SATYAANVESHI

Khatir se ye lihaaz se - Daagh Dehlvi

2012-02-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

A very romantic poem by Daagh Dehlvi, sung by Shumona Roy Biswas.
The first couplet's a killer :D

Khaatir se ya lihaaz se mein maan to gaya
Jhoothi kasam se aapka eemaan to gaya

Dil leke muft kehte hein kuch kaam ka nahin
Ulti shikaayaten huin, ehsaan to gaya

*Go naamaabar se khush na hua par hazaar shukr
Mujhko vo mere naam se pehchaan to gaya

Hosh-o-havaas-o-*taab-o-*tavan "Daagh" ja chuke
Ab ham bhi jaane waale hein saamaan to gaya

Go - Although
Taab - Patience
Tavaan - Strength

कुछ मेरी कलम से - २

2010-07-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

*ज़िया-ए-हुस्न का उनके है किस-किस को पता नहीं
संवर के जब निकलते वो तो चाँद भी निकलता नहीं (The idea of this couplet and the poem itself came on seeing someone on a moonless night :))

जितना भी याद करो न होगी उनकी जुस्तजू कम
कितना भी समझाओ दिल को फिर भी समझता नहीं

होना चाहें खुदा से खफा तो भला कैसे हो हम
देता है जो मागो वो मगर उनको ही बस देता नहीं

नहीं मिलते हैं तो क्या ख्वाब में तो आतें हैं वो
खफा तो बहुत हैं उनसे हम लेकिन *अफसुर्दा नहीं

चहरे तो लाख़ों हैं दुनिया में दिल लगाने को लेकिन
तुझ दुश्मन-ए-जाँ के सिवा हमें कोई मिलता नहीं

*फ़न-ए-शायरी हासिल नहीं फिर क्यों लिखते हो 'मनु'?
दूसरों की शायरी से हमारा दिल अब बहलता नहीं

- मनु चतुर्वेदी

*ज़िया means splendor
*अफसुर्दा means depressed
*फ़न means talent (The concept for the last couplet might be subconsciously inspired by Siyaah's)

A novel writing approach

2010-06-01T04:09:00.000-07:00

I had almost forgotten about the great Chetan Bhagat. Only yesterday when I was at my relatives’ and saw that he has started coming in TV ads did I think of writing this post. He, I think, should be the most well-known novelist in India. If you ever decide on writing a novel, here are some points which you can learn from his success:

Target the youth.

Include the name of elite institute(s): Adding an elite institute’s name in the punch line of your book if not the title usually helps in the sale of the book. If your fertile mind cannot come up with such a title or a punch line, one of your characters can be a student or an alumnus, though this would greatly reduce the effect. The reason is, this gets you a set of assured readers, largely comprising of the candidates preparing for the entrance. You can see this approach has been followed by:
Anything for you Mam- An IITian’s love story
Five Point Someone- What not to do at IIT!
Zero Percentile: Missed IIT Kissed Russia

Keep it small, cheap and simple: It very important to keep the novel small. The youth which is to be targeted is generally busy in other amusing pursuits and doesn’t have time and patience to read pothis. Also, the language of the novel should not be abstruse; of course there should be some unnecessary GRE words to prove writer’s command over the language here and there, but just in the right amount. Ignorant Indian writers like Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie etc. overlook this point while writing their books- there are a lot of other points also which they overlook- and this amounts to a considerable decrease in the sales. And of course, the novel should be cheap, the youth should not mind buying it over burrowing it. (Don’t try to go for international readers also and get a foreign publisher.)
All Chetan Bhagat ‘s are for almost Rs. 100.

