एक रात, कुछ सपने...और मैं (Ek Raat, Kuch Sapne...aur Main)

*Source: Google Images

इक रात लिए मैं...अपने सपनो को

यूँ निकल पड़ा फिर...लेकर अपनों को

वो ख्वाब ही थे जो...मेरे थे अपने

कुछ नए पुराने...जाने अनजाने

Chronicles of a Solitary Soul – A Lesson Learnt

Standing there at the traffic signal waiting for the lights to turn green, my eyes impatiently stared at the digital display showing the time remaining for the signal to change. As the countdown started, I could hear the engines of the vehicles gearing up fiercely to rush ahead of the masses. How strangely our lives have transformed into a racing track. While the struggle for survival continues, this race never lets our soul take a breath and respite & even if you don’t want to be a part of it, you find yourself amidst the rush leaving you wondering what was it supposed to be and what it actually is!!

Movie Review: Talvar

Source: Google Images

Movie Details. . .

Title: Talvar

Director: Meghna Gulzar

Script: Vishal Bhardwaj

Music: Vishal Bhardwaj

Genre: Documentary Thriller

Running Time: 132 Minutes

Language: Hindi

Rating: 3.5/5

Plot Summary. . .

Talvar, is a fictionalized version of the infamous 2008 double murder case of Noida involving Talwar family, wherein 14 year old Aarushi Talwar and family’s 45 year old servant Hemraj were found murdered. After a prolonged investigation, Aarushi’s parents were convicted in the case basis the circumstantial evidence and they remain imprisoned while their appeal is pending before the Hon’ble High Court.

Book Review: A Mirrored Life: The Rumi Novel by Rabisankar Bal

Book Details. . .

·         Title: A Mirrored Life: The Rumi Novel

·         Author: Rabisankar Bal (Author), Arunava Sinha (Translator)

·         Genre: Fiction

·         Publisher: Random House India (January 2015)

·         ISBN: 9788184006155

·         Pages: 224 Pages

·         Rating: 4/5

Behind The Book. . .

On his way from Tangiers to China, the medieval Moorish traveller Ibn Battuta arrives in Konya, Turkey where the legendary dervish Rumi had lived, danced and died. More than half a century may have passed since his death, but his poetry remains alive, inscribed in every stone and tree and pathway.

Rumi’s followers entrust Ibn Battuta with a manuscript of his life stories to spread word of the mystic on his travels. As Battuta reads and recites these tales, his listeners discover their own lives reflected in these stories—fate has bound them, and perhaps you, to Rumi.

A Mirrored Life reaffirms the magical powers of storytelling, making us find Rumi in each of our hearts.

Zindagi Connects: Floras & Weeds in the Garden of your Heart

Source: Google Images

The world is a beautiful place for sure and the thing that makes it beautiful is we, its inhabitants. The ideal scenario where everyone lives happily devoid of any negativity is surely a fantasy (or is it not!!!). And in actual, we do get carried away by our limitations, insecurity and ego resorting to spreading anguish and hatred around which certainly creates void and differences in the hearts. It’s all so frustrating to witness that. There are already so many layers and lines demarcating the hearts of the people (in the name of religion, caste, creed, race and lord knows what else), let’s strive not to add further to these. What the world and its inhabitants need is more of love and compassion – spread these and then this would be a more beautiful world with more beautiful people. Theoretic, it may sound… but in actual it isn’t one.

The beautiful world is not exactly a myth in itself though a bit distant reality but something which can surely be bridged and converged with today provided one strives for it. And there is no need to traverse a lot in search of those beautiful people who make the world beautiful, because they are right here – YOU and ME!!

Book Review: Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia by S Hussain Zaidi

Source: Google Images

Book Details. . .

·         Title: Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades of The Mumbai Mafia

·         Author: S Hussain Zaidi

·         Genre: Crime Thriller / Non Fiction

·         Publisher: Roli Books (2012)

·         Pages: 408 Pages

·         Rating: 3.75/5

Behind The Book. . .

Dongri to Dubai is the first ever attempt to chronicle the history of the Mumbai mafia. It is the story of notorious gangsters like Haji Mastan, Karim Lala, Varadarajan Mudaliar, Chhota Rajan, Abu Salem, but above all, it is the story of a young man who went astray despite having a father in the police force. Dawood Ibrahim was initiated into crime as a pawn in the hands of the Mumbai police and went on to wipe out the competition and eventually became the Mumbai police’s own nemesis.

Shirdi Diary . . . July 2015 (II)

Source: Google Images

There is no dearth of devotees’ experiences to re-affirm the belief that Baba is truly a ‘karuna-avtaar’ (abode of grace) and ‘bhakta-paradheen’ (slave to the devotees). After hearing the experience of Amma (shared in my previous post), Baba’s words echoed in my years as I debarked from the train, “If you take one step towards Me, I will take ten steps towards you.” Every time I read or hear the experiences of the devotees recollecting Baba’s grace, I get goose bumps. A strange mix of feeling overtakes me making me restless, envious and wishful (all at the same time) & I aspire to be the one of many souls to experience similar miracles so as to feel further closer to HIM (is it what we call being human – the tendency to crave for things a bit more, I don’t know). Reading and listening to HIS divine leelas are always soothing to the soul, calming even the ever fickle heart by sprinkling fresh droplets of HIS name.