They solemnly stood there,on the other side
Of the gate,Unaware of the divide.
"Its going to stay the same",said they
"We'll remember you even after you've gone away!"
And he walked away,In his bosom a heavy heart.
Their cheers and whistles, his ears'd gotten jarred.
Despite the wide smile that remained on his face
He silently cried on, faster became his pace.
A car stood waiting,the moment was here.
He had to depart,to drift away, from all that he held dear.
The trees,the mountains, and the lakes outside
Sobbed,waved goodbye forever to their child...
...Two forty kilometres, and months twenty four.
The stay has been good, he's one of them at the fore.
Nobody would tell him apart from the Whoevers!
And deep in his heart, the image had begun to waver.
The faces had promised,"Nothing's gonna change!"
Everything has since fallen apart-but it isn't quite strange.
The high-rise buildings, cars, shopping malls-all the glamour
It all suits him so well, the glow makes him shimmer.
Only the shimmer is the surface, his soul is dented.
The trees', the hillocks' child is demented
Demented,and hollow, devoid of his 'himselfness'
What has replaced the joy was mere fake happiness.
The affectionate, happy faces have since become a memory just,
They dissolve into nothingness, if he scratches off the crust
Of his memories,of those past days of glory,
Adulthood is here! Childhood is history!!!
November 5, 2008
October 5, 2008
All Around Me!
There’s literally so much going on all around me! Durga Pujo is here, but it hardly feels like Pujo. Bomb blasts are ripping apart one city after the other. Inflation rates have soared so high that a 1200 buck t-shirt that would previously be bought for a ‘special’ occasion has been just bought for regular-wear .Courage-The Cowardly Dog show timings have shifted to 3am. New friends have gained priority, while the older ones have faded out(despite many efforts from both sides). My blog is ready but unused. Fake celebrities on my Facebook Friendlist keep putting up new status updates every half hour to make us believe in their authenticity. The un-toned torso of Abhishek Bachchan as ‘Drona’ is up to give Hrithik ‘Krrish’ Roshan tough competition in the cinema plexes all over. Two Prosenjit movies as diverse as ‘Mr. Fantoosh’ and ‘Swapner Din’ are out to ensure that the Bengali audience all over stays Prosenjitified during the festive season. Mamata Banerji has proved that she truly is the greatest messiah who lives for the cause of the ‘development’ of West Bengal. Parents fight over silly issues, and sister shoots inane videos featuring herself and her friends shouting weird Mithunda-(Public er maar keoratolar paar)-esque slogans. The Video Store guy wants to recover the losses incurred on the purchase of Jean Renoir movie DVDs from a dealer by handing them over at subsidized rates to me, while I can’t convince that I’ve had my share of watching World Cinema, and want to try out some Bhojpuri masala now. Plain White T’s ,Pink Floyd and Tim McGraw are fast climbing ‘My Favorites List’ chart, and Singh Is Kinng-esque- Punjabi hits fast falling! Friends and acquaintances are LOL-ing away to their heart’s content.
And my reaction to all this??? ‘Facebook! Here I come!’
And my reaction to all this??? ‘Facebook! Here I come!’
September 10, 2008
Naming An Epic...
I wanted to blog!!! Everyone around me blogs, so I had to blog!! However, I needed a name for my blog. A name, which would give the readers an insight into the content of this blog, or at a macrolevel, an insight into my personality. After much deliberation, I decided on the name… ‘Cogency, Cinema And A Childhood’. Here’s why:
1.Why Cinema?
‘No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.’ –Ingmar Bergman
I adore Cinema. I worship this form of art. I cannot live without movies and want to make a living out of conveying my vision and opinion about the world through this very medium. Fellini, Rossellini, Kurosawa, Ray, Godard, Bergman , Jean Renoir, Truffaut and others of their league made Cinema an effective mirror of our society, our lives, our thoughts, worries, emotions and passions. So, in my opinion, they, rather than the individuals described in mythology, are God(s). And a Cinema-hall(or multiplex screens, or whatever you call it) is Heaven! Though I would have liked to patronise more of the Fellini-Rossellini-esque Cinema, one hardly gets to lay one's hands on such DVDs regularly. Thus, I have to remain content in being a Hindi Cinema addict. And by the standard of Cinema they manufacture these days, I'm not complaining.
2. Why Cogency?
People who know me well tell me that the intelligence I have in me is the most attractive thing about me. (Some other people think otherwise.But this article is not about The Others). But I myself don’t want to comment about the ‘intelligence’ bit of it. I’d rather say it is my logicality, rationality and general common sense. As in, I can proudly say that I am among those very few people who question everything, analyse, reason and then derive a conclusion. I can always find flaws in myself(that, however, is no indication of any inferiority complex in me) and don’t blame others for anything that goes wrong in my life. Also, I listen to people speak. I’m not among those who’d inflict themselves heavily on others, by doing most of the speaking themselves. Even those who are not too sure of my intelligence, generally do admit that I base most of my actions on logic and reason. ‘Logicality’ or ‘Rationality’ thus would have been more obvious constituents of the name of the blog. But since the two other words had ‘C’ as their initials, use of ‘Cogency’ made the name an alliteration.