Write in English: Ignore it when people say that language is just a mode of communication. It isn’t in India. However good a command you have over your mother tongue, you should stick to English. Indians in general believe that English is the language of the learned and reading English novels is a good way of showing that one is learned which, at times might be the only reason for reading the book. However, when your novel is popular enough, you can get it translated to other regional languages and you would see a flurry of sales.
Five Point Someone was translated to Hindi and had a record breaking sale of 30000 copies in one month. (while 'Raag Darbari' is unheard of, :()

Write about appealing, general topics: Do you remember what the great MBA Chetan Bhagat’s novels are about?
Five Point Someone: College life; IIT (IIT/IIM sells better than IAS (heard of ‘English, August’?!))
1 Night @ the Call Center: Call center
The 3 Mistakes of My Life: Cricket
2 States: Romance
See how cleverly the subjects are chosen? Has he ever written about anything esoteric?! He never fails to add a love affair- if the whole novels itself isn’t about it. Romance is an indispensable ingredient to the novel.

Promote controversy, but only a little: It should not be fatal like it was in Salman Rushdie’s case, but a little bit of it helps. For starters, you can try having regionalist insults which can be covered up in the preface or a post-script.

Get an MBA: Getting an MBA of course helps a lot. There are a lot of other factors, that help selling your novel, which yours truly cannot comprehend and can only be conceived by an MBA.

The post is not an attempt at defaming CB, I am just awe-struck by his systematic approach to sell his novels. It’s just a collection of observations made by my deranged mind.

Reminiscence

2010-04-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Now that I am done with my DDP thesis submission and expect that the review committee would not see any hope of improvement in my incompetence and let me off the institute, other avenues like blogging await the show of my worthlessness. Today, I wish to recount a curious incident which happened in the first year of my college and how it affected my life.

It was a usually dull sultry afternoon of Chennai. I was in high spirits, the kind one is in when he's recently cracked the JEE and knows nothing about the placement season that awaits him in his final year, which in my case was 2009. One very 'influential' senior caught me, he lived on our floor. The seniors in our first year used to catch freshers generally to get water, get xeroxes, catch other freshers etc. Only the very 'trusted' got the privilege to be sent for booze, cigarettes and the other important items. I fell in the 'trusted' category I reckon for I was sent for cigarettes many times. But, that particular day, I was sent for getting some A4 papers, with the usual cigarettes of course.

I was unexpectedly fast at getting them. The senior was 'impressed'. First, moved by my sincerity in getting the stuff, he offered me the much coveted vol-ship for Shaastra. But, when I seemed uninterested, he lit his recently gotten cigarette in Godfather style, and started, as we call the phenomenon here, 'putting me fundaes'.

(To the readers who have read till here, I respect your forbearance and request you to not write any discouraging comments). I was confronted with a philosophical question, often addressed to one when one is new at IIT, 'What have you come to do here? Mug?!'. Be it for the interest I had in Physics, which I later realized was bogus, I was astounded. I gave a diffident 'Yes' as the answer. In the 15 min monologue which ensued, was all the wisdom, that one needs to become like my dear friend Shammo. To tell the least about Shammo, he having got 'influenced' by this 'influential' senior, started believing too much in the fact that Carbon is the second most abundant element in the human body, and started to add it in copious amounts to his lungs, body building you see.

Now patient readers, I have this habit of disregarding advices when they come very strongly and mocking them wholeheartedly. I acted myself. After the long monologue he asked the question again, 'Phir, Vol banega kya?'. I beamed and said 'Nahin'. The senior was frustrated, and asked my to f**k off.

Insignificant though the incident might seem, it had a very profound impact on my life and career. That day, I took a resolve that I won't do any activity which can be possibly classified as extra-curricular in my five year stint here. Blame it apathy or the resolve, I kept it. I found nothing wrong in that before my final year while applying for companies. Still, the latest point in my 1 page resume under the head 'Extra-curricular activities' is about something I did in my class X. :D.

Breach and something I worte

2010-04-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

After a long hiatus, watched a movie today, 'Breach'. The last one was about two months back. The movie is about finding a mole in the FBI and how a noob is able to catch him red-handed when so many veterans fail. Well, there's one thing I can say, movies come nowhere close to novels when it comes to spy stories. I reckon it becomes very difficult to put so many details in the movies which give the story the flavour. Still, being a true story its a good watch. "The Spy who came in from the Cold" still is the best spy story I watched or read, they say it is the best ever written. :).

