Reaching There

Creativity is my girl, who finds me in extreme seclusion. She ignites the power of thought and becomes my inspiration. It is tough to find her in all the noise that enshrouds me. Like an envious girl, she awaits to encroach upon me. She holds on to the hope to find me all alone. Only wishing to make me her own. Her passionate talk leaves a lonely trail behind. A magical glance that keeps my mind intertwined. Fickle at times but is the epitome of grace. Blessing, as I consider her, I follow her trace. She has a spark that drives me, to conquer this lifetime. A promise for tomorrow, that becomes my sunshine. Through periods of prolonged separation. Sadly, the times, of extreme desperation. With all the clutter in my mind, I seek her, running for miles. A glimpse of that envious girl, who shies away with a smile. I hope she hears me, and bring me back my existence. She is the only reason, of my sincere persistence. I hope she comes back to ...

All the world's a stage. The Bard of Avon wrote these words in his play "As You Like It". On 15th April while I was on stage it felt like stage was the only world! The next seventy minutes were a stream of surreal moments. I felt like a kid, unscathed by the worldly ways. I did my fair share of mistakes but somehow things worked out at the end. How I ended up doing a play? I was part of a two months workshop conducted by Samahaara in Hyderabad. I almost missed it if not for a useless habit of browsing through my old emails! Perhaps the stars conspired for me and I ended up as part of this workshop. It was one of the best decisions I have made in my life so far. Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world! When German playwright Johann Wolfgang said these words he was referring to putting thoughts into action in our lives. Whew! I found out during the two months of training that ...

Noted Punjabi poet and Sahitya Akademi Award recipient of 1967, Shiv Kumar Batalvi wrote a poem on love, the first line goes like this: इक   कुड़ी   जिद्दा   नाम   मोहब्बत   है   ,  गूम   है   | (Rabbi Shergill did a beautiful rendition of this poem, you can listen  here ) I feel that creativity has a similar relationship with me. Some of my best inspirations have come in the times of extreme seclusion. Is creativity the girl who is envious of anybody else in your life! Only when I give my complete attention and love she opens her to me. If I am in the company of other people, television, Facebook, internet and other possible competitor she won’t give me even a glimpse of her magic. Otherwise fickle on many occasions she is the epitome of faithfulness if I hold onto her. Therein lies the rub, I have to search for her and impress her once I have found her. Oh, she is difficult to find in all the noise that enshrouds me in t...

H ow Do You Know is a 2010 romantic comedy that is neither famous nor infamous for any particular reason. However it was one of those films that are referred to as box-office bombs in Wikipedia. It recovered just forty percent of its estimated $120 million budget back.  I happened to notice Jack Nicholson while switching through channels on the television. Jack Nicholson is an actor whose acting abilities I have come to admire since watch him as Joker in Batman and as the nosy private detective in Chinatown. I thought I'll just stay with the film for a little while. It was turning out to be a one of those love-triangle films that takes you through the ups and downs of a relationship with a seemingly hopeless guy in love with a confused girl. Not a big fan of the genre but Reese Witherspoon's beautiful face made me continue with the film. Lisa (Reese Witherspoon) is going through an existential crisis after being cut from the USA softball team. Lisa moves in with...

Friends and I A short poem dedicated to my Kanpur days at CSJM University with my friends Abhinav, Ajay and Anupam (in the order of descending roll numbers in college). This poem is part of my effort to explore the poetic side of me ( if any ). This is poem simply about trying to find the  ephemeral  stillness in this super busy world. It goes something like this: I stood in the stillness of a square, with all the traffic whizzing past me. People inside boxes on wheels, trying to get to somewhere else they can be. Watch out, move over, get out of here! This is all they say. Nobody waiting for a moment, too busy to stop a while and  just enjoy the stillness of a wild stare. I miss those days, I would look at the bright blue sky. Just a few friends and an old scooter. Sipping a slice and taking our sweet time to give world a blinding glare. Lying in the bed with a few puffs  floating around in foggy air. Taking...

I was doing an improvisation scene with another actor. The objective of the "improv" was simple; to do a small talk with another actor with a motive to get money out of his pocket. At first it sounded like an easy thing to do; go out there and fleece this guy.  So I went in on the stage with "the goal" dwarfing everything else in my mind. A few minutes into the scene I was struggling for words. And why? I was too focused on my motive. The motive was handicapping my thought process. During the postmortem of the scene my teacher gave me the reason for my failure. I wasn't listening. I was too busy keeping the motive alive in my mind that I missed listening to my co-actor. Eventually I didn't have anything to react to! Robert Downey Jr said he hates motive, during an interview on "Inside an Actor's Studio" (a TV show I am a big fan of). I was definitely too engrossed in my motive to even think about anything else. Maybe it is good...

Sucking Big Time (second from right) S hucks, I sucked in this scene! This is the first thought that rushed through my mind when I had just finished an improvisation, playing an old man talking to his friend. I somehow had a great gut feeling that I sucked big time. I can't do this thing they call "acting".  My teacher read my face. He looked at me and said, “If you fail trying, your efforts are appreciated at the least. If you fail because of negligence you are mocked." So the ball was back in my court, and the big lingering question was, “HOW DID I FAIL?" I failed because I tried something which was different than my usual self. I wasn't negligent. Due to my inexperience I couldn't strike the right chords. I tried and I failed. I am happy I tried. So I can't be a good actor if I fail? Nope, acting is the chance to fail. In failures lies the magic recipe of success. The more I hit the wall the more I'll learn about the char...