Requiem for a Dream

Streets we have never walked on

Windows we have never opened,

Hands we have never held

Dreams we shall never .. never see again.

Lives we have never lived

Hopes we have never realized,

Fires we have never lit

Loves we shall never..never make again

Bavra Mann Dekhne Chala Ek Sapna .......

Denial

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

A thousand desires such as these
A thousand moments to set this night on fire
Reach out and you can touch them
You can touch them with your silences
You can reach them with your lust
Rivers mountains rain
Rain against a torrid hill’s cape
A thousand
A thousand desires such as these

I loved rain as a child
As a lost young man
Empty landscapes
Bleached by a tired sun
And then
And then suddenly it came
Like a dark unknown woman
Her eyes scorched my silences
Her body wrapped itself around me
Like a summer without end

Pause me hold me reach me
Where no man has gone
Crossing the seven seas
With the wings of fire
I fly towards nowhere
And you
Rivers mountains rain
Rain against a scorched landscape of pain


This poem is recited by Pritish Nandy along with Shubha Mudgal in the poignant title track of Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi.


The last scene of the movie Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi ,


The original poetry by Mirza Ghalib

Hazaron Khwaishe Aisi, Ki Har Khwaish Pe Dum Nikle,
Bohot Nikle Mere Armaan, Lekin Fir Bhi Kum Nikle,
Nikalna Khuldese Aadam Ka, Sunte Aaye Hai Lekin,
Bohot Beaabroo Hokar, Tere Kuche Se Hum Nikle

Mohabbat Main Nahin Hai, Fark Jeene Aur Marne Kaa,
Usi Ko Dekhkar Jeete Hai, Jis Kaafir Pe Dum Nikle

Khuda Ke Waaste Parda Nakabi Si Uttha Zaalim
Kahin Aisa Na Ho Yum Bhi Wohi Kaafir Sanam Nikle

Kaha Maikhane Ka Darwaaza Gaalib, Aur Kaha Waaiz,
Par Itna Jaante Hai, Kal Woh Jaata Tha Ke Hum Nikle.

Hazaron Khwaishe Aisi, Ki Har Khwaish Pe Dum Nikle,
Bohot Nikle Mere Armaan, Lekin Fir Bhi Kum Nikle

Purpose in Life

Calvin says it all. in this mechanical life we have somehow lost touch with nature , we have lost our awe of nature .. or perhaps we have lost our purpose in life ..

What is my purpose , whats purpose i want to serve. this question still haunts me and i think it will haunt me forever

Fear

"The Only thing we have to fear is fear itself " - Franklin Roosevelt

Calvin Gyan

This strip has become a personal philosophy for me. Sometimes it makes me think that what do i really wish for. Do i really wish for anything , or 'anything' is not everything




This was possibly the first great Calvin and Hobbes strip.To see a child genius sit there and nonchalantly bang the shit out of a coffee table is hilarious.

Seven elements of the policy response by Ila Patnaik.

1. Lower cost of credit.
2. More transparency on reserves.
3. Open credit channels
4. Limited scope and capacity for fiscal expansion
5. Improve bankruptly code.
6. Monitor banks continously
7. Ensure NREG works efficiently.

Reason

One of these days I'm gonna make my decision
And act upon it while I still got volition
But I've got so many ideas in collision,
It makes it hard to be a man with a mission

I need something, I need some sweet thing
I need something to help me get on,
I need something to clear my head
I need something to warm my bed
I need something, I need some sweet thing

Everything I had is gone,
it's so dark it must be dawn
Where's that reason to go, reason to go on and on

Dilbert on Date

Hooked to a book, "The Bubble of American Supremacy" by George Soros. In The Bubble of American Supremacy, Soros warns that American efforts to be the ultimate global superpower will not only be unsuccessful but will make America and the world infinitely more unstable. Bush and company, he says, have callously used the events of September 11th for their own political gain and misled the world about the threat posed by Iraq

Excerpt

"

As American and British troops prepare to invade Iraq, public opinion in these countries does not support war without U.N. authorization. The rest of the world is overwhelmingly opposed to war. Yet Saddam Hussein is regarded as a tyrant who needs to be disarmed, and the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1441 which demanded that Saddam destroy his weapons of mass destruction. What caused this disconnect?

Iraq is the first instance when the Bush doctrine is being applied and it is provoking an allergic reaction. The Bush doctrine is built on two pillars: (1) The United States will do everything in its power to maintain its unquestioned military supremacy; and (2) the United States arrogates the right to preemptive action.

These pillars support two classes of sovereignty: American sovereignty, which takes precedence over international treaties and obligations, and the sovereignty of all other states. This is reminiscent of George Orwell`s Animal Farm: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. To be sure, the Bush doctrine is not stated starkly; it is buried in Orwellian doublespeak. The doublespeak is needed because the doctrine contradicts American values.