And yes, the following is something I wrote lately:

Ye soch kar hum unki tasveer mukarrar dekha karte the
Kabhi to kam-bakht humko vo nazar uthakar dekhenge

Unhone kabhi humaare payaam ka jawaab nahin diya
Socha tha vo yoon likhenge to yoon likhkar dekhenge

Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon

2010-02-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

Came across a beautiful ghazal attributed to Bahadur Shah Zafar (might have been written by somebody else). Apparently written by him during his exile. It has been sung by various singers, I liked the one by Habib Wali Mohammad the best.

Na kisi ki aankh ka noor hoon, na kisi ke dil ka qaraar hoon
Jo kisi ke kaam na aa sake, mein vo ek musht-e-gubaar hoon

Mein nahin hoon naghamaa-e-jaan feza, koi sun ke mujhko karega kya
Mein bade bikrog ki hoon sadaa, mein bade dukhon ki pukaar hoon
(sung as: kisi dil-jale ki pukaar hoon)

Mera rang roop bigad gaya, mera yaar mujhse bichad gaya
Jo chaman khizan se ujad gaya, mein usi ki fasl-e-bahaar hoon

Na to mein kisi ka habeeb hoon, na to mein kisi raqib hoon
Jo bigad gaya vo naseeb hoon, jo ujad gaya vo dayaar hoon

Pae faatihaa koi aaye kyon, koi chaar phool chadhaaye kyon
Koi aake shamaa jalaae kyon, mein vo bekasi kaa mazhaar hoon
(Sung as: 'Zafar' ashq koi bahaaye kyon, ke mein bekasi ka mazaar hoon)

-Bahadur Shah Zafar

It has been translated to English by a Russian student of Urdu poetry, Philip Nikolayev, :).

not the light of any one's eyes,
nor the solace for any one's heart
of no use to anyone,
I am that one fistful of dust

I am not the song infusing life,
why would anyone want to hear me
I am the sound of separation,
I am the wail of much distress

my complexion and beauty is ravaged,
my beloved is parted from me
the garden that got ruined in autumn,
I am the crop of its spring

I am neither anyone's friend,
nor am I anyone's rival
the one that is ruined, I am that fate
the one that is destroyed, that land

why should anyone come to sing a requiem
why should anyone come to offer four flowers
why should anyone come to light a candle
I am the tomb of that destitution

Sham-e-gham kuch

2010-02-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I got hold of ghazals sung by Vinod Sehgal. A not so popular ghazal singer I reckon. I noticed that there's marked similarity in the music in his and Jagjit Singh's ghazals. Here's the ghazal I liked the best.

Shaam-e-gham kuch uss nigaah-e-naaz ki baatein karo
Bekhudi badhti chali hai raaz ki baatein karo

Ye *sukut-e-naaz ye dil ki ragon ka tootna
Khaamoshi mein kuch *shikast-e-saaz ki baatein karo

Kuch *qafas ki *teeliyon se chan raha hai noor sa
Kuch *fazaa kuch *hasrat-e-parwaaz ki baatein karo

*Nakahat-e-zulf-e-parishaan daastaan-e-shaam-e-gham
Subah hone tak isi andaaz ki baatein karo

-Raghupati Sahai 'Firaaq Gorakhpuri'

sukut means silence
shikast-e-saaz means broken instrument
qafas means prison
teeliyaan here means the grills in the windows of the prison
fazaa means environment (I think here he means the atmosphere outside the prison)
hasrat-e-parwaaz means the desire to fly
nakhat-e-zulf means disarrayed fragrant hair

The last but one couplet shows the class of Firaaq's poetry, :).

Ishqiya

2010-02-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching Ishqiya. Another very good attempt by Vishal Bharadwaj to make a movie different from the cliched flicks. I have a liked quite a few by him but this one I liked the best. Vidya Balan looks enthralling. Arshad Warsi acted very well, better than Naseeruddin Shah, just like surprisingly Saif Ali Khan's acting was better than Ajay Devgan's in Omkara. He got the Bhopali accent very well. The songs are lyrical, I liked the classical-ish song "Badi Dheere Jali Raina" a lot.

