Lust

A sexy God and a sexy Life

Cant help but admire and be awed by some fellow beings' Courage to inhabit strength during testing times, and to view those times as testing rather than hopeless.. Just about read and re- tweeted a tweet by Lisa Ray( "Are we really like tea bags? Don't know our strength until we're in hot water?...") who, not very long ago, had been diagnosed with Bone Marrow Cancer.. And I remember her so graciously stepping out for one of her films' Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in just a few days' time.. She had not been slumped by the shock and darkness of the situation and shrunken into a world that then had a locked door between her and the bigger world that she inhabited earlier.

And many of us, I think, do not realise the presence or not, of that valour in us, until we are faced with one such situation which is a stair from the smooth plane of comfortable life.

With every step we climb and with every pocket of strength that's been spent in doing so, we think that That is it;
we cannot climb any more and the last pocket of strength had been spent and the smooth plane shall resurface, only to see another step appearing before us,
only to discover another pocket of strength to aid us doing so,
only to see that we could climb once again,
only to think yet again that we cannot climb any more and the last pocket of strength had by now been definitely spent
and its high time that the smooth plane should resurface.
We keep doing it, only to realise that this process,
though irregular in altitude, is perennial,
and though uneven in time- scale, is consequent.

The beauty of this process I guess, is that its not always compulsory; in fact most of the times, it is voluntary;
Though at times it is a Test, most of the times it is Growth;
Let's passionately lust after life, vigorously make love to it;
Be thrown away by it, only to see it throwing itself upon us more lustfully.
Touch it, only to be hugged back by it;
Kiss it, only to be smooched back by it.
Let life love us, so that it pulls us back to its fold every time we try and run away from it..
Lets thrust ourselves forcefully on it so that it caresses its lips across the ears.. So that it kisses our fingers when we slap across its face;
So that we could cuddle it when it bites the very finger that it kissed..
Life, along with God, is one of the most under- rated Sex symbols in existence that are undeniably, never- endingly lust & love worthy!
Indeed, the both of them are eternally Sexy- though sometimes explicitly, and mostly implicitly

Watched a documentary on youtube on Marc Jacobs..I have been totally obsessed wid him & his works for sometime now.. Wonder How come its taken me ages to discover this Super-sexy Brain!!! What a Personality, what a life, what courage, what creativity, what a stunning outlook towards Art and Life in general.. All topped by such delightfully arrogant nonchalance..

Things that some people do might seem deceptively spontaneous.. The actions may present a deceptive image that camouflages the underlying thought process of a being who embodies wisdom that could even be sometimes incorrect.. Well there are also times when the only deception ever involved is that of the very mind that is made to think that what it sees is a deceptive crust that hides the deeper layers within, when there are no such layers at all.. A deception that is initiated by a refusal to accept the sudden simplicity that might potentially become associated with and eventually de- construct and destroy the glamorous Complexity that's been delightfully & feverishly built upon by premonitions..

Marc perplexes me at times as which of these he is..

Anna Wintour(Editor- in- chief, Vogue US) says that to her daughter and their friends, Marc is God.. Well if i could borrow a brilliant phrase of Arundhati Roy's that has five words(1. The 2. God 3. of 4. Small 5. Things), Marc truly is one of the many Gods of smaller but stunningly beautiful and strikingly impressive things of absolute pleasure,joy and erotic vigour.. A God who is unbelievably identifiable with the self for a change.. A God who could be admired yet despised, worshipped but doubted upon.. Indeed he is A God who's seemingly treacherous, uncomfortably non- diplomatic, regularly incorrect and thus, so refreshingly imperfect..

