જે જાગ્યો નથી તેને શુ કિમ્મત છે રાતની,
જે જાગ્યો નથી તેને શુ કિમ્મત સવારની,
જાગ્રણ છે તો છે સજાગ્તા,
દિવો ચમકે અંધારે પ્રટક્તા.

-હર્ષલ.

When I watch films, it takes me to a wonder land. A place where everything is plausible, a fresh perspective to many things, where something non conventional blooms.

I love films. The last film that has made a big impression on me is Notting Hill. Nothing is very extra ordinary about it. It is simple story and it is that simplicity that attracts me. Away from subtlety with infatuating simple face and suffocating complexity.

I have always wondered why do I not live a life common as everyone else, out of the want to be accepted respectfully by the society. Now that I have seen the society for the wise years of my life, I don't want to be a part of it. A role of guest in a society would suit me perfectly. Because with a society, comes notions which are pre-conceived and meant to be adhered to. It is basically a coming together of people with similar ideals and ideals mean conventions. No, I am better off without conventions and norms.

Notting Hill also has a nice simple romance. It is sweet. And Julia Roberts is beautiful as ever. Hugh Grant looks lost like ever.

And its soundtracks are melodious. Especially 'She' performed by Elvis Costello. And ofcourse, it has the evergreen 'When you say nothing at all' by Ronan Keating.

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Soundtrack: Notting Hill

Title: She - Elvis Costello

She

may be the face I can't forget

a trace of pleasure I regret

may be my treasure or the price I have to pay

She

may be the song that Solomon sings

may be the chill that autumn brings

my be a hundred tearful things

within the measure of the day.

She

may be the beauty or the beast

may be the famine or the feast

may turn each day into heaven or a hell

She

may be the mirror of my dreams

a smile reflected in a stream

she may not be what she may seem

inside as shell

She

who always seems so happy 'n proud

who's eyes can be so private and so proud

no one's allowed to see them when they cry

She

may be the love that cannot hope to last

may come to me from shadows of the past

that I remember till the day I die

She

may be the reason I survive

the why and where for I'm alive

the one I'll care for through the rough and rainy years

Me

I'll take her laughter and her tears

and make them all my souvenirs

for where she goes I got to be

the meaning of my life is

She

She, oh.. She...

La, la, la, la...

Sitting before my computer and the television, I wonder where have these all years gone since I used to write unexpectant of a critic. In a race to excel in pre-conceived forms and norms, do I lose myself? I did. Or did I not?

I watched a lovely movie today, 'Once'. Music is good.

'Take this sinking boat,

And point it home,

We've still got time.

Raise your hopeful voice,

You have a choice

You've made it now'

La, la , la , la...

Haunted Cities

Every leaf's glitter flashes beauty,
A beauty only seen in children.
Naked lady of the forest shines,
Shines like a rare muse in urban.
Crocodiles lie on banks lazy,
Lazy unlike monday mornings.
Leopard makes the monkeys hoot,
Hoot like parliament made to music.
Brooks and wind decorate silence,
Silence murdered by machines.

To soul, each forest element soothes,
Soothes like lullaby sung by mother.
And the city seems a haunted place,
A place unfortunately called home.

(c) HP.

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Micheline: cities.. cities.. I'm lucky to live in the mountains despite all the curiosity of the people, the loneliness..and the cold winters..

me: You are extremely fortunate. May you be blessed forever.

jon: hmm that's true, but i like the vibrant city life.

jan: excellent! but awww, city life isn't tht bad. the twinkling lights, the hustle and bustle, the smoothly flowing traffic (disregarding the traffic jams. lol)... it has a beautiful rhythm of its own.

jill: useless..city life is amazing..even for you trust me..you can sit at a cafe on the main road all day long..sipping coffee and observing people..writing poems or painting!

lilly: Nice poem....but really cities are not so bad. Both the city and countryside can bring loneliness and peace if u want. In the city there is too much happening but u can find peace their within urself if u truly want to...it all depends on the details u want and don't want to observe and hear...and in the countryside where there is much less happening to truly find peace the beautiful environment can only do so much..in the end u have to look inside urself to get peace and quiet...

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me:

my dear,

i do not know in which city do you stay. i cannot stop hearing motor or vacuum cleaner or drill or hammering throughout or air conditioning. and i haven't yet found an inspiring person in city who knows things other than making money in an inspiring way.

city people, isha & chirag know about ahmedabad, are totally hostile and banging door on your face kinds -unless! they have not very long back come from some town. and same applies to people of pune. i am yet to explore other cities. pune is way down the drain than a'bad.

no one even gives a ride in cities. just do this experiment, go and raise a thumb on a city lane. and do the same in some rural place. see where you get a lift more often.

forest is soothing. not filled with hypocrites and societies that make laws and declare outlaws without having a need to advertise. parliaments are run for a record no. of less days where corrupt politicians tag a rope saving their own ass. forgetting about the people.

have you ever been to a forest? a real forest? not with your earplugs in? where you saw herds of deer running? saw birds hopping around - not the usual crows but various birds...

heard the river flow? did you experience that silence? drank the water from brook like a cat - thinking scores of animals must be doing so up or down the lane? hygiene will come to your mind - it is corruption. you are distanced from nature - the source of everything. the soul of universe. running behind vanity causes of making a house and working for a good pay or some good company. dignity, esteem, ego.

my dear,

go out and explore more world. explore and not remain a silly tourist with tonnes of sunscreen on. feel it. absorb it.

