mind. And the frightening thing is, the thoughts don't stop there. A barrage of such incidents varying in severity trickle in.

    Aren't we the country that deifies women? Don't we celebrate innumerable festivals where we idolize and worship these goddesses? So why is it that the respect is only limited to deities? Can't it be extended to living, breathing, walking and talking beings who have been given the boon to beget life? Even throughout our history we have women freedom strugglers who proved their mettle by fighting tooth and nail to bring India where she is today. Rani Laxmi Bai, Sarojini Naidu, Usha Mehta, Savitribai Phule, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Aruna Asaf Ali, to name a few. Then there were great women leaders like who inspired us with their courage and determination. Today we have countless women who have surmounted the impossible and achieved what we could only dream of. Be it in the field of education, entertainment, politics, media, business, science, technology, economics, sports, etc. They've come from different spheres of life, fought against the norms, refused to conform and accomplished what they have. On one hand we salute them and on the other we subject them to some of the worst forms of abuse. In that sense, it makes us the most dangerous hypocrites in the world.

    I don't remember a morning when I got up and the front page of my newspaper didn't have a  headline informing about a ghastly incident that happened to a woman. I've forgotten what it feels like to read a daily that doesn't have dreadful and horrible things splattered all over it. Hence I've stopped reading them altogether. Whatever traces of news I do get, I get it from sources other than these. Yes it is foolish some might say because it isn't going to solve anything, but I can't read another paragraph on how a girl's face was disfigured in broad daylight at a place that I've been to several times in my life or I can't go through the pain of seeing yet another important verdict being put on hold for an indefinite period of time. I can't stand it when "supposed" juveniles commit unspeakable horrors and they are just sent to a correctional facility for rehabilitation. It bothers me when people do hideous things to women and they walk away scot-free and also get a respectable job at a bank in another state.

    The day we address this problem at the grass root level, which is NOT illiteracy, (because literate people too sometimes surpass the rest in such grisly acts) but the mindset of people, will be the day of our true victory. The way they think and view women. I'm not a hard core feminist, never was, but when I got up today and sat down to think of design ideas that I could use to make a greeting for the big day it struck me how silly I am. To think that I could celebrate freedom in a country where we are still bound by such ineffective laws. Where promises are just words spoken to increase votes, where one shameful act after another are committed blatantly and we don't do anything, where the only response that a horrid crime elicits is a candlelight vigil or political mudslinging.

    I'll celebrate my independence day when I'm truly emancipated from the evils that plague the women of my nation day in day out. I'll celebrate my independence when stringent laws are introduced, implemented and executed with no delay. When little girls are able to play outside their homes without the fear of someone taking their innocence away. When women are no longer afraid to travel late at night. When the stranger lurking in the dark, waiting in the shadows, is closed in on before he dares to take a step.