Storm

Drenched shoes and graveled steps

She climbs the steps, blind.

Leaving the raging storm behind.

Backpack riddled

With winking badges

She fishes for keys.

Sneaking open the door

To her own                   

Gulp of peace.

Coffee stains on dusty books

She makes the bed, blind

Oblivious to the storm outside.

A creaking guitar

By the leaking window,

Greet her through the gaps

The computer

Older than her

Dozes silently wrapped.

Sculpted pen and watered ink

She writes invisible, blind.

Of the eerie calm inside.

I forgot how to write a song..!

[Happy February!]

It's Valentine's Day

Gusts of love-laden words

Should be rushing your way

I must have at least

a million poems to say

I wonder what's wrong?

Has it really been

so long?

Have I forgotten

How to write a song?

I'm not running out of themes

You made me dream

A few thousand dreams

You taught me

how to smile for no reason

How to read newspapers

How to cry and still feel joy

How to whistle, how to drive

How to talk my heart out

How to sneak out of home

How to play tic-tac-toe

How to simply love myself 

How to simply love you

And then it hit me, what's wrong.

I've been busy 

falling in love so long,

And I've forgotten

How to write a song.

My promise to parents :P

A thousand million thoughts have been circling in my head from the past few weeks, but nothing as strong as my reaction when I saw this particular post on Facebook-

A parent’s argument to why they drive kids insane, apparently. At first there was annoyance and then dripping sarcasm ready to slip out, but both of those reactions would be irrational. So why don’t we split this point by point and give a child’s argument as to why they drive parents insane

First of all, if you’re going to be a parent first and a friend only later, even I’m going to be your child first. I can’t promise you a friend, because I’m choosy. There are only a few people I trust enough to be close friend and if you insist on being “parents first”, you won’t be one of them.

Maybe instead of going through the personal trauma of whether to be a friend of the chid or a parent, why don’t you try to understand your child first? Kids change all the time; today you may have to be cool to hang out with, tomorrow they’ll expect you to be responsible and help them with their savings. Kids grow, try doing the same thing. Oh you can’t change? Then leave the kid alone!

If you’re planning to flip out on me and track me down like a bloodhound, I’m just going to dodge you like an escaping prisoner. Chances are I’m very good at it, because I’m the tech-savvy next generation, remember?

You cannot protect me forever; if you really love me and you’re so keen on doing “anything in the world” for me, let me take my own risks and learn from my own mistakes.  If you haven’t muttered under your breath “this kid doesn’t listen to a word I say” at least a million times in your life, I’ve not grown up one bit.

If you think you can win a youngster’s heart with a message like this just because it says I Love You, get this. I’m going to avoid you, stay out of the house, not like home-cooked food, get bored in family outings and squirm out of your grip only because I Love you both and I really don’t want to start despising you. 

When you understand this, I’ll know that you’re wonderful parents. 

Share if you’re a child and you agree :P

The first time I pulled an all-nighter

When you’re sitting up and working at 1:30 AM, listening to nothing but the sound of typing, your mind wanders, flitting between day-dreaming and memories. Mine just passed by this incident when I first pulled an all-nighter. The day our door-bell burned out. I was 12 years old…….

 11:00 PM on the previous night

We were heading back to Bangalore from an “educational trip” to Mysore. The bus was filled with Class 7th and 8th students and a teacher-turned-DJ. We started singing random songs and by 1:00 AM we were dancing in a moving bus. Not a wink of sleep was possible that night. It was the first “best night of my life”! We reached school at 2:00 AM to find our parents sitting outside waiting for us. I went back home rambling about all the fun we had and all the stuff I ate during the trip, and ended up sleeping around 3:00.

11:00 AM inside the house

I had just finished a heavy breakfast and was trying to figure out how to curl my damp hair with a pen, when Mom and Dad decided to go grocery-shopping. They called out for me to close the door and be good; I locked the door and went back to dressing my hair. I brushed and twisted and tangled my waist-length hair, daydreaming about the best trip of my life……..

The next thing I remember is seeing a blur of all the faces of our neighbourhood, a ladder leading to our balcony and my mother crying and laughing at the same time. I figured I’m sleepy and crawled into bed and fell asleep. 

11:00 AM outside the house

Mr. and Mrs. R climbed down the stairs, relieved now that the child is safe at home. They headed to the humble grocery store and ticked off the items on their list as they bought.

“Let’s get her a Dairy Milk” Mrs. R suggested when they were almost done

“Don’t encourage all this, it spoils her teeth. She’s already got braces” Mr. R reasoned tonelessly and moved forward.

“Then we’ll get her to brush three times a day!” Mrs. R was determined

Grumbling about how late the bus got last night, and how they had to wait at school all night, Mr. and Mrs. R headed home one hour later. Climbing up two flights of stairs ,they rang the doorbell, conjuring an adorable little image of their daughter standing on her toes to reach the peephole and check who’s at the door.

No response

They rang the bell twice, thrice, ten times.

No response. Tension began to build in their minds as they banged on the door calling her name. Neighbors came out wondering what happened to the generally quiet family next door. 

“What happened?”

“Looks like she must have fallen asleep…”

“Call to your phone and find out… Oh you don’t have a phone..! Right!”

Comments flew around, the other kids came to their rescue and used their screaming skills to awaken the girl

“One.. Two.. Three.. SHRUTHI!!”

They yelled again and again, some grownups joined in after a while and called as the worried parents jabbed on their doorbell. Suddenly after a while someone realized, when the noise died down, that the doorbell is not making any sound.