Cities are not bad by definition. They become eventually - for a free soul. One cannot fly. There is no nature around. Its all concrete and steel. Cineplexes, malls, bowling alleys.

The truth is, man finds amusement in whatever circumstances. There is certainly not an absolute truth, but I do not deny existence of a higher one.

Sitting in a cafetaria, sipping coffee made aromatic using some artificial flavours tingling your toungue. Ask your senses if they remember the fragrance of frangipani, parijat, wet moss on stones around lake, rotting fish near sea front, birds feathers;if they remember the taste of raw potato, gulmohar flowers, tulsi, ajmaein leaves.

The aesthetic value of colourful clothes keeps importance in a grey and glassed city. In natural surrounding, it is of least concern. Camouflage is more important, the 'humanly' clothing makes the wildlife alert - as if they are aware of 'humanly' diseases.

It is an infected, contagious world of society that man is carrying forward in time today. It was a survival tool for the initial days in the wild and now only a pretence for all the evil to hide behind.

Man would not show his real self. And hence addiction to a platform like facebook. Show what you wish and pretend what you will.

Yes, cities metaphor the human - crowd psychology wherein an individual loses his individuality and remains as a pretentious loser waving to the precious time he lost in complying with societal norms and gleaming like a politician's smile.

These are Not aimed at anybody. Ideas are not up for selling, I do not mind if you buy them.

I may not sound complete - I am not, here. Does not imply that the projection is not of reality.

I do not deny enjoying the city values. Do not deny that I once thought of entering fashion design. And the art still fascinates me. I watch ftv with intentions different than most men, if that implies something.

But it is freedom, joy and liberty to be yourself. You can dance like crazy with music buzzing your mind and not care who thinks what about you. Some will say one can do that in city as well but the same some cannot disagree that the society will look at you like some crazy nut.

When I say that city smothers, it is not about the place as much is about the people who inhabit it. It is smothering. Laws are passed over one's sexuality, transsexuals have suffered since ages and now that homosexuals have come out, they are being oppressed. Children from my neighbourhood come and whisper 'sexy' 'kiss' in each other's ears. Where have they lost their childhood and innocence? Whom will you call responsible? I do not see them cherish fantasies about being kings or princesses or or wonder how children come to this world?

It is love that goes missing when parents work all day and return late evenings. Then take children to see unsuitable movies to compensate.

Home in apartments and multistoreyed buildings, do they provide same amount of warmth? The studio apartments, so artificial - good to dine in but to live in them gives nausea.

There is just so much that the human civilization is losing, values, culture, diversity, love, in the race to become metropolitan.

But who is Hershal to pass a judgement on the kind of lives that people prefer to live? Everyone is capable of themselves and chooses their lives. Are they not? They are. Krishna would not have been same if Devki would have reared him. Isha, we talked about altruism. And is it in blood or the environment a person grows up in? I stressed it then and even now, it is the surrounding.

And moreover the world is losing its balance. I always thought I knew how bad all this climate change is.

I started working on a small problem of Ozone concentration increase in urban regions and believe me, its worse than any one here can guess - in a non fictitious way.

Enough of blabbering. I wonder if anyone will read this thing through.

The truth is, we are an integral part of nature. The more we distance from it, more we start getting addicted to faclities and technologies of the modern world, worse it is going to be. Most live an ant life. Not knowing where they come from and where they are headed. And those who think they belong to the intellectuals class of people should understand the reality.

My words may have fallen on deaf ears or I may be blind to realize the world in its true urbanity. But things will never be clearer unless one discovers things for himself.

Soft Spoken

The rhythmic coppersmith barbet,
And crawlers in the leafy carpet.
The bending branches creak,
As wind sweeps the dense teak.
The faraway calls of deer,
Glistening the pebbles flows water, clear.

Like the forest, my dear muse,
I clear my thoughts to listen to you.

(c) HP.

Siesta

As the winter wore away,

Spring thought it was time

To sow some Chrys,

Petunias and Salvias.

The merry sowing time,

The dreams of bloom,

The everyday stare,

At the soil for a sprout.

Sprouts brought festive

Moods to the mind.

Hopes took a form

As buds were born.

The summer uninvited,

Rose the scorching sun.

Siesta swept the noons

While buds borne the burns.

The zest to till the soil,

To dream of bloom,

Sherbet in wine glass

Has intoxicated it off.

And the buds scream,

Painting their plight.

