The most fulfilling moments are the ones which are empty!

“Acceptance is the key to happiness!”

No Idea who said it first. But, I found it striking. Though I knew this before, I found it again written on somebody’s cubicle. I stood there for a few minutes unknowingly. A smile spread across my face and I began walking again. A simple quote which conveys a very deep meaning.

One of the most beautiful and touching song I have heard in the recent past. To me, this song goes beyond romance and love.  It’s an ode to the unknown which is ever present and yet ever elusive. Great combination of music (pritam), vocals (mohit chauhan) and lyrics (Irshad kamil). I have added the humming also as a part of lyrics as even that adds to the effect of the song.

Aa aa..aa aa…aa aa..aa aa.. aa..

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona hi hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kuyn hona hi hai

Tum Se Hi din hota hai
Surmayi shaam aati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Har ghadi saans aati hai
Zindagi kehlati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona hi hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kuyn hona hi hai

Aa aa..aa aa…aa aa..aa aa.. aa..

Aankho mein aankhe teri
Bahoo mein Bahe teri
Mera na mujh mein kuch raha
Hua kya
Bathon mein bathein teri
Rathe saogathe teri
Kuyn tera sab yeh ho gaya
Hua kya
Mein kahin bhi jaata hun
Tum Se Hi mil jatha hun
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Shor mein khamoshi hai
Thodi si behoshi hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi

Aa aa aa aa aa aa…

Aadha sa vaada kabhi
Aadhe se zyada kabhi
Jee chahe karlu is tarah
Wafa ka
Chode na chute kabhi
Tode na toote kabhi
Jo daaga tum se jud gaya
Wafa ka
Mein tera sarmaya hun
Jo bhi mein ban paya hun
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Raaste mil jate hai
Manzile mil jati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona he hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kuyn hona he hai

Aa aa aa aa aa aa …

Mozhi***

Starring: Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakash Raj, Swarnamalya

Written by: Radha Mohan

Directed by: Radha Mohan

Music: VidyaSagar

Lyrics: Vairamuthu

Can a low budget movie with a simple yet engrossing storyline peppered with comedy win? Mozhi proves it can. Kudos to Prakash Raj & Team for coming up with a nice movie.

The movie begins on an entirely different note and the contrasting way in which the Hero and Heroine are introduced is simply superb. Jyothika has a hero’s entry in the movie whereas Prithviraj has a very simple entry. The concept of the bulb flash and ringing of bells when one falls in love is simply hilarious and is used very well through out the movie. Prithviraj and Prakash Raj combination works out very well with the right comic timing. Though there are additional characters, these two themselves don the mantle of comedians and it is refreshing to see that.

Gist of the story:

Prithviraj (Karthik) and Prakash Raj (Viji) are two good natured gentlemen. They are musicians by profession and move into the same apartment as Jyothika (Archana). Prithviraj falls in love with Jyothika without knowing that she is deaf and mute. But, that doesn’t deter him. He enlists the support of her friend (swarnamalya), her grandmother and a few others in the apartment.

Jyothika (archana) being a self made, stubborn girl refuses to marry him as she has her own reservations about marriage due to her past. How Prithviraj (karthik) wins over her forms the rest of the story.

Though the screenplay and direction is good, choreography could have been improved. Songs from Vidyasagar fail to impress. Jyothika is convincing as a deaf and mute girl, but, she still leaves a lot to be desired. It appears as though she has a fixed set of expressions and keeps repeating the same. There is not much difference in her performance as compared to her other movies, though this one provided her ample opportunity to showcase her talents. Prithviraj is brilliant. Prakash Raj essays his role with ease.

A movie definitely worth watching with the family. A complete family entertainer!

Spiderman-3 ****

Starring: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace
Written by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent
Directed by Sam Raimi
Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

How is spidey-3? Wonderful, superb, Excellent! One can go on adding adjectives in it’s praise. The movie with it’s strong storyline and amazing visuals has everything going for it. It’s a perfect blend.

