Roads......

I step out of every phase of life,
With my best foot forward,
I try to walk towards the places I had dreamt off,
The roads are unfriendly,
They dont seem to take me there,
I fight with them,
I argue with them,
I reason with them,
I know where I want to go,
I tell them,
My walk is steady and steps determined,
I shall reach there, whatever the time,
We heard you walk, the roads say,
We have seen many like you make their way,
We extend from the source to the end and beyond, Oh traveller,
We have seen the nights, days and dawns,
You want to go to the place of your dreams,
We lead you away from your chosen path,
To show you new places,
If life were all about imagining and going where you wanted to,
Then why go there, Oh traveller?
If the place is going to be the same as the one you dreamt off,
Why see it when you have seen it before?
If that was all there was to life,
Just imagining a place and going there,
We wouldn't be needed Oh traveller, nor you,
The word destination contains the word destined,
The roads try to lead you to what is yours,
Whether you run on them, crawl or walk,
Whether you choose to look down and grumble,
Or look up and walk,
That is left to you,
When you reach somewhere,
You will see us again,
We dont start from somewhere and come to an end,
It is you who starts walking and stops,
It is you who argues with us and talks,
Be friends with us Oh traveler,
Let us show you the World,
We are as rough or soft as your thoughts,
And as long or short as your strides,
Talk to us, walk with us,
You and us, Oh traveler,
Are together what is called life....

-Aditya R Venkatesan

A 'Cinematic' experience

No one uses the word 'Cinema' nowadays.

It is derived from a French word 'Cinematograph' which in turn is derived from the word 'Kinematograph'.

Kinetic means motion or to move and graph means to write. Kinematography means moving and writing or writing while moving. Movies are made in this format, wherein the picture is recorded (graph)when the recording device is moving (Kinectic).

Theatre means a place for viewing. Since the images shown at theatres in this art form used the medium of Cinematography, they were called 'Cinema Theatres'

Long story short, a Cinema Theatre is a place where moving images are shown.

With the passage of time, they were simply called 'Cinema'.

A couple of years ago, we used to say, "We are going to the cinema" and a cinema theatre meant one with a single screen with a beam of light projecting some images on that huge piece of cloth.

Later on Multiplexes made their mark and we started saying "We are going to watch a movie" or "We are going to the movies". The word "Movie" is again derived from the word "Motion".

Today, I actually went to the cinema.

I saw a movie at Deepak Cinema at Lower Parel.

Deepak Cinema was started by a landlord named Tokershi Jivraj Gandhi in 1926. It is an 89 years old establishment and honestly I had never heard about it before.

A friend of mine wanted to see "Bridge of spies" and booked tickets at Deepak Cinema. Deepak Cinema now has a joint venture with an organization called Matterden CFC a creative company specializing in the field of media and technology.

Deepak Cinema now calls itself a 'Boutique' cinema and screens old hollywood movies alongwith the current blockbusters.

My friend had booked the tickets online and we were looking for a place to get our tickets. We are nowadays used to automated kiosks which spew out the tickets when the booking id is entered.

At Deepak Cinemas we had to obtain our tickets from a small ticket window. At the entrance we were greeted by a gentleman who told us that the movie did not have an interval and advised us to purchase any snacks that we wanted before we entered.

This is how the facade looks like,

As we entered, we were surprised to see that we had entered an open courtyard, an "Aangan" as it is called in Hindi, through an archway.

Quite a different entry. Nowadays, since we are used to the modern multiplexes this was something refreshing.

The courtyard had wooden benches and tables for people to sit, just like the ones at picnic spots or at college canteens.

A small kiosk at the corner served snacks and beverages.

As we entered the cinema hall, we found that the seats were arranged in the form of rows parallel to the main screen, unlike the semi circular layout that multiplexes use. This cinema hall had a section on the ground floor and one on the first floor which used to be called "Stall" and "Balcony" respectively in the good old days and nowadays are generally named after metallic colors or constellations.

The seating layout was really comfortable. One problem I have faced in a semi circular layout is that for a person sitting on the left side, the right side of the screen appears less bright than the left side. This cinema hall also seemed spacious and the legroom was great.

The movie was good, the cinema hall, great.

A different experience after a long time. Sometimes its nice to see some refreshing changes when it comes to theatre's. Watching a movie at Deepak cinema took me back in time. An old world ambiance with all the modern comforts and features.