The story was OK, decently compelling, but the best thing about the movie were the dialogues. That one by Vidya Balan was poignant when in the early part of the movie she implores her husband to surrender (she is madly in love with him) and says 'Chadar par tumhaari silwaton par mare pade rehte hein'. I have never read/heard a couplet on this concept. I wish to write one myself. The second best thing I liked was Vidya Balan, :). She looks awesome throughout the movie, her voice and eyes are too inviting.

I think people who liked Omkara will surely like this one. I don't know the meaning of the word Ishqiya, it's not there in the Urdu dictionary I use. Anybody any idea? I see that my stat-counter increases sometimes, glad to see that people read/glance-at what I copy/ramble respectively at my blog.

One thing I didn't understand was, in the end why couldn't Vidya Balan's husband smell the stench of mercaptan when the gas leaks, :).

What a book!

2009-12-29T04:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, in the train while coming back from Indore I finished reading "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". My God, what a thriller it was! The best I have read so far, better than Dan Brown's all books, better than the ones I have read by Robert Ludlum, John Grisham, Ken Folett, Michael Crichton, Haggai Carmon. It gives the same feel that the movie by Nolan 'Following' does, except in the end. A very intriguing plot, no action(I mean fighting sequences) and very dispassionate characters. And the best thing, it has a very sad end. In all the thrillers I have read so far, the ending is not so depressing. In this book the nice guys die, all of them :D. And, somehow, I like saddening endings.

Also it has a very interesting foreword to the sceptre edition by the author :). I could have copied it, but couldn't find an e-book. It is a must read for spy story lovers. The author is an ex-MI agent.
John le Carré

Ah, found it! I know that nobody reads my blog, but never mind. It goes like this:

My diligent publisher kindly suggested that, for this new edition of the novel, I might grab the opportunity to correct some of the more blatant inconsistencies and - dare I say it? - infelicities that occur in the original text. I declined. To me, they are honourable scars, part of who I was and wasn't, still at the threshold of my writing life, thirty-five years ago.
JOHN LE CARRE, October 1998

People get sentimental about all sorts of things, :).

Uploading mp3 files to youtube

2009-11-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

After a long search did I find a way to convert an mp3 to avi format which is upload-able on youtube. I wanted to upload this beautiful ghazal by Mehdi Hassan, "Woh ke har ahd-e-muhabbat". Here's a nice script I found to do it. It can convert mp3 to avi which can be then uploaded to youtube.

# Starts here
input=$1
output=$2

background=/tmp/bng-black.jpg
convert -size 320x240 xc:black $background
duration=`ffmpeg -i $input 2>&1 | grep Duration | cut -f1 -d, | cut -f2,3,4,5 -d:`
ffmpeg -loop_input -i $background -i $input -vcodec mpeg4 -acodec copy -t $duration $output
# Ends here

You need to install ffmpeg, libavcodec-extra-52 to make it work.

Here's the video:

Woh ke har *ahd-e-mohabbat se mukartaa jaaye
Dil wo zaalim ke usi shaks pe martaa jaaye

Mere pehloo mein wo aaya bhi to khushboo ki tarah
Mein use jitna samentoon vo bikhartaa jaaye

Khulte jaayen jo tere band-e-kabaa zulf ke saath
Rang-e-*pairaahan-e-shab aur nikhartaa jaaye

Ishq ki narm nigaahi se hina ho *rukhsaar
Husn wo husn jo dekhe se nikhartaa jaaye

Kyon na hum usko dil-o-jaan se chaahen 'Tashna'
Woh jo ek dushman-e-jaan pyaar bhi kartaa jaaye

-Alam Tab 'Tashna'

ahd means promise
pairaahan means dress,robes
rukhsaar means cheeks

Ye hum jo hijr mein

2009-10-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

One of the few ghazals sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Written by Ghalib.

