Ardh Satya...

Ek palde mein napunsakta, doosre palde mein paurush, aur theek tarazu ke kaante par, ardh satya …

This is a line from one of my favorite movies, Ardh Satya(Half-Truth). Om Puri plays a sub-inspector in Mumbai, who carries several emotional scars from the past and fights alone against the scum of the society.. it is a truely provocative and challenging movie.. If there was an equivalent in hollywood though with a much different storyline, it would be my other favorite, Taxi Driver. This one is a chilling character study of a man struggling to come to terms with the environment he lives in, brilliantly portrayed by Robert De Niro.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."-- Martin Luther King

Gandhi's My experiments with truth: One facet of the book that has inspired me always is the great man's courage to speak the truth. He is least worried whether his "mahatma" image in a country of billion and many more followers across the world would get tarnished if he spoke the truth. When he speaks about his inability to resist his carnal lust even at the critical hour of his father's death or his temptations in his struggle to follow true brahmacharya there is no "ardh-satya".

As I see and grow in life, what stuns me in my experiences is how people try to distance from truth shying away from reality. Neither am I a mahatma, nor a cop fighting politicians or a person exposed to brothels, but these characters seem to have etched an indelible mark on my mind.

Current Music: Sachchi baat kahi thi maine: Jagjith Singh in Face to Face

Office in the corner of a coffee shop !

I have been spending my days at starbucks. This has a lovely ambience, some really cool jazz music, and the aura of coffee all around, though I can afford a cup of coffee once in a couple of days :)... I have completed all my course work, defended my thesis a couple of weeks back, so thr is no reason really to go to school..

A lot of students like me do their work here, and especially for a music and coffee craze like me this is heaven ! Add to this, I can use my new laptop which has wireless connectivity :) .... ooohh...is this what they call heaven ;). there is this corner in the shop, where i sit regularly.. and the guy who works here said with a smile when i came in: Ur office is waiting for you, Sir :))

Well, I cant afford this luxury for long, my graduation date is set for sep 1st and I have to find a job soon :)...

Current Music: Naguva Nayana Madhura Mouna...

An umpteenth interest

I am an avid thinker..atleast so I proclaim :) .. Ever since I was in my high school, I used to write on things, I strongly felt about.. But most of them were in notebooks that were lost, or in drafts folder of my e-mail boxes which I had to delete as there was no gmail then :) .. I took up blogging a few months ago when I first saw sharat doing it, but then somehow gave up in the middle like any one of my umpteen interests- a true gemini that I am... Here is one more attempt, but I am vowing this time again that this is a more focused and sincere attempt ;)

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing" --Benjamin Franklin

If I were to choose any two professions that I would love to spend all my life without any regret, it would be being a writer or a film-maker, Both of them offer so much of freedom for expression and a powerful platform for creativity and in reaching out to people.

Today, I have been feeling very lonely :( , not that I feel otherwise a lot of other times :)) ... If I think about it I only have a handful of people I know around me to talk to or share things with.. It has been nearly two years since I came to the US for my studies.. Though I have gained a lot academically, I would have loved to have more friends by now.. Not that I am a total introvert, but there are a lot of other factors for that.. and ofcourse people are busier here than anywhere else :) .. Come to think of it, I miss my home town, bangalore a lot.. I definitely miss my family, friends and everyone there but I do miss the place as well :( .. I remember when I was there this time for my vacation, I used to go to streets and places on my bike without any real reason, just to get a glimpse of it and a feel for the place where I spent most of my life...ofcourse 23 yrs is not a short period of time....

More later .....

Current Music: Chod Aaye Hum Woh Galiyan - Maachis