When Silence Speaks...

इंतज़ार है, हाँ,इंतज़ार है.. सेहर के उस एक किरण का इंतज़ार है  जो हमें ऐसे छु के गुज़रे  की मन्न के सारे गिले शिक़वे मिट जाये।  ज़ेहन को उस हमनशीं का इंतज़ार है  जो ऐसे उतरे दिल के शीशे में  की गुज़रे हुए वक़्त की बुरी तस्वीरें हट जाये।  चाँद के उस नूर का इंतज़ार है  जो रूह को ऐसी ठंडक दे  की सदियों से जलती शमा भुज जाये। नहीं इंतज़ार किसी फ़रिश्ते का क्यूंकि यतीम हम नहीं  नहीं इंतज़ार किसी जाँबाज़ का क्यूंकि कमज़ोर हम नहीं  नहीं इंतज़ार किसी सहारे का क्यूंकि बेसहारा हम नहीं  हाँ पर इंतज़ार है उस पल का  जब ज़िन्दगी खुलके जीने का मौका मिले  जब गम खौफ्फ़ खफा दुश्मनी जैसे कोई जस्बा हमें छु न सके बस उस सुकून के पल का इंतज़ार है।  इंतज़ार है, हाँ,इंतज़ार है ..  -सरिता  ३ नवंबर २०१४  (I captured this pic while on Chicago's Brooklyn Bridge. The 2 of them looked so peaceful and relaxed that I could not miss this click! :) )

I was watching Zee Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – a Music competition on YouTube when one of the contestant Ranjit Rajwada sang “ Chupke Chupke Raat Din ” (Ghulam Ali-ji’s Ghazal) and one of the Judge; Shekhar Ravjiani mentioned that now the generation no longer listens to or has interest in Ghazals. And so true it is. I being a South Indian did not have a lot of exposure to Ghulam Ali-ji’s music, but I did grow up listening to Jagjit-ji/Pankaj-ji and have always loved Ghazals. When I started working and going places, mingling with people from different backgrounds, is when I heard Ghulam Ali-ji’s Chupke Chupke for the first time, which was 7 years back. From then I have always maintained a playlist of Ghazals, Qawwalis or Poems of wonderful people like Ghulam Ali, Aziz Nazan, Jagjit Singh, Talat Mahmood, Gulzar, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pankaj Udhas, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Javed Akhtar, Sabri Brothers etc.. They are so meaningful, soulful that you just get immersed in them; immensely pe

Having been into photography for some time now, there are quite a few websites that have helped me get details about various aspects of photography. I am a self-learner, I am not part of any photography clubs or attend classes or workshops, but I spend a lot of time reading websites, blogs etc… on internet, getting to know people’s experiences and that’s how I learn. Whether it is which camera to buy or how to shoot a levitation photo – it’s all right there in front of you; just Google it . Below are list of intriguing questions that I had, and these are just what I have tried to learn based on my interests and is just a drop of information in the mighty ocean of photography. Well, I have been using my camera – Canon EOS Rebel T3i with Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM UD Standard Zoom Lens and Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II Telephoto Zoom Lens; trying new stuffs for over 2 years now; and I am just a beginner . There is so much to learn, so much to understand during a

आँखें रोये पर आंसू मुस्कुराये दर्द होंटों तक पहुँचते ही दबी सी मुस्कान बन गए धड़कनो में छिपी सिस्कियों  कि गूंज किसीको ना कभी सुनाई दिया ना दिखायी! वक़्त हर ज़ख्म को भरता चला गया पर सभी गावों के निशाँ पीछे छोड़ गया यादों के हर बरसात में ये निशान भीगे और ऐसे ताज़ा हुए कि कभी ना भुलाये गए। डर इन ज़ख्मों का नहीं हमें ना ही इन निशानों का और ना ही के  कभी ये नासूर बन जायेंगे... फ़िक्र है हमें तो इस बावरे मन्न का जो कभी ये न समझ पाया कि आखिर वो किन ज़ख्मों पर मरहम लगाये और किन्हे भूलके आगे बढ़ चले। ये ज़ख्म बोलते नहीं है, ना ही शोर मचाते है पर यूँही अपनी चुप्पी से हमेशा एहसास दिलाते है कि कभी वो ज़िन्दगी के  खूबसूरत लम्हे थे जो आज बस दिल के एक कोने में छिपी अनचाही सी चोट। नफरत नहीं हमें इन ज़ख्मों से आखिर इनका इसमें क्या दोष कि सपनों के दर्पण टूटते चले गए और शीशों के टुकड़े दिल में चुभे रेह गए॥ शायद ये ज़ख्म भी इंतज़ार कर रहे है कि कब दिल के दरवाज़े खुलेंगे और कब ये आज़ाद परिंदे से उड़ जायेंगे इस घुटन से दूर सुकून की दुनिया में ॥ -सरिता  -Dated १५ Jan २०१४ 

Last year, a colleague of mine quit the job for personal reasons. When asked, what he was going to do, he said that he took a year’s break to go out on a world tour. I was pleasantly surprised needless to mention the jealousy factor. I thought he was going with his friends, he said “ No. I am going alone .” And again I was like…ohhh what a dream to live  :) But then I tried telling to myself, he is an American, it’s possible for them to travel alone, live for themselves etc... How difficult it would be for us Indians to think of something like this. We always have some or the other responsibility on our shoulders. It's not just that, it's the mentality we are brought up with. We are always taught to save for the rainy day . Not to spend a lot on things those are unnecessary. Things that you can live without need not be bothered about. Couple of days back, I noticed a friend of mine posting few pictures from her Euro trip. I did not pay much attention until I came acro