"Be Mine or Make me yours"

This beautiful title has been called by me as 'beautiful' because its not my own :-)
Rather its the name of a community at orkut, whose name really caught my interest. Relationships between humans have always amused me. The kind of bonds people share between themselves, would be a spell no one would ever be able to crack i suppose.. And the one aspect of it that most enchantingly perplexes me is the roles that have been conventionally destined to be taken by a man and a woman.. Ideally, it seems 'Be Mine' is something that a Man would be asking to his beloved and 'Make me yours' would be a phrase that would be spelt out by a woman to the man she wants to belong to.. It appears that The authority of the former encapsulates and expresses the masculinity in the psyche that spells it and 'make me yours' seems to absolutely submit and surrender the femininity of the woman's self.. I often wonder as whether this casting of the roles for a MAN and WOMAN respectively is a convention or the fact of life.. Can it be that Black and White? I have heard people telling that there is nothing in this world as Black and White, and everything and everyone is GRAY!! Sometimes i think that both a man and a woman take turns and take these roles.. Predominantly, a MAN, it seems, must be a MAN who performs his destined role convincingly, with a mind that thinks accordingly too; and so do the women it seems! A woman expects security from her man.. She wants herself to be the one who is being hugged. But there seem to be times when a man crumbles into her arms, lies at her lap and sheds all his skin and surrenders himself as a naked bundle of vulnerability, which is stripped of all its prejudices; and he allows her to take the role of his mother and not just a partner.. And there she becomes a man.. Perhaps all women take the roles of men at one time or the other;
I get rather puzzled at times because of this unclear and inter- merging territory of roles that lack a distinction between each other.. Are the male and female minds choreographed by their pre- requisites to think in the conventional way, or am i just slinging mud at the NATURAL by calling it CONVENTIONAL?

You are a man, and that is why you naturally are thinking the way you do; or you think the way you do, because that is how you suppose you ought to think when you are a man? And same for the women! If that is so, are MAN and WOMAN terms that are given to people based on their psyche, or the anatomy? Is anatomy an unconditional determinant for a human's psychology? If that is so, what would explain the mixture of the classified masculine and feminine roles that a man and a woman take up in random, in their life times? Can somebody be a giver all through life to a taker and vice versa? When you are a MAN and you want your female partner to be a giver, do you disqualify from being called a MAN? and the same for the Woman.

Whom do humans fall in love with? With a qualified member of the opposite 'sex' or a fellow human with a complementary thinking, who happens to be a member of the opposite 'sex'? How many of us play just one role all through life? Are MAN and WOMAN two terms qualified enough to classify the inexplicably multifaceted humans so distinctively the way they do? So if you have a partner, do you always take the one same position!!??

"Slumdog Millionaire"

I have been intending to write about this whole "Slumdog Millionaire" phenomenon.. PHENOMENON? Well.. That is what this movie has been made out to be! I watched it only after the Oscar and the other award fiascoes.Did i like it? Well once Rajeev Masand (i hope am spelling it right) of CNN- IBN remarked that a problem about the old movies that are considered classics are that we would have already heard everybody telling that they are CLASSICS and thereby when we watch them, we do so with a premonition that it IS going to be fabulous.. And i think, after seeing them, if they are good enough, we join the bandwagon and start spreading word as whadda brilliant film it is.. What is pathetic though is that most of the times, even if we dont find them good enough, or say we find it perplexing as "Well! is it really not good enough or do i not have brains enough to understand it???", we end up avoiding the risque of being called as not- intelligent enough to understand them, and hence safely reiterate that they are Brilliant indeed.. (Well, If you are not used to doing so, you must be either cynical or really Strong headed and rational.. Not to mention that such species is a rarity.)
By saying so, people somehow try and squeeze themselves into a bracket that is considered as the Intelligentsia! Whats sad is that through this personal prejudice, many mediocre films get classified as CLASSICS and MASTERPIECES. I think it would have been exactly the same issue with me and SD-M, had i not woken up to the fact that it IS indeed a plain average piece of work.

And the whole argument surrounding it as whether it shows India in poor light or not.. People argue that it indeed shows what exists in actuality and we should accept reality and we should not feel embarrassed about our poverty being showcased to the West. They say that there have even been films made on the West's underbelly. Excuse me? True. We have seen films on Westen mafia and their flip side. But what is the primary conception of the World about the West? Richer, more prosperous, more decent, more civilised, more educated. The East? Well, the antonyms of every previous term. The West, with all its Persona of being the better world, when exposed of its underbelly, does not have the risk of being seen that its the Mafia and Vandalism that are predominant in their world. With the kind of impression that they have upon the world, they can afford a movie showing exposing its dark side. But what about India? Do we already enjoy the kind of sophisticated image that the West enjoys? I remember Ms. Aishwarya Rai saying in the Oprah Winfrey show that when her co- participants in the Miss World Event saw her speaking fluent english, they seem to have asked as whether she had been brought up and educated abroad!! Well we are already seen as a "Third- world" by the common man of the West.. They ask me that will I not be losing weight when I go on a holiday to India. They have their televisions showing images of Our rural people and asking them to donate for the betterment of the under privileged. They have programs made where the Gujjar protests and rural plights are highlighted. While that is the kind of image that we already have, this SlumDog is exactly the oil poured over the fire.. It reiterates all their previous stereo- typical ideas about us! And more importantly, it satisfies them that they are better placed and better abled!

