Wandering Life

ख़्वाब

2011-12-04T20:57:00.001+05:30

ख़्वाब...ये ख़्वाब बहुत अजीब होते हैं,
यादों की रूह, ये हसरतों को श़क्ल देते हैं,
इन ख़्वाबों पर मेरा कोई बस नहीं, कब किस रूप में आ जाएं,
यही उम्मीद रहती है, इस बार आयें, तो वापस न जाएँ!

रातों में नटखट बालक के जैसे, बिन आहट आ जाते हैं,
नए-पुराने, जाने-पहचाने, हर रंग के मंज़र दिखाते हैं,
कभी यहाँ, कभी वहाँ, जाने कहाँ-कहाँ की सैर कराएं,
कभी इनसे, कभी उनसे मिलाएं, ज़िन्दगी निभाने के गुर सिखाएं!

ज़िन्दगी की तरह, ख़्वाबों की भी, अपनी ही तासीर होती है,
ख़ुश्क, लबरेज़, पूरे, अधूरे, इनकी अपनी ही उम्र होती है,
इनका न कोई मापदंड, न कोई दायरा होता है,
ख़्वाब, ख़ुदी का अक्स, मन का आईना होते हैं!

फूट फूट के रोये हम, ठहाकों के साथ हँसे भी,
ख़्वाबों में, बीते पल को जिया, आने वाले कल को देखा भी,
पानी के बुलबुले जैसे, इनका अपना ही मिज़ाज होता है,
एक पल बनते दिखते हैं, अचानक, कहीं खो से जाते हैं!

जब साथ होते हैं, लगता है यही अपने हैं,
जब ख़त्म, आप कहते हैं "छोड़ो, ये तो सपने हैं"!
है-था-होगा? मैं अंजान हूँ,
मेरी यादों-जज़्बातों की पहचान, मैं इनका शुक्रगुज़ार हूँ!

तुम और मैं

2011-10-13T09:33:00.005+05:30

आधी-अधूरी-अजनबी-अनजान,

बिखरी-बिखरी, अब मेरी पहचान,
बदरंग, बैरंग, वो कमरे, ये दालान,

तुम्हारा जाना क्या हुआ,

घर बना मकान..

समय ने धार उल्टी बही,

सांस जाती रही...जाती रही,

सब कुछ, धुंधला-धुंधला,

बात, कुछ भी, समझ आती नहीं..

मन वैरागी हुआ जाता है,

पकड़ लूं, जकड़ लूं,
वो दूर भागना चाहता है,

तुम थीं... नहीं...हो

वो जानता है, मैं मानता हूँ

बस! और नहीं, थक गया हूँ,

व्यर्थ - यह उलझन, सुलझाना चाहता हूँ..

यह क्या...किसका प्रतिबिम्ब दिखा?

अंतरात्मा...अहा! उत्तर मिला!

अहम्, ज्ञान, बुद्धि, व्यव्हार,

प्रेम, पराक्रम, धैर्य, आचार,

दो जीव, हम दोनों, भिन्न दृष्टि और विचार,

जान लें, मान लें, जीवन का सरल सार!

यारीयाँ

2011-09-06T11:54:00.005+05:30

मौसम ऐसा ख़ुशनुमा, चारों ओर बहार है,

फिज़ाओं में छाया, एक नटखट सा ख़ुमार है,

'दोस्त', 'मित्र', 'साथी', किस किस नाम से पुकारा है तुम्हें,

आज की क्या बात है! बरसों बाद...मिला यार है!

क्रिकेट, लूडो, सांप-सीढ़ी,
कितनी बार हराया-जिताया है तुम्हें,
मस्ती भरी हरकतों, बिंदास शरारतों से,
ख़ूब रुलाया, ख़ूब हँसाया है तुम्हें!

मौसिक़ी से तार्रुफ्फ़, फ़िल्मों के नए एहसासात,

स्कूल का होमेवोर्क, exam...पढ़ाई की बिसात,

लड़कपन की अठखेलियाँ, जवानी की शुरुआत,

तमाम तजुर्बात किये महसूस साथ साथ!

वो बीते दिन, शामें, रातें,
खुशियों का ज़कीरा, वो पल, वो बातें,
वो लम्हें, वो यादें - आज ख़याल बन के रहतीं हैं,
ज़िन्दगी के दरिया में, मेरे साथ साथ बहतीं हैं!