Ye hum jo *hijr mein diwaar-o-dar ko dekhte hein
Kabhi *sabaa ko kabhi *naamaabar ko dekhte hein

Woh aaye humaare ghar pe Khuda ki kudrat hai
Kabhi hum unko kabhi apne ghar ko dekhte hein

Nazar lage ka kahin uske *dast-o-baazu ko
Ye log kyon mere zakhm-e-jigar ko dekhte hein

- Mirza Ghalib

*hijr means separation (from beloved)
*sabaa means breeze
*naamaabar means messenger
*dast means hands

The last sher is one of the best I have ever read.

Uzr aane mein bhi hai

2009-10-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

A beautiful ghazal by Daagh Dehlvi in Farida Khanum's voice.

*Uzr aane mein bhi hai aur bulaate bhi nahin
*Baais-e-tark-e-mulaaqat bataate bhi nahin

Kya kaha phir to kaho hum nahin sunte teri
Nahin sunte to hum aison ko sunaate bhi nahin

Khoob parda hai ke *chilman se lagen baithe hein
Saaf chupte bhi nahin saamne aate bhi nahin

Ho chuka tark-e-taalluk to *jafaayen kyon hon
Jinko matlab nahin rehta vo sataate bhi nahin

*Ziist se tang ho ae 'Daagh' to jeete kyon ho
Jaan pyaari bhi nahin, jaan se jaate bhi nahin

-Daagh Dehlvi (1831-1905)

*Uzr means Objection
*Baais-e-tark-e-mulaaqat means reason for ending the courtship (Baais=reason, tark=leave,abandon)
*Chilman means A Venetian Blind
*Jafaayen means tyranny of a beloved
*Ziist means Life

Ek hi baat

2009-10-05T08:51:00.001-07:00

Found a beautiful ghazal last night. Written by Sudarshan Faakir sung by Mohd. Rafi. I wonder how it would have been in Mehdi Hassan's voice, :).

Ek hi baat zamaane ki kitaabon mein nahin
Jo gham-e-dost mein nashaa hai sharaabon mein nahin

Husn ki bheek na maangege na jalwon ki kabhi
Hum fakiroon se milo khulke *hijaabon mein nahin

Har jagah firte hein aawaara khayaalon ki tarah
Ye alag baat hai hum aapke khwaabon mein nahin

Na dubo saagar-o-meena mein ye gham ae 'Faakir'
Ke makaam inka dilon mein hai sharaabon mein nahin

-Sudarshan Faakir

*hijaabon means curtain, coyness, veil, shyness.

The last two couplets are really profound, aren't they?

Linux Mint

2009-09-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

For those who are fed up of Windows and want to try Linux, here's a distro Linux Mint. The latest being Linux Mint Gloria, the seventh version. Basically made for dabblers who find Linux painful to use, it betters Ubuntu in its "user-friendliness" as it has gui for most of the common tweaks so that users don't have to go to the configuration files and make changes. It can be a good replacement for the users who think that Ubuntu isn't user-friendly enough and are about to uninstall it or use it only when they have to delete some virus.

Also it comes with all the commonly used applications like mplayer, flashplayer, audio players, the codecs for playing the different formats etc. Can be booted on using a pen-drive and runs very smoothly, do give it a try! Can be download from here:

Linux-Mint Download

PS: It is Ubuntu based so the Ubuntu repositories work, can use IITM ftp repositories.

जिंदगी की राह में...

2009-09-23T05:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most romantic songs I have ever heard. :)

यूँ जिंदगी की राह में टकरा गया कोई
एक रोशनी अंधेरे में बिखरा गया कोई

वो हादसा वो पहली मुलाक़ात क्या कहूँ
कितनी अजब थी सूरत-ए-हालत क्या कहूँ
वो कहर वो ग़ज़ब वो *जफा मुझको याद है
वो उसकी बेरुखी की अदा मुझको याद है
मिटता नहीं है ज़हन से यूँ छा गया कोई
यूँ जिंदगी की राह में टकरा गया कोई