Superheros are no longer all goody-goody men with extra-ordinary powers. Yes, they do face problems in life, they do face dilemmas, and they also have to choose between good and bad. But, the difference between common man and them is that after some struggle they eventually end up choosing the good. This makes them far superior to others than their super powers. As the caption for the movie rightly says “The Greatest Battle lies within”. The one who wins it is the greatest super hero of all. Spider Man -3 brings this point home.

Tobey Maguire comes up with a brilliant performance. His expressions speak louder than dialogues as a possessed spider man. Kirsten Dunst and others come up with a decent performance. But, it is Toby Maguire who is clearly in control. He plays spider-man with amazing ease.

All in all, spider man stands tall among all the other superheroes who seem to be crowding the market off late. That’s why as he himself says in the movie, people love him, so do the audience. Definitely worth watching!

The book begins with veronika deciding to die and ends with she living life the way it should be lived – as if there is no tomorrow.

In this book paulo coelho talks about about madness and death (or life). Veronika, a young woman of 24 who has everything going for her decides to end her life by consuming sleeping pills as she is bored of routine and wants to end it when she is young. But, her attempt is unsuccessful and she ends in Villete, one of the premier mental institutions of her city. Though, she is unsuccessful in her attempt, she is told that she won’t survive for long. The clear certainty of death combined with a new world full of mad people changes her life tremendously. Her perception about life changes. Paulo Coelho has nicely mixed philosophy, spirituality and fiction. The other central characters are zedka, suffering from depression, Mari, suffering from panic attacks, Eduard, a schizophrenic and Dr. Igor who heads Villete.

Dr.Igor’s talks with his patients as well his thoughts about madness have been captured very well. He tries to prove that every human is affected by a disease called vitriol or bitterness. The discussions about how collective madness is sanity is also very good.

But, what is irritating is the extremely sugary ending. It appears as if it has been taken from a bollywood movie. But, apart from the ending this is an excellent work by paulo coelho.

Awareness of life can be brought about by an awareness of life – This is the central theme. Paulo Coelho achieves in projecting the point very clearly through his story. Though every single person is aware of the fact that he is going to die, people live as though life is eternal. They forget to enjoy their lives being caught either in the past or in the future. Veronika when faced with certain death, starts realizing that every moment of life is an active choice that you make.

A book worth reading if you are a paulo coelho fan and likes fiction with a dash of philosophy and spirituality.

Recently, when me and a few my friends went to Himachal Pradesh, we happened to stop at many places to ask for directions. As I was the one sitting next to the driver, most of the time directions were asked by me from strangers on the road. Once, the person on the road or shop gave the directions I would simply ask the driver to proceed. But, my friend who was sitting behind, asked me to thank the person who gave us directions. I was pretty much hesitant. Through out the trip this happened many times and each time I asked for directions from a person, she would give me a reminder that I should thank that person and that too with a smile.

I was not entirely convinced by the fact that I should be thanking the person. I am the kind of person who takes it for granted that the it is the duty of people to give directions when asked whatever time of the day or night it may be. If he/she was unable give directions or expressed their inability by saying there were not aware of that place, I would be irritated. After all they belong to that place. Can’t they know even this? On our way back we stopped on a hilly road and I went to buy a cold drink from a shop. By now I was habituated and instinctively I said ‘Thank you’ after paying for my cold drink. The shop keeper was an old man and big smile filled his face. His smile somehow made me feel good. From then on, I made it a point to thank almost everyone who helped us in someway through out the trip. I even thanked my friend and her husband for arranging the trip.

Back here, I started pondering more upon it and I felt how ungrateful we all are. Whenever somebody does something for us, if the magnitude of the action is not huge or if it is not done without any expectation we never bother to say thanks. We either consider the person’s act as insignificant or we think it was his/her duty to do it. For example, when we go out for lunch with our friends, if we ask a friend of ours to pass on a water jug because it is not accessible from where we were sitting, we never bother to say thanks once he/she has actually passed it on. We just take it for granted. This has become our nature. If we all were to sit and list all the people we need to thank for the various things that they have done to us, I guess the list would be a huge one.

