Saturday 31 October 2015

Travelling Minds

- Snehal Deb.














Wondered of solitary bounty of nature?
Or the blue and serene red sea,
Schools of fishes jammed your mental view?
Then you breathe, are alive.
For genius minds did study,
The way we live, the thoughts in which we dive,
And did comment on our activity,
Our mind keeps travelling like bees out of hive.


Often we fail to focus,
Oregon and Arizona in mind’s locus.
It’s hard not to envisage,
Scenes and pleasures of previous coverage.
Streak of starlight we fail to notice,
‘Breaks’ from ‘social world’ we seldom practice.

Secrets of this travelling mind,
Sorry! Still not revealed.
Imaginable thesis can never find,
Underestimated mind made of which breed?

Thursday 29 October 2015

Red Stones near a Railway Track

- Vivek Sharma.


On a random day, I was standing in one corner, aside of cars and bikes, near the 7no railway post. A train was there, slowly moving towards the Guwahati station. From far back I heard a horn constantly beeping 'teeee teeee'. 'What a jerk!', I thought. It was a Grey coloured aviator coming from Panchali. It was rode by a fit and healthy marwari man, must be in his 40s, and an obese girl of 20s in the back. Something was wrong, it was all over the atmosphere. The man hit a Tata Minitruck and damped its bumper. Giving no attention to the Minitruck's driver and his abusive words, the girl on the back got off the 2-wheeler and starting walking towards the gate-post. The gates were down and the train was still moving but gaining speed. Her face was all red like she had been crying heavily. But when she passed pushing me aside, i looked at her face, she was very pretty but at that moment she was only expressionless, she was numb and lost in her some kind of pain and I heard her whispering to herself 'Mama.... Ma...' The man was running behind her with the face of a scared man. He must be her father who was scared of what her daughter was about to do. For a moment I thought of stopping her but I believed myself to be the kind of person who let people end their life out of the misery rather than who gave false hopes to people that everything would be fine and happy ever after. Living is too hard and painful, do the easy thing - die. But she wasn't committing suicide. The train's last cargo just passed the post. Everything went completely silent, all I heard was sound of running feets. About 20-30 people ran towards the left side of the tracks and formed a circle. The girl slowly went inside it with her father still running towards her and me following him. Suddenly the girl starting screaming. She was almost ripping her voice box to scream so loud. I have seen a couple of hundred horror movies but I never had such a shiver. I ran harder and pushed myself inside the circle between the strange crowd and saw a marwari woman of 40s in an orange saree lying on the track. She was ripped from her right shoulder till her lower abdomen. Must have been caught by the train while crossing the track carelessly. She was wearing heavy jewelries, no one stole them. No one dared to touch the dead woman. There was so much blood. Pieces of her lungs near my feet. Her last moments must have been terrible, drowning in her own blood in her half lungs. I bet she wasn't dead till the iron wheels broke her rib cage and sliced her heart. She died painfully. Her husband was grabbing their daughter in his arms just like he must have promised when she was born, 'I will always be there for you'. Yes, it is easy to die, but to see your loved ones dead; that's the most painful thing in this world. Everybody was curious how that happened. I was curious how her loved ones will live with such a horrifying dead. I can't imagine such a beautiful girl living her whole life in the sorrow of her mother's dead. I hope she would kill herself to peace.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Monday 26 October 2015

Shaandaar

- Sidharth Sharma.
Shaandaar- A not so ‘Shaandaar’ venture!

Cast- Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj Kapur, Sanah Kapoor, Sushma Seth
Direction- Vikas Bahl

Verdict-  3/5


As the name suggests, Shaandaar promises to be a magnificient movie. And yes, it is magnificient- in terms of budget, performance and great production values! Had it been a bit more ‘shaandaar’ in terms of script and screenplay, it would have been a delight to watch this movie!

Shaandaar has created quite a buzz, thanks to a fresh pairing of Shahid-Alia and the concept of destination wedding. Also, expectations are quite high from director Vikas Bahl, whose last film ‘Queen’ turned out to be a huge success. Will he be able to recreate the magic this time? Lets find out.

Shaandaar is the story of two insomniacs- Jagjinder and Alia, amidst the backdrop of a grand wedding (referred to as a ‘business deal’) between two families. Eventually, Jagjinder (the wedding planner) falls for Alia (bride’s step sister) and love blossoms between the two.

