niralee

Lorsqu’on l’a enfermé   Il voulait s’enfuir Lorsqu’on l’a libéré La liberté semblait le fuir Lorsqu’il existait Il n’a pas connu le monde Lorsque le monde lui était imposé Son immensité pesait lourd sur ses pieds Lorsqu’il était prisonnier C’étaient des peines de travaux Lorsqu’il est libre Il est condamné à rien faire Lorsqu’il avait du temps Il cherchait à bâtir sa vie Maintenant qu’il a Le Temps « Tout ce que je vis est irréel » Maintenant, maintenant « Il n’existe pas » Car être C’est être vu !    A Somalian fisherman is accused of being a pirate and arrested by the French Police. He is imprisoned in Paris for 3 yrs. One fine day, the police decide to release him, but Abdulahi doesn't want to leave! He has nowhere to go! Not even his own country!

They are strange droplets of water, or could I say magical? They are like mirage in the dry desert of life. Well, they might not necessarily quench your thirst but they give you hope and the strength to carry on. But they are magical also because they appear at other times too, when you do not necessarily expect them to be there. Any overwhelming emotion, happiness, surprise, delight, fear, love…absolutely anything in excess could ring an alarm and call for them. They are always at your disposal. Believe me, they are! You just have to knock your forehead, check the exact location of this inexhaustible well and there you go! Women are believed to have an easier access to them than men. Some even go to the extent of saying that they are a woman’s best weapon. Well, I really do not know how far it is true, but I really do not mind if it is! It is indeed a good feeling to go to bed with your head resting on a wet pillow. That makes me think about 2 things: they are a great sedative and hav...

At this moment, the entire nation is burning in the fires of "the second war of independence" and writing about something else just does not seem appropriate. But there are, nevertheless, other important issues to tackle.... Ganeshotsav is just around the corner and we, the devotees are eagerly waiting to welcome our dear Bappa home. Markets are flooded with the most mesmerizing, near-live murtis of Ganeshji. Like many others, even I get tempted to bring Bappa home, I really enjoy the excitement around this festival. But then there are certain things that deter me from doing so. My dad tells me stories of Ganeshotsav celebrations as a child, in our village in Orissa. Although the celebrations there didn’t witness such grandeur, the enthusiasm was always unchallenged. My granny would bathe and redress the Ganesh idol at home, He would be brought out of his usual residence n be presided over a special throne for his birthday. My granny would then treat him with laddoos. The n...

Not a very happy occasion to write. Yet another page of Mumbai’s history has been colored in black ink. Yet another series of blasts! The tough Mumbai spirit was again put to test. And the strong Mumbaikar once again took control over the situation. People came out on the roads and helped their brethren. The ones who survived the blasts called friends and family to check if they had survived it too. Some emotional fools, too shocked even to make those calls, sat and cried. And the not-so-emotional fools gave them a piece of their mind. Some others made their cries loud enough to be heard by the government. The government, in turn, turned a deaf ear to people’s chaotic cries and said, “Things like these happen, they can’t really be controlled.” And for Kasab, it was actually like, फूल क्या तेरे कदमों में हम भेंट अपने सरों की चढ़ा जायेंगे Done with a series of actions that usually follows such an attack! Yeah! It has become such a usual thing for us! Tomorrow morning, after the high ti...

When one travels by train (all Mumbaikars take it as a given that “train” naturally implies THE local train), one always has a bagful of experiences to share, some good, some bad, some simply…strange. Today’s experience was strange but rather pleasant! I was sitting in the train, staring out of the window, when one of the ladies sitting opposite me, called out, “Ashish” (name not changed) in the direction where I could not see who this Ashish was. (Now, as a woman, when you hear a man’s name in the ladies’ compartment, the brave side of you immediately takes on guard while the timid side hopes it is just a kid that you will have to face). But I was completely taken aback to see that this Ashish was a eunuch! She comfortably came and sat next to me. I just kept staring at those two women (trying hard not to be caught while doing so), who were so sweet, so kind with her (I think it is only justified to say “her”). They started discussing everything from mundane chores to family matters t...

After the “epopee” or epic that greatly valorizes the honor of a chevalier who dies in the battle field, literature took on a new dimension, with love playing an essential role. The chevalier was now more eager to prove his worth to his mistress than to his land. It was not just important to love but win his love over the others. Almost ten centuries later, the concept of love, for men, does not seem to have changed much. This is especially true for Indian men (am not commenting on others as I hardly know any). L’amour courtois rejects all kinds of indiscretion and also any hasty confession of love, everything has to be done as per a “code of conduct”: friendship --> courtship (the most important and probably also the longest lasting stage) --> love. Is it related to the masculinity of men and their perpetual need to prove it to themselves and to others? Even in today’s age, men prefer a woman who plays the role of the Dame courtoise, or of the Indian “devi” in the Indian context...

For all those who got excited in seeing Kay Kay Menon, Lilliput, Rajpal Yadav and Rupali Ganguli on posters and in promos, rest assured that they were the only assets that film makers could flaunt about this film! The film is about Pappu (Siddharth) who wants to fulfill the dream of his visually challenged friend Kuhu (Rajvi) to fly a parachute. In order to do this, the fugitive Siddharth, along with his friends, runs away from Nainital to Mumbai. Although one would expect some deliberate heroism on the kids’ part, it is only on the basis of chance that the plot functions and the kids happen to crack a terroristic plan and prevent a major attack. And the parachute tale is completely forgotten about. Besides this too, there are a lot of loop holes in the script and verisimilitude is missing throughout. As far as the performances are concerned, the kids cuteness and dimples capture your attention, their slow and predictablt dialogue delivery fail to hold it for too long (but are the kids...