पहले वो मुझको देख कर *बरहम सी हो गई
फिर अपने ही हँसीं ख़यालों में खो गई
बेचारगी पे मेरी उसे रहम आ गया
शायद मेरे तड़पने का अंदाज़ भा गया
साँसों से भी करीब मेरे आ गया कोई
यूँ जिंदगी की राह में टकरा गया कोई

अब उस दिल-ए-तबाह की हालत न पूछिए
बेनाम आरज़ू की *लज्ज़त ना पूछिए
एक अजनबी था रूह का अरमान बन गया
एक हादसा था प्यार का *उनवान बन गया
मंजिल का रास्ता मुझे दिखला गया कोई
यूँ जिंदगी की राह में टकरा गया कोई

*जफा means oppression, violence
*बरहम means angry
*लज्ज़त means taste
*उनवान means label, legend, preface

कुछ मेरी कलम से...

2009-08-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a poem I wrote, :)

दिल के बहलाने को ये तराना ही सही
*वादा-ए-फर्दा ना सही, झूठा बहाना ही सही

कुछ तो दौलत चाहिए बसर करने को ज़िन्दगी
तेरी मोहब्बत ना सही, ग़म का खज़ाना ही सही

कहीं तो जाना होगा *ग़म-ए-हिज्र कैसे मिटाइए
तेरा कूचा ना सही, तो ये मयखाना ही सही

नींद ना आने के लिए क्या बहाना चाहिए
तुझसे गुफ्तगू ना सही, तेरा मुस्कुराना ही सही

देखना चाह था उसे पर वो मुड़ा न ए 'मनु'
उसका मिलना ना सही, तो सताना ही सही

- मनु चतुर्वेदी

वादा-ए-फर्दा = कल मिलने का वादा
ग़म-ए-हिज्र = जुदाई का ग़म

ये ग़ज़ल उस झूठे ख़याल को समर्पित है जो ये एतबार दिलाता है की वो इसे पढेंगे.

Nuktacheen hai

2009-08-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

Ghalib in Abida's mesmerizing voice!



*Nuktaacheen hai gham-e-dil usko sunaaye na bane
Kya bane baat jahaan baat banaaye na bane

Ghair firta hai liye yoon tere khat ko ke agar
Koi pooche ki yeh kya hai, to chipaaye na bane

Keh sake kaun ki yeh *jalwaa-garee kiskee hai
Parda choda hai woh usne ke uthaaye na bane

Mein bulaata to hoon usko magar ae jazbaa-e-dil
uspe ban jaaye kuch aisi ke bin aaye na bane

Ishq par zor nahin hai ye wo aatish 'Ghalib'
ke lagaye na lage aur bujhaaye na bane

-Mirza Ghalib

*nuktacheen= critic *jalwa-garee= manifestation

The last but one couplet is just too good, one of the best I have heard :).

And she never turned...

2009-03-19T06:02:00.001-07:00

I know that the subject is a bit trite, but nevertheless, I shall make an attempt in making you aware or remind, depending upon how many years you have spent at IIT, of what changes come along in the life of people who were kept in a babe-free (sorry to those who are so desperate that they venture to call them babes) environment for 4 years and are suddenly and continuously exposed to mind-boggling beauty. To the uninitiated, the people here can be divided in two groups, the first one consists of people who are really optimistic, don't want to give in, and who are, rather were, suave with the opposite sex, these are the ones who try for the babes outside and the others, yes this constitutes the major population here, give in totally and resort to only movies/sitcoms/p... or an interlude which accompanies Cultural/Technical Festivals to satiate their thirst for beauty or whatever.