And what is this mindless argument that the ones who say that Slumdog Millionaire shows India in poor light, are cowards who fail to accept truth. Well so we should not feel bad about our dark side showcased to the West? Let us say that I have a guest coming to my apartment. Wont i clean the room and change sheets and make it presentable? What will I serve them? Wont I be serving them special food? Why? Because I want to show myself in a better light, by putting an extra efoort. That does not mean that i eat gourmet food on an everyday basis. Why should I serve them porridge and bread when i indeed am capable of serving a feast? We always favour the choosing of the better of the available options, don't we? Why did Mr. Anil Kappor wear and go an Armani suit? Come on guys, its also a reality that his wardrobe also has pajamas and nightpants. Why not wear them and go? He chose not to, Inorder to show that he is indeed better abled. When that applies for him, why cant India enjoy the same when it too has a better side?

The norm of the world, i think, is to put ourselves forward in the better of ways- may it be between individuals, or families, or towns, or cities.. Whatever be the hardships, let it be within ourselves.. We dont walk naked telling that its also the reality! Cosmetics are the quintessential parts of everyday life! If a family fights in the street, do we call it natural? or indecent? that may not mean that the rest are singing hymns in a chorus inside their homes. everybody has their quarrels. But they are within the intimacy of four walls! Why should we celebrate and rejoice at our dirty linen being washed out in the open?

Danny Boyle is not to be blamed. He sees India with a Westerner's eye. He had a vision, executed it, and the West chose to appreciate it. Fair enough. Their sensibility. Their judgement. Their Award. They may or may not have chosen to acknowledge it. (Though i have a premonition that down the line, in a few years' time, they ll come to their senses and say that this was one of the weakest films to have won the Best Picture Oscar and many more)But we saw it being appreciated by them and naturally accepted their superiority and chose to appreciate it irrationally. We have seen movies with better themes, and better movies made with the same theme.

But why did we go ga- ga over it? Shouldn't we have underplayed the whole Slumdog episode? I think SDM is as much India's as The Reader is Germany's. THAT IS IT. Why did we go bananas when our Nation's name was spelt in a Western arena, even though it came at the price of our self- respect? We neither want to be sympathised nor to be looked down at. Let us first accept the harsh reality to ourselves and work with dignity and self- respect WITHIN OURSELVES, become and be known for our better and healthier prospects all around the world, if we choose to desire for that acknowledgement. This real division of opinion in our country over this idea is not a war between the classes and masses. Rather its btw the classy and the non- claay.. One may not be rich to be classy! And all the rich may not be classy either. Didn't we see Mr. Kapoor jumping to the front of the stage shamelessly and doing bufoonary at the rest of the times as well? Let us unite to be one classy bunch!
Then there would be a time, when we may not care about a future "Slumdog millionaire"'s potential to tarnish our image. Till then, let us not shamelessly celebrate the exposure of our wounds. Nobody says that we dont have wounds. Lets heal them by ourselves first. And then we can proudly show the scar that we have indeed healed. Not to mention, that One day the scars too will disappear. Till then, Jai Ho!! :D :D

