Deal with it, baby!

Thanks to Stephene Meyer and her Twilight Saga, I've quite a bit idea about the vampires and werewolves. In fact, it's the characterization of Edward that keeps me hooked on to this teenage fiction series. I've read only the Twilight book, but have seen it and "New Moon" on the silver screen. Jacob - a werewolf - was least impressive for me, but "werewolf" is the topic of this post.

A once-upon-a-time-friend (how do you refer to a friend when friendship ceases to exist?) used to push me a lot to read non-fiction works. Every time he recommended me a non-fiction book, he got rhetoric, "That reads better than super thriller romantic comedy novel. Do read it." I've been reading quite a bit of technical related works, these days and I bet without any doubts, those are few of the well written books I've read.

One such is Frederick Brooks's essay: "No Silver Bullet." I'd write about this article in my technical blog, but for now a one line summary of this article: Software is the werewolf, which has no silver bullets. I was stumped by the impeccable style of Brooks in carrying the metaphor till the end. Werewolves are characters in folklore, who are humans almost all the time, but when they aren't they turn into wolves. The point here is, something so familiar suddenly turns into a bloody monster. It seems, silver bullets have a magical effect in calming down the werewolves.

Enough of introduction (yeah, all of that was introduction!), I wanna get to the topic now. I was thinking of the same lines of familiar-turn-furious cases in life and ended up with quite a few. But the first prize goes to: TIME.

TIME, they say, is a healer. Though, in most cases, it's like 'operation success, patient dead.' Time also keeps testing the nerves. Why do people dread failure so much? Because a re-attempt means hell lot of time, all over again. We are time-bound. We're nothing but time-bound product. By three weeks, start staring the ceiling fan, by three months, take the first turn, by nine months start walking, by three years go to school, by teenage start dealing with existentialism, by fifteen fall for somebody, by nineteen decide your career, by twenties start your career, by 30's *settle* in life, by 40's plan and save for kids, by 50's make sure your kids *settle* in life, by 60's RETIRE.. and if in any of these, you're not up to the mark, then, that is where TIME becomes the monster. It scares you, it drives you crazy. Look back and the whole of past would be ready to sweep you off as a Tsunami wave.

Past Imperfect. Present Tense. Future Complex.

And alas, are there any silver bullets? No. Yes? Let me know. How about this - "ho sake tho zindagi bitaa do.. pal yeh jo jaane waala hai..."

Moral of the story, any story of a werewolf without silver bullets: Deal with it, baby!

... inebriated ecstasy ...

I miss Kafka, these days. As if none among the living is worth missing, I choose to miss the dead often. How often did your soul wanted to dance and your feet fail to stand up? How often did it want to dissipate into eternity and you couldn't even understand that? Kafka, in his engaging prose, kept complaining about a trampled soul trapped in a decent body. I've an exact opposite problem. Added to that, I can't express myself. Now, doesn't that justify me missing Kafka?

"pee loon, hai peene kaa mausam" - professes a song from Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. I've been drunk too, drunk on happiness, drunk on life, so much so that it's hard not to stagger, not to stammer. Yet, I've decided to write something on the album that has swept me off.

I was introduced to this album through the song, "pee loon.." , which is truly an intoxicant.


Mujh mein samayi hai yun, Jis tarah ki koi ho nadi
Tu mere seenay mein chupti hai, sagar tumhara main hoon

These are the lines that make this song an exhilaration, for me. Bollywood poets were always good at getting to heart of man-woman relationships; the above line, in its various forms, already part of numerous songs. But the amour prope shown by the man here - in being her saagar - amuses me.

The rest of the song is good too, passionately rendered and beautifully composed. Having listened to it many times, I conveniently skipped checking the album in full, until I came across the song "tum jo aaye" by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. Listened to it. Got bowled over. I keep listening to it. And I enjoy getting myself bowled over again and again. This is one of the best songs that happened in Bollywood, recently. I can't talk much about the music, but I'm sure it has enough to sway anybody to its tune. The semi-classical base and Khan's voice make this song a beauty, especially the start of the song:

Paya maine, paya tumhe, rab ne milaya tumhe, Hontun pe sajaya tumhe, nag mein sagaya tumhe
Paya maine, paya tumhe, sab se chupaya tumhe,Sapna banaya tumhe, neendun mein bulaya

Breathless rendition leaves you gasping with ecstasy. And the more I talk about the lyrics, the less, I feel I could express.

Zindagi bewafa hai yeh maana magar
Chod kar raah mein jaoge tum agar
Cheen launga main aasman se tumhe
Soona hoga na yeh, do dilon ka nagar

Again! I-damn-the-death-when-it's-you attitude has been part of Bollywood for long, but the way these lines are rendered take it to a new height.

The lines that I like most in this song are, the following:

Mere dil ki jeet meri baat ban gayi
Hoo tum jo aaye zindagi mein baat ban gayi

Fall in love. That's the ticket to stay put a visit in both hell and heaven. You keep swinging between dreams and practicalities, between spring and autumn, between life and death, between excruciating pain and exhilaration. If I can tweak those wordings a little, "mere dil ki jeet meri maat ban gayi.. tum jo aaye zindagi mein baat ban gayi" capturing the irony of love.

The re-use of the old song "parda.." isn't very great, though the original has such a magic that it can easily live next 100 years, with or without remixes. And that leaves just two others songs in this album. "babu rao.." song is a funky, for-the-masses song, however is good enough to catch one's attention. The big plus of this album is that the songs have captured the soul of each character very well, be it the 'can't help being love' souls in above and soon to be followed song or the typical i-me-myself character in this song. The lyrics catch the mood well, and liked the song a lot - especially the lines: babu rao mast hai, mast hai, mast mast hai - makes me mast!

Final song of the album is a usual, listen-i'm-in-love song. The lyrics, though, are refreshingly beautiful.

Baadal pe chalta hoon main, girta sambhalta hoon main
Khwaishein karta hoon main, khone se darta hoon main
Jaaga na soya hoon main, musafir khoya hoon main
Kuch sarfira sa hoon main, budhu zara sa hoon main

A typical Indian male for you! The dreamer, the fighter, the yearner, the lover, the traveler all rolled into one - what a combination, delightful and frightful at the same time. Alas, if only the characterization in films could reflect what the songs convey. The directors either aren't poetic enough or can't translate that onto celluloid. I'm not pinning any hopes on this movie, despite such lovely songs.

Monsoon suits both: fall in love and fail in love cases. However, when such music comes to your rescue, you can fall in love, all over again. Just as the raindrops falling onto you titillate you, let the music grow on you.

Get drunk. Stay drunk. On music. On life. On love.

pee lo.. hai peene kaa mausam..

Monsoon Exclusive..

Only few things can be more beautiful than the droplets of rain on a glass pane. And I'm happy that they are on my blog background too.. :)