There is a lot in our life to be thankful for. Also, it is not necessary that we should say thanks only when a person does something to us without expecting anything in return. It can be said even in business dealings where the intention of the dealing is pure profit, as in the instance of the shopkeeper I mentioned before. He had set up a shop and he was selling cold drinks and not giving them for free. Most of us would argue that there is no need to thank him. But, there is still a reason. In that hilly road where very few people dared to set up a shop, he has set up a shop braving those extreme climatic conditions. If his shop were not there, even though I had enough money with me to buy a cold drink, I would have been thirsty till we reached some nearby town. So, there indeed was a very good reason for me to thank him.

It’s not just people we need to be thankful for, it can be circumstances, nature or animals which helped us directly or indirectly to understand some part of ourselves. Also, more than saying thanks, the feeling of being thankful is extremely important. Most of all we should be thankful to existence itself. How many of us are thankful that we have been bestowed with good organs, good limbs and a good lifestyle. Instead we go on cribbing about what we don’t have. If a question is put to people to list all the things they had, it’ll take them quite some time to make that list. But, instead if they were asked what they didn’t have, the answers will be quick and the list will be large. I guess we just need to change our attitude and our perspective the best time to do that is NOW.

Thank you for visiting this blog and reading till the end of this rigmarole!

deivam thandha veedu veedhiyirukku
indha oorenna sondha veedenna njaana pennae
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

naan kaettuth thaaythandhai padaitharaa
illai en pillai enai kaettu pirandhaanaa
dheyvam seydha paavam idhu podi thangachi
kondraal paavam thinraal poachu idhudhaan en katchi
aadhi veedu andham kaadu
idhil naan enna adiyae nee enna njaana penne
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

deivam thandha veedu veedhiyirukku
indha oorenna sondha veedenna njaana pennae
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

verum koavil idhilenna abhishaekam
un manam engum therukkooththu pagal vaesham
kallikkenna mullil vaeli poadi thangachchi
kaatukkaedhu thoattakkaaran idhudhaan en katchi
kondadhenna koduppadhenna
idhil thaay enna……manandha thaaram enna njaana penne
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

deivam thandha veedu veedhiyirukku
indha oorenna sondha veedenna njaana pennae
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

thelivaagath therindhaalae siththaandham
adhu theriyaamal poanaalae vedhaandham
mannaith thoandith thanneer thaedum anbuth thangachi
ennai thoandi nyaanam kanden idhudhaan en katchi
unmai enna poymai enna
idhil thaen enna kadikkum thael enna nyaana penne
vaazhvin porul enna nee vandha kadhai enna

deivam thandha veedu veedhiyirukku
indha oorenna sondha veedenna njaana pennae
vaazhvin porulenna nee vandha kadhai enna

It was a silent moonlit night. He was standing in his field, staring at the moon. It was beautiful indeed. But, what was more beautiful for him was his land. It was parched. But, still he was too proud of it. He had no family left. All that was left for him was his land.

His education was stopped by his mother after primary school. She was unable to pay his fees and buy him notebooks and uniform. His father had passed away due to a mysterious disease immediately after his birth. He never regretted leaving school for he was never good at studies. He found it boring. After leaving school he started doing some menial work. Whatever he earned he would give some part to his mother and rest he would spend according to his own wish. He would go to the talkies in his village to watch movies. He was very fond of movies. His was a simple life. He lived according to the desires of the day. Sometimes he won’t know what to do when the sun rose. He would just go to some shop and offer his services for the day and in return get whatever money they offered. He never bargained with anybody. His mother worked at various houses as a maid and earned money.

Years passed and he grew into a young man. One day, all of sudden his mother collapsed in the morning while setting out for work. He rushed her to the hospital, but it was of no use, it was all over by then. He cried for days together in her memory. She had kept a suitcase with herself supposedly given by his father. He opened it one day and found some money in it. His mother had saved it, for what purpose he did not know. He decided to buy a piece of farm land. The money was not sufficient for purchasing the land. He sold their hut and took some loan from the local zamindar and bought a small piece of land. He put up a small tent in one corner of the land and started living there.

