Says Kabir, listen O saints!

Kabir saw how social conventions had hardened into blind beliefs. He also noticed how people indulged in greed, hypocrisy and selfishness under the cover of religion. He refused to keep quiet. In an age when freedom of speech was unknown, he dared speak freely. He hit at rituals ruthlessly. He defied all that tended to hide the truth and divide people. His addressed his poems to people trapped in ignorance.

His creed is love. It simply connects. His poetry assures that God is nothing but Love. He is personal experience. He is known to each differently. He is in every heart, in that invisible space which Kabir refers to as the void between the breaths. Every breath brings His message but lost in sleep we cannot hear it. We need a Kabir to awaken us.

Where do u look for me dear?
I am closer than close to you.

Neither in temple-mosque am I,
Nor in Kaba-Kailash,
Nor in rituals, nor in yoga-ways.

Neither in goat-sheep am I,
Nor in axe-knife,
Nor in skin-tail, nor in flesh and bone

He who yearns, finds at once,
Far from the crowd,
I live in a quiet refuge.

Listen to me in the void, says Kabir
In between all the breaths.



The shadow of the evening
Grows darker and
Love overpowers body-mind.

Throw open the window
To the west, and
Dive deep in the Void of love

Sip the nectar,
From the lotus of awareness
And let waves embrace you.

In the glorious Void-palace,
Listen to the music
Of conch, bells and lute.

Listen, O saint-brothers,
I found my Lord-Eternal
Within myself, says Kabir.

Why isn’t anybody talking about Suniel Shetty.

I saw Main Hoon Na for the second time and still wondered why hasn’t anybody spoken about Suniel Shetty and his ‘acting’. For those who haven’t seen the film, he is this hardcore villain who gets beaten (not beaten up), in the end by the hero. He isn’t an anti-hero kind but a real villain and he does a pretty convincing job of it too. From being a non-actor to actually doing a good job of beating up Shahrukh Khan, he is good, despite the tacky blue lens in his eye and that horrid wig.

So there is no mention of him anywhere in the papers or magazines or anywhere at all. Its’ sad because in this film, he has taken a risk of experimenting with the character and he has succeeded. Personally, I feel he makes a better villain than a hero. His dialogue delivery sucks otherwise as a hero because he doesn’t have a deep voice but a rather thin one. Still, it works in this character.

He has, definitely, improved by way of acting as compared to others who go around claiming that they are ‘actors’. I liked him in this film and hope that people take a second look at him and say something.

In Memory

We had a great thing going. We were together. We did a lot of things. We fought and made up. We joked about ourselves and laughed. We cooked and ate everything up. We shared. We cared. We confided and we kept those secrets. We were friends.

But now all that is gone. Perhaps I should have listened to another, “nothing lasts forever”. Distance has made us strangers. But memories are strong. Till they fade away, it was the bestest time ever.

A beginning

Ah! Dancing! I woke up one morning, went to a dance performance and decided that I wanted to learn Bharata Natyam again. Don’t know what mental state I was in to take that decision cause I was in my early thirties and 20 kgs overweight (I was underweight before that) and was in no condition to move either my legs or my entire body. Despite a disastrous first day where my guru asked me to jump high in the air and I came down very unceremoniously flat on the ground (it shook I think), I stuck to it and today it’s three years since and I am glad I decided to go for it.

People often asked me why did I take such a drastic step knowing that I earned a five-figure salary and had a pretty glamourous job of interviewing film personalities and to give it up was stupid. My sister also told me that I should have taken photography, as that was more glamorous to explain to her friends when they asked about me instead of “oh she dances”. So was it because I wanted to become a performer or was it because I wanted to open a class and earn some money sitting at home. I simply told them because it made me happy. Happy as nothing ever did. Not my job, not people, jewellery, clothes, perfumes or money, it was just dancing that put me in a great place.

Today I dance with 15 other girls ranging between ages 18 and 21, who have great energy levels and who keep me on my toes, literally. But does it discourage me? No way. In fact I feel quite blessed to be among such talented dancers who inspire me constantly.

Now everybody invariably ask me what next? What next? Just the moment for me of dancing and learning the fine details about this art form. Of knowing that this has opened new avenues for me academically. And feeling happy that I went back to college again.