The System: 1

The Central Government Elections are fast approaching in India and it is anticipated to be the bloodiest and most corrupt election India has seen so far.. Well isn't that shameful enough? A News channel screams aloud that its the "place of the elections" and has already started making mountains out of molehills, as it always does. Afterall, who is better at that than the New Indian Media.. Over- enthusiastic would be too small a word to describe their attitude i suppose. And I have serious doubts these days as what their jobs are.. Is it to "report news" or is it to "make news"? I think the latter is becoming more and more true these days.. More on the Media some other day.
Well What does a General Election mean to a common person? We see stars and celebrities parading in the channels these days asking people to cast their votes.. Another celebrity says in her interview that she would be out of the country at the election time but would promptly drop in on the D- day and cast her votes and fly back again! Doesn't that sound artificial and far from what could be the truth? Or iam jus being plain cynical? May be i think this way because i am doubtful about the relevance and importance of the individual citizens of the country as far as the bigger scheme of things are concerned..
Politicians have started their campaigns. But who attends these meetings? A common working class man? ha, Are you kidding?
A Politician/Political Critic says in a debate that its been long since principles and faiths became extinct from Politics.. First of all why is "Politics" treated as a seperate word and a seperate area, as though we may or may not choose to be inclusive within its territory? Doesn't it include you, me and everyone of us? Doesn't it include all the other walks of our life, may it be the scientific or technical and even survival aspects of it?
Politics and subsequently, the policies of these Politicians, are the institutions that determine and control our life predominantly. It is this system that tells you that it is wrong if you kill somebody, even if he had ruthlessly killed all your family and friends in front of your eyes. Yes. The very same system that presents innumerous loopholes through which criminals walk free of anything and everything. Jessica Lal gets murdered right in front of a hundred eyes and the system almost gives a judgement that Nobody killed her!!
It is this system that tells you what share of your salary should you pay as a tax.
Yes Gentlemen. The very system at which you do not have a say at where it goes or how it is spent.
And who are the ones who control and run this system? Criminals & ex- criminals eyeing up a period of five years that would help them evolve into future criminals as well!

I watch in sheer amusement about the issue of this Mr. Tytler who has been given a clean chit by the CBI to contest in elections; And the Sikhs protest saying that he was a key player in the riots against Sikhs in 1984, responsible for mass killings. My issue is that he may or may not be involved in it. But in this country of crores, can't a clean alternative canditate be found? If his background is as controversial, why should he be chosen by the Party? Not just him, but every party seems to try and bury the apparent and alleged ugly backgrounds of individuals and enable their candidature..But why them?
Why not get somebody who really wishes to do something for the constituency and its people? When there are a million selection preocesses for choosing a person for as basic a position of the government as a Police Constable, Why is there nothing for a Candidate? Why can't each party invite natives of that constituency who agree with the party's ideologies, to come up with plans and proposals; and select one from them to contest as their candidate? Not Practical? Didnt we see a different, larger model of this where the people instead voted to choose their Democratic Candidate?

The very unique Ms. Shobhaa De writes in her blog about this lady called Meera Sanyal, who is a former banker and who is spending her life's savings by becoming an individual candidate in her native south Mumbai. Reason? She could no longer stand the failed system and especially after the 26/11 attacks.. Shouldn't these Meeras be lapped up by parties and be backed by them to help execute their visions?
Let us suspend our disbelief that an individual is too small an entity to determine the system.. Are the Politicians descendants from a superior alien land?
Are we, with all our intelligent thoughts, ready to place ourselves time and again, at the hands of illicit & irrational goons, and allow them to determine the scheme of things for our life?
When was the last time there was a TRUE Revolution?
Sometimes, Ignorance is NOT a Bliss!!

The EGG- SPLOSION!!!! :-) :-)