A pending feeling says,

Ice would taste better.

(c) HP.

Spiritly

Disconnected,

Aimless,

At times, I am anxious.

Baffled by my form.

(c) HP.

Doodles

From the Other Side

Unusually plain day it was, with no euphoria, no boredom and no depression either. In the evening, I went to buy milk and as I was walking out of the society lane I heard some peppy not-so-sophisticated music being played really loud. As I took a turn to be on the main street, I saw two gigantic blue lights roaring at me from a distance along with many tiny yellow ones. Curious to know what it was, I wondered if it was a marriage party. Though it was a regular sight back in ahmedabad but quite uncommon in pune.

The music was terribly loud and I saw it was being played on a truck groomed for the occassion in many a lights and headlights were cellophaned blue. The songs they played were peppy and quite the ones that masses would rejoice. Now, its me, a huge opponent of noise pollution and having rather sober choice in music. I was certainly baffled to be not disturbed by the party. Kept walking. Saw two boys one of them,although could not compete with the truck's volume, was very loudly mimicking the lyrics. An old bald man, standing by a scooter - perhaps waiting for someone, was coo-ing his neck like a pigeon blissfully enjoying summer noons on my window sill.

By the time I reached the store and finished my little shopping, the truck and the dancing caravan in front almost reached that building. Yes, indeed it was a marraige party with a truck head pulling something that was made to look like a chariot with two golden thrones in it. When I started walking back to my society, I had this insane urge to jump in that turbanned crowd of men and dance like crazy. It was then that I ideated this blog entry but its three hours later that I am actually writing it.

I came back to my room, feeling happy about having observed something new to chew upon. Sat on my couch cum bed and picked up a book. And zoom! I'm back to myself. The party must have reached the gate of my society and now it felt cacophonous herd of mad people dancing to some cheap and exaggeratingly called vulgar songs. I put on my headphone and started watching some F.R.I.E.N.D.S. to cheer up and let the herd pass. Perhaps its now that I can look at the episode in its entirety that I have the ability, peace and mind to pen it down. While walking, the whole time, I had this weird feeling that everyone around was enjoying the music and some dignified literates were frowning at it. Was nice to be on the other side and not be a dignified frown face for once. :-)

A Gypsy's Dog

'Thundering clouds and rattling windows remind me of being part of a larger life form than my own'



I walk by lanes and highways alike,
Following my master's hike.
Days are jolly and quite a delight,
Under the stars we halt for the night,
Awaiting a new story, awaiting twilight.

Criss-crossing across the country,
Fly by faces of great variety,
Some sole,
Some socializing to shroud their whole.
Some jay walking happy feet,
Some mourning their own defeat.
Its difficult to look at faces so tall,
Amazingly, the dancing feet give it all.

With life like of an indulgent hermit,
And mules for a company,
The barking street dogs do not bother me.


-A Gypsy's Dog
(c) Hershal Pandya.

Debut Couplets in Gujarati

Megha ni raah ma varsaad na be chhanta,
Gulab ni paankhdi ne saachavta kaanta,
Ekalti chaal ma pakshi na geet,
Aasha na hoy tyan thi sneh ane preet.
Saghda anubhavo ni jem laad aape,
Aapni yaad ne aapna geet.
(c) Hershal Pandya.


Aladdin nu kalin ne nrutyangana nagin,
Sivaji ni top ne treeji aankh no prakop,
Vichaar bhramand maa bhatkaay
Ane mann tya achkaay...
Ke maari katha nu mulya ketlu?
(c) Hershal Pandya.


Transcreation:
Aladdin's carpet, wordsworth's daffodils,
Snake charmers and Achilles' heel...
They morph my perception with such spontaneity,
Makes me pause and wonder
Upon the worth of my stories.
(c) Hershal Pandya.

Smiles Veil

The first thing that captured my attention on saturday morning was this picture in the newspaper. Father and son are re-united after a year. Boy has witnessed his mother's murder by the lover with whom she had eloped. But who can tell from the picture? I can look at it everyday and still be unquenched.

Fascinations Elude

Potraits, fresh curtains, ethnics adorning white walls,
Daisies in the basket and coffee in a rusty ceramic,
Windows glimpsing greens, hoppers and a few men,
Seductive mornings, light shower, gentle scent and crisp clothing,
Noons humming with work,
Evenings glowing in amber and candles,
Starry nights pondering on fascinations that elude,
Slumber in pursuit of dreams.

(c) Hershal Pandya, 2008.

Adalaj Ni Vav (Stepwell of Adalaj)

I visited the Adalaj Stepwell, one of the very few archaelogical sites preserved in and around Ahmedabad.

When I photographed the site, I was more into capturing the intricate designs carved on the walls and the symmetry flaunted by the monument.

What puzzles me is the motive of creating such royal stepwell with so many galleries. I'm sure it wasn't meant only for the purpose of water storage.

Vivi - my pet

Check out this link

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977234220

THANKS.