The Bush administration believes that international relations are relations of power; legality and legitimacy are mere decorations. This belief is not false, but it exaggerates one aspect of reality to the exclusion of others. The aspect it stresses is military power. But no empire could ever be held together by military power alone.

Yet that belief guides the Bush administration. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel shares the same belief and look where that has led. The idea that might is right cannot be reconciled with the idea of an open society. Hence the need for Orwellian doublespeak.

But nobody is in possession of the ultimate truth. Those who make such claims are bound to be wrong at times, and so can enforce their claims only by coercion and repression. Bush makes no allowance for the possibility that he may be wrong, and he tolerates no dissent. If you are not with us, you are with the terrorists, he proclaims.

Of course, the presence of extremist views in the executive branch does not make

America a totalitarian state. The principles of open society are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the institutions of American democracy are protected by the Constitution. There are checks and balances, and the President must obtain the support of the people. Nevertheless, the Bush doctrine could do untold harm before it is abandoned - as eventually it will be.

I see parallels between the Bush administration`s pursuit of American supremacy and a boom-bust process or bubble in the stock market. Bubbles do not arise out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but misconception distorts reality. Here, the dominant position of the United States is the reality, the pursuit of American supremacy the misconception.

For a while, reality reinforces the misconception, but eventually the gap between reality and its false interpretation becomes unsustainable. During the self-reinforcing phase, the misconception may be tested, and when a test is successful the misconception is reinforced. This widens the gap, leading to an eventual reversal. The later it comes, the more devastating the consequences.

There seems to be an inexorable quality about this, but a boom-bust process can be aborted at any stage. Most stock market booms are aborted long before the extremes reached by the recent bull market. The sooner this happens, the better. That is how I view the Bush administration`s pursuit of American supremacy. "

Calvin Gyan

"There's more to this world than just people, you know."
-Hobbes

"Why should I have to WORK for everything?! It's like saying I don't deserve it!"
-Calvin

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul."
-Calvin"

I go to school, but I never learn what I want to know."
-Calvin

"To make a bad day worse, spend it wishing for the impossible."
-Calvin

"If you couldn't find any weirdness, maybe we'll just have to make some!"
-Hobbes

"Weekends don't count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless."
-Calvin

"If you do the job badly enough, sometimes you don't get asked to do it again."
-Calvin

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
-Calvin

"I hate to think that all my current experiences will someday become stories with no point."
-Calvin

"Childhood is short, maturity is forever."
-Calvin

"I don't need to compromise my principles, because they don't have the slightest bearing on what happens to me anyway."
-Calvin

"In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks."
-Calvin

"Why waste time learning, when ignorance is instantaneous?"
-Calvin

"There's an inverse relationship between how good something is for you, and how much fun it is."
-Calvin

"There's no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt to it and make it even worse!"
-Calvin

"So the secret to good self-esteem is to lower your expectations to the point where they're already met?"
-Calvin"

I don't know which is worse, ...that everyone has his price, or that the price is always so low."
-Calvin

"You know how people are. They only recognize greatness when some authority confirms it."
-Calvin

"It's not the pace of life I mind. It's the sudden stop at the end."
-Calvin

"The best presents don't come in boxes."
-Hobbes

"As far as I'm concerned, if something is so complicated that you can't explain it in 10 seconds, then it's probably not worth knowing anyway."
-Calvin"

Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend."
-Calvin

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
-Calvin

"It's only work if somebody makes you do it."
-Calvin"

In my opinion, television validates existence."
-Calvin

"Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success... ...Flat stretches of boring routine... ...And valleys of frustration and failure."
-Calvin

"Reading goes faster if you don't sweat comprehension."
-Calvin

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."
-Calvin

"A day can really slip by when you're deliberately avoiding what you're supposed to do."
-Calvin

"The worst part is that I don't even have the fun of doing the things I'm getting blamed for."
-Calvin

"Being a parent is wanting to hug and strangle your kid at the same time
Calvin's Dad

"I keep forgetting that rules are for little nice people."
-Calvin

Invictus

INVICTUS



Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.




In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.




Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.



It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus is a short poem by the British poet William Ernest Henley. At the age of 12 Henley became a victim of tuberculosis of the bone. In spite of this, in 1867 he successfully passed the Oxford local examination as a senior student. His diseased foot had to be amputated directly below the knee; physicians announced the only way to save his life was to amputate the other. Henley persevered and survived with one foot intact. He was discharged in 1875, and was able to lead an active life for nearly 30 years despite his disability. With an artificial foot, he lived until the age of 54. "Invictus" was written from a hospital bed.

Source - Wikipedia

When I started questioning my beliefs, when my spirits began flagging, these were the words that helped me face the vicissitudes of life.

INVICTUS is Latin for “Unconquered” which also means AJIT