Some bad luck and some good luck

Just like millions of Indian cricket team's supporters I too was looking forward to watch the Twenty20 World Cup final against Pakistan. At 5.30 pm on Monday I found myself glued to the television. After an hour suddenly the cable went away. Every minute I prayed it to come back. But my bad luck. The screen remained blurry.

Not a person to give up easily, I decided to follow the match on Radio Mirchi. On most occasions when I want to hear songs all I get to hear are ads. But on Monday evening when I didn't want to listen to music thats what was being played without breaks!

Suddenly it struck me that I could learn about the score on the internet. So I turned on the computer but much to my dismay the server was down. That's what Adrian Mole would call "worse luck."

I could hear claps, cheers and whistles coming from near by colonies and my longing for seeing the match increased by a good 100 folds.

From the drawing room window of our house we can see flats in the building standing upfront. I noticed that a tv was on in one of the apartments where some boys stay. But I couldn't see it clearly because of the great distance in between. I remembered luckily at that time that Daddy had been gifted binoculars. Still better I managed to find them.

Using those binoculars I saw nearly the entire Pakistan's innings. I was really scared all the time that one of the guys will suddenly decide to look out of the window or go to the balcony to find me peering into their lives. I persevered against all odds pretty much like our team who went on to clinch the coveted championship.

Its astounding... the things we sometimes do to get what we want.

Hope floats

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
- movie Shawshank Redemption

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.
- Martin Luther King (I have a dream... speech)

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
- Oscar Wilde

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
- Dale Carnegie

What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life.
-Emil Brunner

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

- Emily Dickinson

Spin-a-yarn

"There is always a story behind a picture."

says Julia Ormond who plays a photographer in the movie Sabrina, to Harrison Ford.

In my final year at school as Director Publications I had organized a week long literary event called Born Free to celebrate 50 years of Indian Independence. The competitions of the literary week were such that students from class sixth to class twelfth could participate in them. We had a book reading competition, an Enid Blyton quiz, a poetry writing competition, an essay writing competition and my personal favourite of the lot the Spin-a-yarn contest. In the latter we gave contestants chits to pick and each chit corresponded to a particular photo. Depending up on what the photo told them they had to spin a yarn, that is, write a story.

One of the photos was of hundreds of mice surrounding a bowl of milk. It was a coincidence that this picture came the way of a good friend of mine participating in the competition. I had thought that my friend's effort was one of the best stories but to my disappointment the judges felt differently.

I have to admit that while it may seem that the inspiration behind Spin-a-yarn was Julia Ormond's dialogue the suggestion to hold such a competition was actually given by my elder sister. My sister who was then doing her graduation used to tell me about the various festivals stretched over days going on in not just her college but also through out Delhi University. This got me excited enough to organize Born Free in school.

The Literary Week turned out to be a huge success and we even managed to get a monetary grant allotted from our Principal to give books as prizes to all the winners!!


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In the movie Sabrina, Julia Ormond while urging Harrison Ford to take photographs of the scenic beauty around them says "There is always a story behind a picture."

What kind of story would my photograph tell? It would depend on a number of things. Like...

Is it a baby pic or a grown up one?
Whether I was simply posing or was caught doing some action?
Am I standing alone or am I part of a group?
Whether alone or amidst a crowd, am I looking happy or crying or frowning?
How are the other people seeming to interact?
What is the backdrop of the picture? A room, a stage or some beautiful landscape? Or was the photo taken during a celeberation?

The answers to these questions will help reveal my story though only in part. A collection of photos would give away a lot more. Even with the thousand words spoken by each photo, the compilation may still fail to tell the entire tale of my life. But whether a partial or complete account is disclosed what kind it shapes into lies up to us.

Very simply be good if that is what what you want your photos to say.

Success stories

Everyday while commuting the 10 minutes distance by road from my home to NCL I see hundreds of people. Many live in luxurious apartments and many more have an impoverished existence. But does this mean that only the ones with wealth are accomplished?


What about those people who struggle everyday but never give up? And those who continually work for a better future even while knowing they may never reach dizzying heights?

What about the father who always puts his family's needs before his own desires? And the ailing mother who forgetting her pain is always planning for her children?

What about the son whose eyes never miss his parents' selfless acts and does everything possible to fulfil their dreams? What about the daughter who when the time requires takes on all the responsibilities on her not so broad shoulders?


All these might not make to prime time news but aren't these success stories as well?

Jealousy

I feel pangs of jealousy on many occasions like...

when I read a beautifully written piece (post actually)
when I hear soul stirring music
when I come across heart tugging lyrics
when I see someone possess a charm that connects them easily with the people they meet
when I find a person climbing ladders of success
when I meet a couple very much in love

I know that exceptional words, music, lyrics, charm, success and love do not always come easily. So while turning a shade green I also end up simultaneously admiring those who've achieved partially or completely all of the above.

I may not mean anything ill but envy can't be something good because it doesn't leave me happy.

Ratatouille: change is nature

Yesterday evening I saw the movie Ratatouille (pronounced Rat-a-2-ee). I found it to be more than just a fun film. It taught me a great lesson through the story of Remy.

Remy is a rat - a rat with a gift. By simply smelling a dish he can tell what all ingredients went into making it. When rats are supposed to steal food for surviving he dreams to be a cook!! In the face of strong disapproval from his father Django, Remy sets out to turn his dream into a reality.

At one point in the film Django presents to Remy a bleak future by showing him a shop displaying dead rats killed by the rat poisons that it sold. But Remy does not waver. The following dialogues are then exchanged between father and son.

Remy: No. Dad, I don't believe it. You're telling me that the future is... can only be... more of this?
Django: This is the way things are. You can't change nature.
Remy: Change is nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide.

What we want to become is indeed in our hands. All we've got to do is believe in our potential. We shouldn't let anyone set limitations to our goals. When feeling down we should remember the advice a bird had given to a mouse (in Stuart Little - 2)

"you are as big as you feel."