But some recent developments have made the situation better(or worse, depends), like the introduction of MA in IITM. This has taken the female-beauty-average in the campus to unprecedented highs, the repercussions of which I wish to discuss. People(here by people I mean the straight or, almost straight boys) have started opting for HS courses over other courses so that their frequent trips to the HS department also have some academic along with ocular value, have started getting very interested in HS courses to impress their classmates, and have started to believe that enthralling beauty can not only be found in movies. Like everything has a bad side to it, so does this, it might sound incredulous, but to the seasoned like me and my dear neighbour Arvind (sorry!), who were living in the campus for 4 years and had fully evolved(?) in such conditions, who had started to look at feminine beauty like one looks at a beautiful picture or scenery, the beauty of the inanimate or the virtual, this change has posed a very intriguing problem. These people who had so much got used to it that they actually started forgetting it have got hurt the most. They, who in their four years had lost all of whatever little confidence with girls they had gained in their school years are being reminded incessantly, when they roam around in the campus, of their deplorable bandi-less state. This has led to their fall into a state of perpetual sadness for the fact that such ravishing beauty exists in reality, that they are such losers, and can do nothing but look at them and appreciate. The title is to commemorate my attempt, in vain of course, of looking at one such ravishing beauty.

Following

2009-03-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

The second thriller/mystery movie of the sem, and my God, one of the best I have ever seen. The director is Christopher Nolan, yes, the director of the much noted 'The Dark Knight', in fact the first movie he directed, produced and wrote the screenplay for. Well, to a person who has seen 'Memento' which was also directed by him, 'Following' will not come as surprise when it gets all confusing with its complex non-linear screen-play. Memento at least has two linear timelines going alternately, but in this movie there are actually three timelines and unlike Memento in which there is change in film stock from colour to black & white or vise-versa when there's a transition in timeline, in this movie the transition is shown by a blank screen :). But, the movie is much shorter, 69 mins only.

The movie's budget was only $6000, was shot on weekends and for most of the part Nolan did not employ any professional film lighting equipment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Following

I think a very intriguing plot is possibly the only thing the movie can offer to its viewers, but still its a must watch. I would earnestly recommend the movie to all who liked 'Memento'. I did not see 'The Dark Knight' completely for its fantastic action, but surely will see 'Insomnia' which was directed by him and 'Inception' which will get released in 2010.

Ghalib, yet again

2009-01-31T11:28:00.000-08:00

Ghalib at his best:

Mushkil hain zabas kalaam mera ai dil,
sun sun ke ise sukhanwaraan-e-kaamil,
aasaan kahne ki karte hain farmaish,
"goim mushkil wa gar na goim mushkil."

Too hard to grasp is my verse, O heart!
Hearing it, the connoisseurs of art
For a simpler style do ask.
"Difficult, if I write, difficult, if do not."

Donnie Brasco

2009-01-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

After an intensive and rather strenuous search on imdb did I find a good thriller to watch, first thriller movie of this sem. The actors are Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. It is true story of an FBI implant in one of the mafia gangs of New York.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Brasco
Jhonny Depp acts as the implant, works for the mafia gang for 6 years and starts developing an emotional attachement with the guy who had vouched for him(enacted by Al Pacino). Al Pacino again in the role of a gangster which he masters, but this time not a don but a vulnerable gangster for whom nothing comes about right. A must watch for all Jhonny Depp's fans.

An Essay on Man.

2008-10-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

Read in a books' (Power Plant Technology by Elwakil) prolusion:

He, who through vast immensity can pierce,

See worlds on worlds compose one universe,

Observe how system into system runs,

What other planets circle other suns,

What varied being peoples every star
May tell why Heaven has made us as we are.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,

A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,

Atoms or systems into ruin hurled,

And now a bubble burst, and now a world.

ALEXANDER POPE
(1688-1744)

Really subtle, Isn't it!

कुछ इश्क किया कुछ काम किया

2008-04-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Came across one beautiful poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz

वो लोग बहुत ख़ुशक़िस्मत थे
जो इश्क़ को काम समझते थे
या काम से आशिक़ी करते थे
हम जीते जी मसरूफ़ रहे
कुछ इश्क़ किया कुछ काम किया

काम इश्क़ के आड़े आता रहा
और इश्क़ से काम उलझता रहा
फिर आख़िर तंग आकर हम ने
दोनों को अधूरा छोड़ दिया