WE

2011-08-24T13:40:00.000+05:30

How long do you think you can pretend?

How far do you think no one can see?

You think you are the Gods of your sinful world?

My friend, you aren’t any bigger than ‘WE’!

‘WE’, the people of India, with our solemn resolve,

As was told to us in that speech of yore,

With Justice, liberty, equality, fraternity,

Our rules of engagement, we were happy…no more

Year after year, we selected you, elected you,

Hoping you too will abide by those words...

Alas, you betrayed yourself, your brethren,

Misused, mutilated, misconstrued its intent.

‘WE’ wish you could see the classes and the masses,

But you refuse to remove your fancy sun glasses,

Wake up people! it’s the end of the dream,

The time has come for ‘WE’ to gather steam!

If and only if, you could hear,

The wail of the body, the whisper of the tear,

They are saying it loud and clear,

Your end is near, your end is here.

- फ़नकार

Mani Kaul & Cinema

2011-08-21T19:45:00.002+05:30

“Cinema is a means of entertainment”. Correct, but not entirely. Its function, both as an entity of consumption and as a medium of expression is not limited to just ‘entertainment’. Dig a bit deeper, look beyond and you will realise that more than just being entertainment, it is an art form. In fact Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo has even called cinema the ‘seventh art’, the other six being: Music, Painting, Sculpting, Architecture, Poetry and Dance.

This was the first art form (TV, mobile, internet etc came in later) that brought together all the other art forms under one umbrella and used them in varying degrees and forms to give cinema its own, very distinct identity. However, most filmmakers follow the time-tested, well established rules to churn out ‘regular cinema’, which is fine, and probably necessary to satisfy the masses and the pockets.

But there are a few practitioners of the medium who treat it as a tool through which visuals and sounds can be juxtaposed literally and laterally against time and space to communicate an idea in a different way altogether. They tend to find out newer possibilities and explore varied ways in which they can relate their vision and sensibilities with the medium and achieve their objective with relevance!

Rabindranath (Mani) Kaul was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan in the year 1942. One of his uncles, Mahesh Kaul also happened to be a film director and actor. Later, he joined the Film and Television Institute, Pune as an acting student, but later on moved to the direction course. At the institute he had the privilege to study under the master filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, who helped the young Mani refine his understanding of both the technical and creative aspects of the medium. He graduated in the year 1966.

Right from the beginning, with his very first feature film Uski Roti (1969), Mani Kaul made his intentions loud and clear. He felt a compelling need to treat film primarily as a medium to explore form – not purely in a visual sense but as a distinctive ‘language’. Clearly, he was on a different tangent and probably that explains his interest in directors like Bresson.

The iconic French filmmaker Robert Bresson, also referred to as the Patron Saint of cinema, was known for 'austerity' in his films. He never showed anything that was unnecessary, indeed he went further, and often left the viewer to infer what was happening outside the frame. Hence the shot of hands, feet, door handles and other parts of objects where any other filmmaker would have shown the whole.

According to Sight and Sound, "A key ingredient of Bresson's methods is his view of actors, his "models". In his films, actors were chosen not for their ability but for their appearance. He trained them to remove all traces of theatricality and to speak with a fast monotonic delivery. All movements of actors were strictly controlled by the director, when they walk they have to take a precise number of steps, and eye movements become extremely important - the lowering of the eyes towards the ground is almost a Bresson trademark. The result of this approach is that the viewer becomes involved not with a character's appearance but almost with the core of his being, his soul."

Such ideas had a marked influence on Mani Kaul. His films bear a distinct look in terms of visuals, expressions, acting, sound, music and camera movements. They can very well be termed as the pall bearers of an idea, a theory that found few and infrequent resonances from the audiences but which at the same time were distinct and resolutely pure enough to be recognised and explored as works of art.

Uski Roti was one the pioneering films of its time that helped launch the New Wave of Indian cinema. The audiences were caught unawares as they didn’t know how to react to this new kind of cinema which was so different from what they had been subject to till then. Undeterred by the reactions, both negative and positive, Mani Kaul carried on with his ‘brand’ of cinema with films like: Asad ka ek din (1971), Duvidha (1974), Ghasiram Kotwal (1976), Dhrupad (1982), Mati Manas (1984), Siddheshwari (1989), Nazar (1989), Idiot (1991) and Naukar ki Kameez (1997). In his body of work, be it feature films, documentaries or TV series, the standard definitions of fiction and non-fiction used to overlap and interplay. The fine line didn’t have sharp edges.