The biggest let-down of the film is its story and screenplay. The story can be best described as ‘a dull plot with a few hilarious situations and some strong emotional and romantic scenes’. The screenplay is quite weak at parts. The narrative is slow and fails to hold your interest. Only a few scenes have been brilliantly written. Even the characterization has not been properly done. The writers could have written the story in a simple and entertaining manner, rather than unnecessarily complicating it.

It is only the actors who make the movie worth watching with their brilliant performances! Shahid Kapoor manages to charm you as Jagjinder. He has immense screen presence and manages to hold your interest, inspite of a poor characterization. Alia Bhatt performs effortlessly and her performance seems to be natural.       Her chemistry with Shahid is too good. Pankaj Kapur, as usual, is superb. He takes the film to a whole new level! It is a delight to watch him on screen. Debutante Sanah Kapoor (Shahid’s step-sister) impresses you as the bride! She delivers a brilliant performance and manages to leave a mark. Other supporting actors, too, deliver a decent performance.

Cinematography is just ‘shaandaar’! Certain scenes have been very well captured. With a high budget and great production values, the movie has been shot in a ‘fairytale’ manner. Some scenes seem to be stretched and could have been edited properly. Background score is just perfect for a movie like this!

Director Vikas Bahl seems to be trapped in his own web. He tries to engage the viewers by complicating the story but alas, fails miserably! This was definitely not expected from Bahl- the same person who directed ‘Queen’. Hope he comes up with something better the next time!



Final VerdictWatch it only if you are a Shahid-Alia fan. Otherwise, give it a miss!

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Snehal Deb.


Life in the countryside is slow but peaceful & stress free

Hero in Heels

- Barasha Jyoti Baishya.













Hero in Heels
You are marvelously beautiful,
This is what they foresaid,
They whirled to make her count her life, her blessings.
They whirled to optimise her up from the gloom.
She is you, she is me, she is her, she is a woman,
She is the fountain of paradise.
Her toes reposed her words.
She is entangled in the days of future and past.
She is the hero in heels who rambles with her
chin up and jitters in the stormy past.

Monday 19 October 2015

Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2

- Sidharth Sharma.

Pyaar ka Punchnama 2- Love gets punched hard, very hard!

Cast- Kartik Aryan, Omkar Kapoor, Sunny Nijjar, Nusrat Bharucha, Sonali Sehgal, Ishita Sharma
Director- Luv Ranjan

Verdict- 3.5/5

Love gets punched hard, very hard! And this punch is delivered by none other than 'Luv' himself! Irony, isn't it? Well, don't get confused. Coz here, punch doesn't mean a knockout. Instead, it means hilarity!

Director Luv Ranjan is back with the sequel of the 2011 sleeper hit, 'Pyaar ka Punchnama'. Labelled as a typical 'guy' film, PKP had created a huge fan base, thanks to its hilarious one-liners and Kartik Aryan's 5-minutes monologue. Will PKP 2 be able to live upto our expectations? The answer is a definitely a yes!

The story is similar, but the characters are different. This time we have Gogo, Thakur and Chauka who fall in love with three different girls almost at the same time. The rest of the movie shows the problems they face in their relationships and their take on love. The story is similar and quite predictable. But this time, the climax has been very well written. A fast-paced narrative keeps you engaged from the very beginning. The first half scores better than the second half in terms of screenplay. There are rarely any dull moments in the film. Dialogues are the highlight of the movie. The movie is filled with hilarious one-liners, which do manage to make you laugh! Even this one has a monologue, just like its prequel. This time it is longer and funny, but only in parts! The dialogues work perfectly in favour of the film!  

Kartin Aryan seems much more confident in this sequel. He does a good job and delivers the monologue quite well! Omkar Kapoor has been perfectly cast and he does manage to impress you! Sunny Singh performs quite well and has a good command over his dialogue delivery. Among the girls, Nusrat Bharucha plays her character cleverly. Her character requires her to be irritating and she does that well! Sonali Sehgal and Ishita Sharma deliver a wonderful performance!

Cinematography is much better than the first part. Even the production values are better than PKP. Editing is crisp and has been well dealt with. Among the songs, ‘Sharaabi’ would be my pick. Other songs are just average.


Direction by Luv Ranjan is quite good. He manages to deliver a light-hearted comedy film without going too over-the-top. The story seems to be repetitive but the film does entertain. Despite being entertaining, the film might not appeal to women, owing to ‘anti-women’ scenes. Overall, the film offers you wholesome entertainment!



Final Verdict- Watch it if you want a good laugh this weekend!

Friday 16 October 2015

Kabya Kaushik.