Where do i even start about the terriblest faux pas that could ever happen!! Today's Egg- splosion!! I think of it, and every other second, am keeping on bursting into silly giggles arising in my tummy!! Oh no!! Ok let me get into the real matter without any further ado!
Not so long ago, one of our Module Heads Dr. Alec Robertson announced this (hee.. hee..giggle!!) competition called EGG- IT, which is to make egg cases as groups, that wud not break their eggs inside them when they r dropped from a height of 2 metres, thrice (hee hee hee hee.. longer giggle..) We were least interested bcos 1. We are fashion Students. 2. Its not going to be marked. Everybody else was telling the same that they too r not gonna give this a damn! The works were divided within our five- member group and mine was the preparation of a presentation regarding the materials tat we used and stuff like that, that should be accompanied by the dropping test! ideas were discussed in the name of BRAIN STORMING, with the most possible level of disinterest ofcourse and even a feather wud not 've lifted up frm the STORM tat was created!!
D- Day arrives.. One girl of our group "chickens out" (apt usage of words for a egg- based venture isn;t it!! :-) :-) ) at the last minute sayin some excuse!! And i pull up my clothes hurriedly in half sleep at 8.30 AM and rush to library to meet Misses. BF and SD aftr sippin a cuppa coffee en route for a last moment re arrangement!
Guess what!! Today all d other groups turned up with fairly interesting stuff(most of them were weird ofcourse :D), not to forget one particular girl's anxious expressions, tat were met only with pathetic disappointment.. Well her issue was tat her group had made a funny film abt this whole idiot- project ( I hope Dr. Robertson is not reading this.. lol.. :D ) and she was waiting anxiously for the audience reaction.. and.. and.. and.. IT FELL ULTRA FLAT!!!! But hey.. It was IN FACT quite funny as far as i understood (2% may be?).. But may be too- english for a majorly oriental audience perhaps? The audience had the expression tat wud be befitting for a Clint Eastwood film!! Alas!
I got reminded of wat Mr. Javed Akhtar said in the show "Koffee with Karan" about his wife Shabhana ji as "Whenever i try to tell a joke to Shabhana, she tries to SOLVE it!!!!"(
Above all, the audio was poor and was so inaudible.. acoustics didnt help either.. Well the hall didnt happen to be one of our ADLABS or PVR Multiplexes u see! (But tat has an advantage too!! no uncleared spilled popcorn all o'er the floor, as i hear they are these days!! :-) :-))
And did i say, i felt sorry for that girl and laughed at two- three places which i didnt even hear a bit..poor thing.. Not to mention, at those exact points, SD sittin nxt, to add to my woes, asked me "what was it?!?!" erm.. well.. BLINK.. BLINK..
But four groups' eggs broke at the second/ third falls.. We were telling each other
fairly confidently tat ours wont break!
(Inner feeling for each of us: " Well if ours breaks, it wont be tat shameful after all!! Whoopie.. Others' too have broken!! hee hee..")
And ta daa.. Our slot came..
We went there.. A Ph.D student who had taken the role of Videographer corrected our positions.. Well he was known to me..Must go and check out whether he has filmed me properly.. must ask him to do a bit of editing here and there.. a bit of a hair cut.. some ironing to my shirt perhaps? and ya.. a bit of tucking in of the shirt may be? and one last thing.. a clean shave too?.. not much isn't it!
And i made all the fuss about the eco- friendly materials of the box(Yes..Didn't you know tat "Eco- friendly" is so fancy a word these days? ), tat it cud be made at home, tat it has closed- cell foam and trucks and trucks of crap.. And a 3D demo made by Miss. M to show hw the egg wont break..
Well did i say we baptised our group as "EGG- CELLENT!!" (innovative isn't it!!)
And ya.. I tried to b funny at several points and boy! To my surprise,They kinda worked!! I didn't expect them to, u see!
I had thus already reached salvation even b4 the dropping- exercise!hmm.. :-)
Oh Shiva.. Wake up dude!!
Then the dropping.. M climbs.. SD, BF and I wait.. audience looks..
1.. 2.. 3..DROP!! box to be opened and checked.. Hey Bhagwaan!! Has the egg cracked!! No!! Oh has it not broken? No for that too!! then?
NAHEEEEEEEEEE!! It has actually EXPLODED!! SHATTERED.. TOTALLY SMASHED ALL OVER.. SPILLED OUTSIDE.. SD runs away into the loo wid the box.. M runs behind her.. EVERYBODY laughs.. ME the loudest!!!! BF shouts " BLOODY HELL" at the midst of all the peels of laughter!! Hers including !!
And i suggest.. We Shud 've titled ours instead as EGG- splosion!! M suggests a change: EGGCELLENT EGGSPLOSION!! Very Well!!
We have big big big laugh!!
I suggest tat we should 've kept a chicken doll inside the box and took it out after the drop and tol' ppl tat the egg has infact hatched!!!!!
We all continue laughin over the debacle!!!!!
Afterall, there isn't a better way to avoid embarassment than to laugh at it by urself even b4 others u see :-) :-)
Cheers!! Stay Cheerful!!!!