Through his films he adapted the works of writers like Mohan Rakesh, Vijay Tendulkar, the great Dostoevsky, musical genres like Dhrupad (of which he was singer as well) and cultural aspects especially in Mati Manas where he has explored the evolution of pottery in the sub-continent.

According to his long time friend, Dilip Padgaonkar, “If the stories that Mani told did not follow in a strict chronological order, if his characters did not act, if his stunning visuals left even the sentiment of awe suspended in mid-air, it was because he wanted his spectators to think of the medium differently. He wanted them to rise above the tiresome debate over form and content to discover that form in itself was a narrative experience – and not only in a plastic sense. The exploration of form, he cautioned time and again, should not be construed in terms of style – another bogey that, in his eyes, had stunted the evolution of film.”

Any person, who is honest in life, true to his purpose and creative in pursuit, has a bit of a teacher in him. And similar, I believe was the case with Mani Kaul. HE taught music in The Netherlands, mentored students at his alma-mater FTII. Later he joined as the creative director at the Film House of Osian's Connoisseurs of Art.

He tried, created and practiced his own language in the realm of cinema, with his sensibilities and understanding of the medium and the world. This, to my mind, is a single enough reason to explore his works as they open a new window to a different take on creation and recreation.

हाल

2011-08-17T14:48:00.002+05:30

ये कैसा मौसम आया है, ये कैसी हवा चली है,
मेरे वतन को, जाने किस की नज़र लगी है,

हरसू बदहवासी, मायूसी का आलम बरपा है,
खिज़ा की यह मियाद, जाने और कितनी लम्बी है!

उजाड़ से इस बागीचे में, कभी आस का पंछी रहता था,
बहार यहाँ पर बसती थी, रंगों-खुशबू का यह मरकज़ था,
ज़मज़म-ऐ-तालाब सूख गया, प्यास ने पंछी मार दिया,
ख़ुश्क मिज़ाज, इस समाज ने, इंसानियत को राख किया!

आखरी बार सन सैंतालिस में, जो बीज बोये थे उम्मीदों के,
पेड़ वो आज ठूंठ हैं, ख्वाब वो आज बंजर हैं,
उठो, चलो, फिर उगाई करनी है, फिर से पानी देना है,
मुल्क़ के इस जर जर पिंजर को जगाना है, जिंदा करना है!

- फ़नकार

Death of a Director..

2011-08-03T20:43:00.001+05:30

Mani Kaul passed away on the 6th of July, 2011.

But for many people, it was like who is M-A-N-I K-A-U-L? And mind you, most of these 'people' form the normal movie going crowd who throng multiplexes, with families, to watch picture over pepsi and pop-corns. For most of them, a movie is just a means of entertainment, where you don't have to and aren't expected to, do much except sit back and enjoy. If you like the stuff on the screen, you call it 'paisa vasool' and if you don't, you feel victimised.

And I wonder why?

Why, in this country that boasts of ancient culture, centuries old traditions, rich heritage and variety of art forms, is the 'aam junta' still unaware of somebody like Mani Kaul? That a person of his intellect, artistry and craft, existed amongst us somehow seems unreal.

Alas, the answers are not simple or singular...

Ajintha Leni

2011-02-01T11:03:00.042+05:30

aka 'Ajanta Caves' are one of the most awe inspiring and historically rich heritage sites in the world.

To my mind, there have been three distinct phases in the long life of these caves. The first phase was when the caves were first spotted, dug, sculpted and elaborately painted in the early part of the first millennium. The second was when Capt. John Smith, chanced upon these jewels, while on a hunting trip in the thick jungles of Deccan in 1819. The third and the last phase is the present. Each and every time a visitor sets foot at their door, they, both the visitor and the caves, get a fresh lease of life.

It must be a long and weary journey for these centuries old caves, alone in the desolate jungles, but for the guiding light of Buddha and his followers, they have dutifully survived to spread his message to this age!

Ajanta Caves: The First Look

There are 32 caves in toto, all in a single line on the horse shoe shaped hill side. The very first look at these caves left me spell bound. In spite of having sifted through a number of websites and books in advance, nothing prepared me for the real stuff. I was like..."Wow! ancient is SO real". Gingerly, I started walking towards them.

