Addictions

Seeing your name in print. Hearing your voice on the radio. Being told you've been read; being told you've been heard. Being appreciated.

Walking onto stage to perform and seeing a packed house look up at you. Hearing giggles or sighs or sniffles as you play your part to perfection. Being recognised as a performer.

The moment of captivated silence that follows your rendition of a piece of poetry or a song, and the thunderous applause that follows.

That feeling of being possessed by the music as you dance in perfect sync to it, as if hypnotized. And the mesmerized gazes that follow your every move.

The image of the finished painting, your latest masterpiece, simply perfect, with not a brush stroke out of place.

Addictions, all. The creative and performing arts. They are like drugs. The more you engage in them, the greater the addiction. For both the activity itself and the adulation it wins.

No wonder artists are slightly neurotic.

No? 

The Important Things

When you fail, the important thing is that you tried.

When you lose, the important thing is that you participated.

When someone leaves your life for whatever reason, the important thing is the time that you did spend together.

When you are rejected, the important thing is that you put yourself out there.

When the person you love the most ignores you, the important thing is that perhaps they are happier without you.

When a close friend decides to spend their birthday with other friends, the important thing is that they are having a good time.

When you feel upset about growing apart from people who meant the world to you, the important thing is that perhaps your life is better this way.

And when the important things all seem too hard to accept and appreciate, the REALLY important thing is to remember that life is supposed to be hard.

It wouldn't be half as much fun otherwise.

Random. Untitled. Strange.

Paper boats floating in the ocean.
Footprints on wet sand.
Names written with fingers on dust.
A song from childhood only vaguely remembered now.
Words lurking in your heart that never make it to your lips.
Desires quashed even before they fully take form.

Fragile things, aren't they?

Just like people.
And the bonds they form.
Nothing lasts forever,
Except perhaps the wish that if only, it could have. . .

Whatever Happened to Good Old Fashioned Love?

I have a ton of work to do but I haven't blogged in ages and simply can't resist it anymore. So here goes:

I watched Mausam about two weeks back (I think).
And I was really disappointed.
Because it could have been SO MUCH better with the right kind of editing!
It was just a drag and a bit pathetic. Made me laugh. In a not very nice way. :P
But Shahid Kapur was of course adorable in it. I just didn't like his moustached look that much. Who said IAF officers need moustaches? He would have looked SO MUCH cuter in that uniform sans the moustache!
Anyways, believe it or not, I actually found ONE positive review of the movie somewhere on the web. All the major critics just completely trashed it but this one review was talking about how Mausam depicts the old-fashioned kind of love-story, the one that's full of waiting and yearning and undying faith in the power of love.

I can almost imagine the smirk on your face as you read this. I know, I know, that all that stuff about love is just filmy crap that we've become too used to but honestly, don't you think that kind of love can still exist?
Somehow, I am compelled to think it does.
And almost everyone I know tells me I live in a fairy tale if I can have such romantic notions in the 21st Century.
In fact, a few days ago, we had a guest lecturer who talked of a certain species of crane (the bird) who mate for life. That is, they pick one partner and stick together till death. He went on to comment that in humans of course, that kind of love only happened in the times of our grandparents. So apparently, there is no concept of 'together forever' in today's world. Love is transient. It comes and goes and everyone is 'cool' with that. Those who are not, are silly romantic idiots like me.
Another discussion with friends some days back was about how the whole 'point' of a romantic relationship these days is the physical intimacy involved. Nobody wants to date someone if there's no physical stuff on offer. Somehow, I refuse to believe that, and again, I am told I live in a world of fairy tales, or have dropped out of a Hindi movie and have no sense of the real world. :P
Perhaps it is true, and I have some growing up or waking up to do as yet (which is bad considering that I am chronologically older than the friends who tell me all these wisecracks) but then, I don't think there's anything wrong with being a bit idealistic until something trumps those ideas or notions. Yes, I may be surrounded by proof that love of the Hindi movie kind does NOT seem to exist in the world today, but I won't give up hope just yet that maybe, in some rare circumstances, if one is patient enough, it CAN come along. After all, that's the beauty of life. You never know just what might happen.

So even if Mausam is a terribly overstretched movie that I don't recommend to anyone, I do think it made a slight bit of a point when it comes to matters of the heart. :P

On a parting note, there was this killer dialogue which the critics tore up to bits but which I kind of liked:
"Love is like the sun. It may set but the fire is never extinguished."  :)

Until next time, please try to see the positive in every movie you watch, even if it is as intolerable as Mausam. :P