“On my God it has burned out!” Someone exclaimed

To try everything possible, the annoying kid downstairs got his toy Dholak out and played it like the Lord of Seven Seas, but there was no response from within Door no.67. 

The smart engineer from ground floor suggested we enter the house somehow, and found a ladder in his garden that seemed to reach the second floor. By then Mrs. R was sobbing and Mr. R’s BP was twice as high.

“Now someone has to climb up” he ordered. Nobody dared.

So he climbed up the two floors, jumped into the balcony and entered the room, and there she was. Asleep on the edge of the bed with her mouth open, legs dangling down and a comb in one hand. Apparently she was brushing her hair and fell asleep. Yes, that happened. 

The engineer opened the front door and yelled for everyone to come and see for themselves the wonder that was the kid’s slumber. Mrs. R ran inside and hugged the sleeping kid as Mr. R’s BP dropped to normal.

Sleeping beauty woke up for a second, saw a blur of faces and crawled to the middle of the bed to go back to sleep, amidst the relieved laughter of the entire neighbourhood.

So that was the first time I stayed up all night.

PS: True story!

Nightmare

[Just looking through the Draft in my phone and look what I found..! A little poem! 
It was like pulling out an old pair of jeans and finding cash in it's pockets, looking aimlessly I found a lost thought!]

When the tide comes

I freeze

I melt and dissolve

I let it take me with no protest

Because all I can feel then

Is gliding across yards of satin black

Touched by the golden glow

From the twinkle in my eyes

A swoop here

A swish there

I turn around and round to blackened comfort

Buried deeper

Into the sullen symphony in the darkness

I wake up wringing my arms

I escape

But tomorrow is another night

A new nightmare awaits

And I didn’t even say goodbye to the one

I just saw...

Sorry for being an enigma

Sorry for being an enigma

Attitudes change and people don’t.

But I’m not the same any more though.

I’m being an enigma,

Sorry for being so.

I’d rather care less than care too much.

I’d rather not wither at every touch.

If that means being empty inside,

So be it.

Someday when it’s too late,

I’ll just cry over it.

I’m not being heartless, no.

I’m just being an enigma.

So sorry for being so.

I want to to hold you close,

But I’ll ask you to leave me alone.

Sometimes the world is perfect

When you’re here,

Sometimes it’s just fear

That brings out tears

That everything I hold dear

Will someday fade away.

Sorry for being an enigma.

So sorry for being this way.

Attitudes change and people don’t.

But I’ll never be the same two days in a row.

I’m just being an enigma,

And I’m sorry for being so.

It's dumb and will be. Jab tak hai jaan.

If you got vegetables and spices, you can chop them up and make a salad. Or you can make Ratatouille. Jab Tak Hai Jaan is vegetable salad served just like that. It has an unhealthy dose of nauseating romance, tears, song and dance. And of course.. Lots of vitamin M poured in.

With a story and cast like that he could have done so much more, but no; Yash Chopra chose to serve this story raw and unpolished, a collage of all the cliches he previously created. What could have ended in an hour and a half and made people smile in the end, was dragged to a full three hours and made the audience take naps and set high scores in a few video games, waiting to escape from the same old drama, heartbreak and cheesy dialogues. There was Anushka Sharma in the same old tomboy role. Katrina Kaif in the pretty Barbie doll role and King Khan striking his signature pose at every opportunity available. 

Let’s start from the beginning. Major Samar Anand is the chief of the Indian army bomb diffusion squad. He’s so daring he doesn’t even want to wear a safety suit while diffusing bombs. He just digs into the bomb and pokes around and voila! Bomb diffused! How? Oh come on.. He’s the hero. He’ll always choose the right wire to cut. 

Enter Akira Rai- Documentary filmmaker for Discovery channel, completely down to earth, bold and daring enough for two men put together. And of course, as per norm, she is completely devoid of girly emotions like love and romance. A girl who doesn’t remember crying in her whole life, she finds out about the most touching love story of Major Samar Anand. 

Now we dive into the memories of Samar, where the typical love story between him and Meera begins. There’s always a rich girl asking God for a handsome husband, and a poor guy working double shifts, and a richer fiancé who has no idea what’s going on. She’s usually good at acting in her own charming way, but Meera in the movie sounds like a dumb rich kid who did not really have to be smart to get her work done. And Samar, talented and bursting with energy, teaches her how to live life and use her brains more than her impeccable manners. The poor Samar sweeps her right off her feet. She’s torn between obeying her father and following her heart. She ends up dumping him, and don’t worry about spoilers here because why else would Samar be in the Indian army ten years later trying so hard to die? 

But Akira finds the story amazing, cries for it and marvels at her tears. So obviously, being a filmmaker, she goes after him to get a story. Well, I guessed that an hour before it happened.

When after 90 sleepy minutes there was an interval we had nothing to wait for in the next half. All the bearable songs were already over, we had had enough of Samar’s bike and uniform and wondered who designed Katrina’s clothes to make her look fat with beefy legs. Music was a little disappointing; most songs sounded stale and easy to forget. We had no idea, that the second half will actually have a story and it will be a game called “I know what will happen next”. 

Jab Tak Hai Jaan has two reasons to become a huge hit. One is that it was the last one by the legend and people will ‘respect’ it, and second is the Anushka Sharma in shorts and plunge-neck dancing around the army camp. I have new respect for YC who made his signature so strong in his movies that any given scene can be identified as a ‘typical’ Yash Chopra work. That is what his final movie will be. Typical. With all due respect, 2 on 5.