After he bought the land, his life changed forever. He worked hard day and night. Farming was absorbing all his time and energy. He was no longer the care free person he was. For him, the land and farming were not the means for earning money. They became his everything. He sometimes felt all the occurrences in his life before the land came were that of some other birth. All morning he would work in the land. At night he would sleep in his tent and on those nights when he didn’t get sleep, he would simply be gazing at his land. He would spend many evenings sitting alone in the land looking at the sun set. The feel of earth beneath him, ‘his’ own earth gave him a sense of completeness. His life was complete. All other petty desires had vanished just like darkness on sunrise. He was contended and happy with his small piece of land. Sometimes he would think, after his death he should be buried in that land itself. The land had become an inseparable part of him or rather he had become an inseparable of the land. He had blended his identity with it.

After one year, all his hard work gave its benefit. The yield was good. Whatever money he made he spent in settling the debts incurred for the purchase of the land. But, after that the drought started. There was no rain. He didn’t know what to do. Without water whatever he did was of no use. Two years passed thus without rain and without money. He had used all his savings. Without rain the land had become parched. The government officers who visited his village said a bore has to be dug at his land from which underground water could be tapped and irrigation can be done for his field. But, all that would cost money and he didn’t have any of it. If he didn’t arrange for irrigation soon the land would lose its fertility and would become useless, they had said.  That was when the local zamindar asked him to sell the land to him. He was furious. The land had come to mean so much to him. His life without the land was unimaginable for him.

He tried his best to procure a loan. But who would give money to a person with no possession and no one to sign surety for? He went to all temples and prayed to gods and goddesses like he had never prayed before. He prayed for rain. He prayed for water. He implored the lords to come and save the land and in turn save him. He couldn’t afford to lose the land. It was his everything.

A dog’s bark suddenly brought him back from his past. The Zamindar had set tomorrow as the last date for him to sell his land if he wished to. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t sell his land, it was unimaginable for him. But, as the officers had told him, if he didn’t, the land would become useless forever. It was as if the entire world was conspiring against him. Neither the immortal nature nor the mortal humans were ready to support him. He started walking. There were cracks everywhere, his feet hurt by walking through them. He hit his right toe against a crack. His toe started bleeding, he winced in pain. He sat down there. It appeared as though his own land was angry with him for not taking care of it. The entire piece of land was clearly visible in the moonlight. It had cracks everywhere. He couldn’t see its plight. Tears started flowing from his face to the ground. He cried hoping that the tears from his face would cover the ground and provide it the required water. He cursed himself for the stupidity of his thought. But, the tears didn’t stop. They kept on flowing incessantly.

He must have slept off crying at the same place for when he woke up the sun was rising. He tried to stand up. His toe hurt. He kept looking at the rising sun for sometime. After that he went to the zamindar’s house.

“Kaise aana hua? Zameen ke baare mein kuch socha?” Zamindar asked him.

“Hum Zameen dene aaye hai”. He replied curtly.

 He put his thumb impression in all the papers required.

Zamindar was happy. As soon as the formalities were over, zamindar took out the bundle of notes to hand it over to him.

But, he had already started walking towards the gate. “Arre paise tho lete jao..”  Zamindar shouted.

He turned. With his head straight and eyes meeting the eyes of zamindar he said in an even voice “Humko paise nahin chahiye. Hum humari zameen aapko bechne nahi aaye. Hum usse paani nahin de sakthe. Aap de sakthe hai aur denge bhi. Isi liye aapko zameen dene aaye”.

As he turned away, he felt heavy. He started walking without a destination.

In silent nights when world’s asleep,
I sit alone in darkness and weep.
Life’s a lost cause and world’s dull,
My face grim and my body an empty hull!

I know not my crime or my sin,
For whose penalty I lost my grin.
Tears from my eyes could cause a flood
But, the dragons still thirst for my blood!

I stare into darkness, I stare into night,
I think of the past, an endless fight.
Future seems bleak and the present worse,
Is my life a demon’s curse?

I lift my eyes and look up at sky,
A glowing face catches my eye.
Tearing the darkness appears a flash so bright,
Radiance so brilliant, it blinds my sight!

It illuminates my self and removes the fright,
It’s been ages since I felt so light.
For all my misery this is the cure,
I am nothing but the bliss so pure!