- फैज़ अहमद फैज़

एक बस तू ही नहीं

2008-04-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

एक बस तू ही नहीं मुझसे खफा हो बैठा
मैंने जो *संग तराशा वो खुदा हो बैठा

उठ के मंजिल ही अगर आए तो शायद कुछ हो
शौक़-ए-मंजिल तो मेरा *आबलापा हो बैठा

*मसलेहत छीन गई *कुव्वत-ए-गुफ्तार मगर
कुछ न कहना ही मेरा मेरी *सदा हो बैठा

शुक्रिया ए मेरे कातिल ए मसीहा मेरे
ज़हर जो तूने दिया था वो दवा हो बैठा

-फरहत शहजाद

संग=Stone
आबलापा= Exhausted/Fatigued
मसलेहत = Prudent Measure
कुव्वत-ए-गुफ्तार= Quvvat means strength and Guftaar means conversation. Hence the meaning.
सदा= Voice

Here the word "Khuda" in the first stanza refers to one of the qualities of God. God is considered to be shapeless in Islam.

आपको भूल जाएं हम...

2008-03-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

आपको भूल जाएं हम इतने तो बेवफा नहीं
आपसे क्या गिला करें आपसे कुछ गिला नहीं

शीशा-ऐ-दिल को तोड़ना उनका तो एक खेल है
हमसे ही भूल हो गई उनकी कोई खता नहीं

काश वो अपने ग़म मुझे दे दें तो कुछ सुकूं मिले
वो कितना बदनसीब है ग़म भी जिसे मिला नहीं

जुर्म है गर वफ़ा तो क्या क्यों मैं वफ़ा को छोड़ दूँ
कहतें है इस गुनाह होती कोई सज़ा नहीं

Sung by Chitra Singh. Sorry couldn't find the writer.

Main chahta bhi yahi tha...

2007-10-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Main chahta bhi yahi tha vo bewafa nikle
use samajhne ka koi to silsila nikle..

Kitaab-e-*maazi ke *auraak ulat ke dekh zara
na jaane kaun sa safha muda hua nikle..

Jo dekhne main bahut hi kareeb lagta hai
usi ke baare main socho to faasla nikle...
[Wasim Barelvi]

This was sung by Jagjit Singh (with slight changes ;) ) ...
*maazi=past, *auraak=pages

Aadmi..

2007-10-02T03:01:00.000-07:00

Har taraf har jagah beshumaar aadmi
phir bhi tanhaaiyon ka shikaar aadmi

Subah se shaam tak bojh dhota hua
apni hi lash ka khud mazaar aadmi

Har taraf bhaagte daudte raaste
har taraf aadmi ka shikaar aadmi

Roz jeeta hua roz marta hua
har naye din naya intazaar aadmi

Zindagi ka muqaddar safar dar safar
aakhiri sans tak beqaraar aadmi

Sung by Jagjit Singh and Lata Mangeshkar in 'Sajda'

Jaate Jaate...

2007-10-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorites

Jaate Jaate wo mujhe achchi nishaani de gaya
umr bhar dohaaraunga aisi kahaani de gaya

Us se main kuch pa sakun aisi kahan ummeed thi
gham bhi vo shaayad baraiye meharbaani de gaya

Sab hawaaen le gaya mere samandar ki koi
aur mujhko ek kashti baadbaani de gaya

Khair main pyaasa raha par usne itna to kiya
meri palkon ki kataron ko wo paani de gaya

[Javed Akhtar]

Sung by Jagjit Singh in 'Silsilay'

Existence

2007-09-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Na tha kuch to Khuda tha na hota kuch to Khuda hota....
Duboya mujhko hone ne, naa hota main to kya hota....
[Ghalib]

This is what one starts thinking when he is filled with dismay or when he feels that his life is completely empty. The very reason of his existence! What difference does his existence make? Ghalib again describes it in simple words. Really awesome!

Life

2007-09-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ki har khwahish pe dum nikle..
Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle....
[Ghalib]

Myriad and yet each solitary wish
One that I could die for
Unnumbered the desires I possessed
Innumerable those I yearn for.

It is a very subtle fact about life... Ghalib explains it so easily!!! The greatest shayar of all time....