The first two caves are home to the world famous paintings, one of which has even been done by mum in batik back home! The paintings, 'frescoes' actually, depict the life and times of Prince Siddharth, who later became Buddha as mentioned in the 'Jataka' stories. They are all over...on the walls, ceiling, pillars, porch... each and every nook and corner is covered with some moment or incident related to Buddha's life. And they are done with such flair that one look at them and you feel enamored by their charm. Look in any direction and you would find something interesting happening. You are in the midst history, literally.

As I wandered from one cave to the other, I was trying to imagine, how the place must have been... some two thousand years ago... when it was still 'under construction'. The time, when it was buzzing with monks and artists. The time when there was no electricity or any other modern day comforts. When animals and humans used to share the same space.

Each cave had a unique charm to it. The stone carvings of Buddha in the different caves are so identical that it is difficult to imagine how the sculptors must have replicated the same details of design from one cave to the other and that too without any modern technology or aid.

It was sheer brilliance etched in stone.

Then there was the famous 'Sleeping Buddha' - a long horizontal stone carving depicting Buddha resting in peace.

But the real magic awaited me at the end of the tour. As I approached the last of the caves with the overbearing thought of knowing it already, having seen so many similar caves, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was an incomplete cave! Apparently, the work on this cave might have started, when it was abandoned soon due to some reason. That is when, I had my magic moment.

As I became slow, patient and silent, I began to faintly hear the chants of the monks, the sculptor's hammering, the workers' murmur, the painter's strokes on the walls...I felt I had gone back in time. Just had to feel the rhythm!

And for that, I believe, one should visit this place in a non-touristy season...lesser the crowd, the better it is. Just sit and observe - the best way of experiencing this ancient place.

Oh! by the way, remember to wear slip-ons and not shoes as almost all the caves require the visitors to go inside bare feet. Rightly so...

NATURE

2011-01-27T16:12:00.000+05:30

You are born a child, you play around; feel the world, completely unmindful of its ways. You are carefree. You grow up; develop your own personality, character, ethics, values and behaviour which are majorly shaped by circumstances and life experiences.

But there is one thing that remains constant - your NATURE. And so it remains till you die. Come what may, you will never go against your nature, whether you like it or not, because THAT IS YOU. And the day you UNDERSTAND and ACCEPT your nature that will be the day you have accepted yourself.

And that leads to peace – ETERNAL PEACE

NO PROBLEM

2011-01-20T22:04:00.000+05:30

Problem, problem, problem! Problem is never welcomed...I mean, who likes a problem? Still, it has the habit of coming our way, much like that unwanted SMS on our mobile. Whether you like it or not, that creepy little two liner somehow manages it's way way into our inbox. Well, it really IS problematic!

But how real are 'problems'? I mean do they have their own personality? Can they be categorised into kinds of problems, their sets, sub-sets? Can they be classified into genres or measured in units? Heck...do they have a gender? But one thing is for sure, they do come in sizes: "small problem", "big problem"...even "huge problem"! But strangely, their nemesis, a certain "Mr. Solution" is always, unwittingly, a mere "solution". Ever heard of a "small solution" or a "big solution"...nope! No variation allowed.

Funny thing is, a 'problem' that is a 'problem' for you may not necessarily be a 'problem' for me. And the same is true the other way round for sure. What drives their essence is the personality of the bearer. Yup, problems are personality driven... and so are their solutions! Our perception gives them their shape, size, magnitude and all sorts of dimensions.

Now the fact is - their is no escaping problems. No point running from them as they will catch up with you, sooner or later. You have no choice but to face them. So, rather face them head on. Be the gladiator in the Roman Coliseum! Look into the eye of the problem and act. The key here is to understand that the eye that's facing the eye of the problem is YOUR eye and it has a certain way of looking at things. That is why the way you look at the problem is your unique way. The way you define the problem is entirely your creation. And that means your reaction will also depend solely on you and no one else. It's your discretion. It's your decision. And that's the solution to every problem.

Understand thyself.

A NEW BEGINNING

2011-01-20T11:02:00.000+05:30

It's been strange...I have been wanting to write for so long, but have never been able to start. Finally made this blog with the hope of a beginning!