3. Why Childhood?
My childhood is something I have missed most in the last year and a half. At, 17, on the threshold of adulthood, I feel the pangs of having to bid permanent farewell to that delightful phase of my life. Everybody’s childhood is the best phase of his life. Mine is more so. Because I lived a serene childhood in an idyllic, picturesque town. And this despite the fact that I was never really deprived the advantages of a city. Calcutta, one of the hugest metropolises of India was always home and here was where I spent 4 months of every year. However, the neverland-like town which was my home for the remaining 8 months, was unlike other ordinary towns. Though it lacked the hustle and bustle of a city, it had the outlook, vision, technology and standards-of-living of any big city. I, thus had the best of both worlds. The peace and tranquility of a small-(hill)town life, as well as the imbibitions of all the uber-urban lifestyle , culture, outlook, tastes and EDUCATION. Despite having had 12 years of schooling in a school in the town, and 2 years in one in the city of Calcutta, I didn’t find much difference in the ways of both the schools. As the city school is reputed to be one of the best ones of this huge city, I can safely conclude my town school(with its administration, levels of discipline and the quality of education provided there being of the standards of the best schools of this country- the school being a part of those most prestigious inter-school associations and organizations in India), gave me the kind of education and training that not for once got me uneasy in a city school or a big-town life.
Hence, the kind of ‘Cinema’ I patronise , the ‘Cogency’ I am usually associated with, and my ‘Childhood’ are the three things that best define whoever I am today.
And this, I feel is the most aptly suited first post for this blog. I hope this also explains ‘neverlandthroughmylens.blogspot.com’
The future posts will,hopefully, be shorter.
1.Why Cinema?
‘No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.’ –Ingmar Bergman
I adore Cinema. I worship this form of art. I cannot live without movies and want to make a living out of conveying my vision and opinion about the world through this very medium. Fellini, Rossellini, Kurosawa, Ray, Godard, Bergman , Jean Renoir, Truffaut and others of their league made Cinema an effective mirror of our society, our lives, our thoughts, worries, emotions and passions. So, in my opinion, they, rather than the individuals described in mythology, are God(s). And a Cinema-hall(or multiplex screens, or whatever you call it) is Heaven! Though I would have liked to patronise more of the Fellini-Rossellini-esque Cinema, one hardly gets to lay one's hands on such DVDs regularly. Thus, I have to remain content in being a Hindi Cinema addict. And by the standard of Cinema they manufacture these days, I'm not complaining.
2. Why Cogency?
People who know me well tell me that the intelligence I have in me is the most attractive thing about me. (Some other people think otherwise.But this article is not about The Others). But I myself don’t want to comment about the ‘intelligence’ bit of it. I’d rather say it is my logicality, rationality and general common sense. As in, I can proudly say that I am among those very few people who question everything, analyse, reason and then derive a conclusion. I can always find flaws in myself(that, however, is no indication of any inferiority complex in me) and don’t blame others for anything that goes wrong in my life. Also, I listen to people speak. I’m not among those who’d inflict themselves heavily on others, by doing most of the speaking themselves. Even those who are not too sure of my intelligence, generally do admit that I base most of my actions on logic and reason. ‘Logicality’ or ‘Rationality’ thus would have been more obvious constituents of the name of the blog. But since the two other words had ‘C’ as their initials, use of ‘Cogency’ made the name an alliteration.
3. Why Childhood?
My childhood is something I have missed most in the last year and a half. At, 17, on the threshold of adulthood, I feel the pangs of having to bid permanent farewell to that delightful phase of my life. Everybody’s childhood is the best phase of his life. Mine is more so. Because I lived a serene childhood in an idyllic, picturesque town. And this despite the fact that I was never really deprived the advantages of a city. Calcutta, one of the hugest metropolises of India was always home and here was where I spent 4 months of every year. However, the neverland-like town which was my home for the remaining 8 months, was unlike other ordinary towns. Though it lacked the hustle and bustle of a city, it had the outlook, vision, technology and standards-of-living of any big city. I, thus had the best of both worlds. The peace and tranquility of a small-(hill)town life, as well as the imbibitions of all the uber-urban lifestyle , culture, outlook, tastes and EDUCATION. Despite having had 12 years of schooling in a school in the town, and 2 years in one in the city of Calcutta, I didn’t find much difference in the ways of both the schools. As the city school is reputed to be one of the best ones of this huge city, I can safely conclude my town school(with its administration, levels of discipline and the quality of education provided there being of the standards of the best schools of this country- the school being a part of those most prestigious inter-school associations and organizations in India), gave me the kind of education and training that not for once got me uneasy in a city school or a big-town life.
Hence, the kind of ‘Cinema’ I patronise , the ‘Cogency’ I am usually associated with, and my ‘Childhood’ are the three things that best define whoever I am today.
And this, I feel is the most aptly suited first post for this blog. I hope this also explains ‘neverlandthroughmylens.blogspot.com’
The future posts will,hopefully, be shorter.
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