Thinking Out Loud

Explosions and cries Cries of fear Fear in the eyes… staring Staring into the unknown Unknown of a safe place Place I use to call home… no more No more war War of the men Men become ghosts… forgotten Forgotten life Life without peace Peace lost forever… terror Terror in the lives Lives that were sacrificed Sacrificed to evil… greed Greed maketh the man Man bound by illusions Illusions created by ideals… dogma Dogma blankets reasoning Reasoning for preservation Preservation of one's existence One's existence, other's destruction Destruction of trust Trust that is fake Fake tears shed Shed your humanity Humanity unidentifiable Unidentifiable truths Truths traded for lies Lies here the soul Soul in suffering Suffering for humans Humans caught in explosions…

The day was finally set. I was going to watch "Endhiran", the most expensive Indian movie ever made. The "Avatar" of India, the posters claimed. I will admit upfront, I am not a huge fan of either Shankar or Rajinikanth, but there was a glimmer of hope as it was a screenplay by the late Sujatha, a true technocrat whose books and prose I have cherished over the years (would he have coined the term "Robo Sapiens"?). As Sujatha had passed away during the pre-production of the movie, I was well aware that the screenplay would have been completed by Shankar (Madhan Karky is also credited as a co-script writer). The initial reviews had lauded the movie claiming it to be a benchmark in Indian cinema and how Indian cinema has improved by leaps and bounds and how the movie will stand up to any Hollywood production of recent years. The movie proved be a huge disappointment (except a few scenes) and it also proved the fact that without a cohesive screenplay, any movi...

I was never one for the "back-in-the-days" type of discussion. Yet I found myself talking exactly that when a friend came to visit. I find it hard to live in the past even though I often think of "what-if" scenarios; what would have happened that would have changed the course of my life. By way of a "for instance", what if I had won a million dollars in 1996? Is that usual? I believe that everyone, at one point in their lives would have thought of "what if". Is this a sad state of affairs in our lives? Do we always dwell on the fantasies to escape from realities? I do; not always but when the chips are down, but I try and solve the situation, accept the reality and move on. There was a period in my life when I could not move on. Whenever I got into a fix, I would think of all the negative situations I have faced and I would have a very heated internal conversation with the higher powers that be. I felt sorry for myself (I would validate this poin...