I am very selective about the Bollywood movies that I choose to watch. I don’t like the typical commercial, masaledar movies without any storyline, characters, screenplay and acting. Most of them are ruled out just by looking at the Name of the movie, its banner, its actors and director. And some which pass these filter criteria get eliminated when I watch their trailers. Very few end up in my watch list. And some movies I end up watching forcibly with my family or friends. Wake up Sid was one such movie, that I came across because my friends chose to watch that movie over tea 4 yrs back. We never completed watching that movie; couple of them found it boring and we got deviated from watching the movie into some other matargashti . I think 2 years back, when I was finding something to watch, I picked up this movie – just because I wasn’t finding anything appealing to watch. And I simply fell in love with this movie despite of its weak story. Konkana Sen is a talented actress

I was home from school with the progress card in hand. We had just moved from Mumbai to Mangalore and I had joined 5 th Grade of a CBSE school in late June when classes had already started.  The monthly exam was due in 2 days from the date of my joining. So for the first time my marks were low; C, D in all subjects except Science. I had got E in Science. I was scared to take the progress report home and get it signed. Firstly, I never had such low grades so wasn’t sure how my parents would react, and secondly my dad was at home, so I will obviously have to get it signed from him instead of Amma. My dad used to travel a lot and would rarely be at home, so with papa not being around much, we (me and my sis) were both scared of him. So you can imagine how I would have felt while carrying that progress report back home with a FAIL/E grade on it. I still remember how I was reciting different excuses to give on being scolded, I dint have time to cover all the syllabus, I will do bette

I have a new addiction these days :) Short Films!!! From last 3 days I have watched over 50 short films in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi & Tamil; and I LOVE them. I was wondering how come I never came across these earlier. I have always loved and admired our Indian advertisement’s creative department. The stories they put in a video of few seconds to couple of minutes is just awesome. They have a good story line, awesome actors, screenplay, direction, music and also succeed in getting their message across. I mean look at the ads of Virgin mobile, Asian paints, Fevicol, Airtel, Surf Excel, Imperial Blue etc…   Below are some examples of recent commercials; I have embedded YouTube links to these videos (I am not even including our good old Doordarshan time ads like Jaleebiiii or Cadbury dairy milk   or Hamara Bajaj etc…) Some heart touching ads like Airtel   ,  ICICI   ,  Asian Paints  . Some beautiful ads with social message like -  Dekh Le on woman empowerment,  Aaj Tak

I finally did it. It isn’t a great achievement to show off, but for me it’s one more item on my bucket list getting fulfilled. So I am very happy about it. What did I do? Oh like I said nothing great – I just got my FIRST Tattoo  :) My first Tattoo Artist I had done a lot of research on it since last couple of months. I wanted to get it done on my birthday, but it somehow dint work out.  For all the first timers, I wanted to list out my personal experience, just in case it helps :) First of all, I felt it will be very helpful if you have some friends who would have got it done already. But I dint have that privilege. So I went through lot of blogs and articles in About.com, Wikihow, YahooAnswers etc… Well Google, the new lord of knowledge :) has all that you need to know. So, in summary, what I got from all these sites were First decide on what you want to get tattooed and where. Go over it again and again, since it is permanent, you will have to live with it your e

I was with couple of my friends on a trip earlier this month, when we landed on the topic of Radha while listening to the song “ Radha on the dance floor, Radha wants to party …” from the movie Student of the Year . My friend suddenly told “ Isn’t our culture a little strange? Although Radha and Krishna were never married, every time people see a good couple they say “ RadhaKrishan jaisi Jodi hai! ”(ie. Couple like Radha-Krishna). ” For those who aren’t familiar with Hindu mythology; Radha & Krishna appear in the Dvapara Yuga which is the 3 rd out of four yugas (4 th one being Kali Yuga, the current one that we all are part of). Radha is considered an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and Krishna is the Eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Radha and Krishna are most popularly known and worshipped as RadhaKrishna – in one form. Radha is Krishna’s supreme beloved and his childhood friend. Acrylic Painting of Krishna with his Flute - By Me. The Lord and His consort are refe

There are times when we think of someone and wish that they were with us at that moment. When we close our eyes and hope that the wait isn't too long; and patiently or impatiently wait for that time to pass. And the moment we meet that person it’s like living all those long tortured moments (which could be yearlong at times) in that few precious seconds of the meeting. All of us have felt it at some point or the other in our lives. But what would we do when we remember someone and know that we can never have that beautiful moment of togetherness again? I am not speaking of those characters whose role in your life have ended; but are still continuing their performance in some different stage. I do have few people in my life with whom the ties are either broken or just too strained to be normal. But they are there somewhere in this world living their lives. So although the probability of us being together is close to NEVER , it’s not IMPOSSIBLE . May be few years down the lin

Whenever I open a notebook and come across the set of blank pages; my mind goes blank. For some reason, it always reminds me of my life. It forces me to start thinking about my life; about the past and the future. Being part of the age of computers and belonging to the IT industry, I hardly get an opportunity to actually pick a pen and write in the notebook. I write lot of blogs, poems etc… but I write them on the webpage or in Microsoft word in my laptop.  Once in a while I like to go back to traditional form of writing; using the actual pen and paper. And in last few years; I noticed that every time I try doing that for some reason the blank paper gets me all philosophical.         Although I never have that thought while opening the book; but whenever I see those blank pages; I just go blank. I always feel that my life is staring back at me with all those unanswered silenced questions, doubts, thoughts…forcing me to think – What does my life look like? What if I h