Life Goes On...

TRANSGENDERS - A Bane?

- Sikha Choudhury.

"Everyone is equal in the eyes of God"... Hardly a soul can deny the veracity of this axiom. The world is a stage where we are bound to perform certain tasks for ourselves and preferably for others; finally merging with the divine spirit. In this precise duration of time, we need to impart our fullest effort to make the world a better place to live in. In this process, we, human beings are actually weaving up our own conventions and unnoticingly depriving others to possess the simple happiness of their life. Aren't we marching towards a perilous end where the deprived section of people will be forced to destroy themselves ?

Human beings are divided into two genders and accordingly, they enjoy distinct provisions. There exists a third group of people, who are unanimously not being accepted at all! This implies that their entity doesn’t matter for others. Is this really fair?
A rational man will obviously answer the negative. This third group of people, referred to as 'trans-genders' are agonized with the deepest pain which we cannot even contemplate of. They long for recognition in the society  and to live atleast a tranquil life.  
       
India has been developing since the last 67 years. Highrises in almost every corner, tourism, economy and all such factors are contributing to its development. On the deeper side, this group of people even strive for a mouthful of food, are bereaved from the light of education, socially exploited and neglected and to the worst, some of them even die unnoticed. From this outlook, can India really said to be a developed country? Perhaps no. Transgenders generally are found to be working as beggers or prostitutes. They claim to be recognised and as such,  be a part of this society. Instead, they are treated as animals and have to face severe discrimination. From ancient times, the presence of transgenders has been conceived. In Hindu mythology, there has been references to transgenders in various scenes. The 'Ardhanari avatar', formed by the merging of Lord Shiva and Parvati is an exemplification of transgendered person. In the Mahabharata, Arjun was sent into an exile in an episode. There he usurped the identity of an eunuch-transvestite and performed rituals during weddings and childbirths, which are now represented by the transgenders. In the Ramayana too, when Rama leaves Ayodhya, for his 14 years exile, a crowd of his devotees followed him. Noticing  that Rama told them not to lament and said " all 'men' and 'women' of his kingdom should return to their places in Ayodhya". Returning from his ostracism, he was astonished to see that the 'transgenders' being neither men nor women did not even move from the place he had left them 14 years ago. Moved with immense devotion, Rama ushered them the boon to confer blessings during auspicious occasions. Apart from Hinduism, reference to transgenders are found in many other religions of the world.
  
From time immemorial, 'transgenders' had occupied a place in almost each and every sphere of life including religion, literature, media and the like. However, most importantly, their existence in society simply scribbles. Combatting in every step, they starve to get a recognition in the society. Lack of education, leave them all behind the race. In spite of physical fitness, they remain unemployed. Is this justiciable? If so, than no law seems to be perfect. Added to that, Police and other authorities take advantage of section 377 of Indian Constitution and leaves no stone unturned to harass and exploit them. Many of such victims consequently commit suicide, finding no other way to calm their mind. Exiled from their families, many of these people are even without a roof to get secured. Their deaths do not matter much for their families. What can be more plightful than this?    
Getting a profound relief, it is admirable that the Supreme Court of India has taken a historic step this year, recognising 'transgenders' as the third gender. There has been a massive celebration all over the country. Democracy finally found its root this very year; a chivalrous achievement for the people of India. The most well-known face of Transgenders Rights activism, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi remarked,"This judgement is agreat step towards ending the discrimination of tens of thousands of transgenders in India, who are exploited, marginalised ostracised, discriminated, abused and often forced into prostitution to survive."
     
Cherishing this grand step and moving towards our own responsibility, the question that lies before us is that "Will this law remain concentrated only in paper?" For this judgement to bloom wide, 'we', the people have to change our conserved mind. United people can bring a major change in this world. All we need to do is to change our mindset towards these people and help others to do so.  This stride for a new beginning will reckon a better country where democracy and equality will prevail under one roof!

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Angshuman Sarma.


Feather Touch

A Conversation

- Apoorva Tiwari.

















Hey there! can you hear me now?
Right here, I am making a life.
Life you wanted me to live in.
Its really takes a lot to hold.
Proud I am, you made me so.

And silently, he speaks,
Like moist vapour drops.
His musical aura, killing my sleep.
"Hey there !my sweet, loving child.
All my love, has made you so".

And so, its gives smile, a little.
smile, that fades all dull, grey days.
Hope, that kindle a brightest soul.
Joy, that makes me stay.
And sorrow of losing you up, Hey there!