After a long time I actually had a 'Cinematic Experience' today. I felt as if I had been to the cinema, and not simply watched a movie.


References,
http://www.mid-day.com/articles/lower-parels-deepak-talkies-new-and-improved/15141078
http://www.iamin.in/en/mumbai-south/news/deepak-talkies-opens-doors-classic-movies-39712
http://www.iamin.in/en/mumbai-south/news/deepak-talkies-opens-doors-classic-movies-39712
http://www.iamin.in/en/mumbai-south/news/matterden-screening-lawrence-oliviers-hamlet-lower-parel-43349
https://www.zomato.com/mumbai/the-cafe-matterden-cfc-lower-parel/info#tab

Magical Interludes

I like to listen to music, primarily Old Hindi songs, Arijit Singh, Rabbi Shergill, A R Rahman, Amit Trivedi, Tamil music too, Harris Jayaraj, K S Chitra and some old songs. I used to listen to them on the go, with the help of earphones.

After a while when I started feeling that I actually wasn't listening to them, just hearing them. I used to think about everything except the song playing in my ears. I ditched the habit. I then needed another instrument because I simply have to listen to music to refresh myself. I dusted the Creative speakers which were sparingly used and connected them to the computer. 

I started listening to music as I used to years ago. When I was listening to music on the go, I actually wasn't listening to the songs. I was hearing them no doubt, but not listening to them.

When I started listening to music the old school way, with the help of speakers and a woofer I actually started listening to it, not simply hearing it. It also helps that the speakers are loud enough for me to sing along yet not let my voice undermine that of the artist.

I observed something about great songs and great music composers. A couple of seconds in those particular songs are what make them magical, moments of magic, if I may say so.

Sometimes it is the combination of instruments, the singers voice when he just lets go, the powerful lyrics in that stanza or a single instrument playing for a few seconds and then all of them playing together to reach a crescendo. 

Those seconds could be called a finale, moments of magic, cascading notes etc etc.

I prefer to call those seconds of a song, magical interludes.

A R Rahman's songs have them in abundance. Those few seconds I feel are what add to A R Rahman's magic. The few seconds in Chinna Chinna Aasai where Rahman's sings. In Ishq Bina from Taal all surrounding sounds disappear and a lone violin starts playing, followed by Sonu Nigam's voice

Amit Trivedi's songs have them too, in Zinda unplugged wherein again all the surrounding sounds wane and disappear and Amit Trivedi sings "Hawa se jo maanga hissa mera, toh badle mein hawaa ne saans di". At the end of this stanza, Amit Trivedi lets himself go and it is a moment of magic listening to his voice reach a peak and all the other instruments start playing in sync immediately after that .

Hard to forget "Kabira" from Yeh Jawani Hain Diwani sung by Arijit Singh, when he sings "Teri manzilon ko chuke bata, tera raasta, tere guzre dinon se jaga tera vaasta". The lyrics....

All great songs have such magical interludes. They are what make that song immortal and a masterpiece. They are the reason those songs feel new even when we listen to them after a long time

Those interludes do not seem to belong to a genre, time frame or age, they seem to belong to the composer who thought about them.

Start making a list of your magical interludes and start adding those songs to your playlist. :-)

Reasons for writing on a blog....

Long time since I wrote on this blog. Really long time, about 8 months.

Why I didn't come around to write something, lots of reasons.

Many a times when it comes to actually writing something, I found that articulating ones thoughts and forming words and then typing on the screen is not as easy as it sounds, especially if I have frivolous reasons to try and use fancy English words so that the readers admire my English. Then I find that the fancy words are not exactly helping me say what I want to say.

Then there is this eternal dilemma. When I wanted to write, I didn't have anything to write about, and when I had some thoughts worth sharing, I didn't feel like writing.

Another reason for not writing on the blog is that sometimes I used to feel that there isn't point writing something if people are not going to read it and make loads of comments. That is pure ego talking there. I realized the absurdness of it all. That shouldn't be a reason to write something on a blog. Even if those comments do come, not all of them will be good and that is not a great reason to write something on a blog.

A blog should be meant to convey thoughts, it need not be a trendsetter, or a trailblazer of sorts.

If many people like me go through what I do, feel the same things and then when they read my blog, they find that they are not the only people with that particular point of view or opinion, that's enough I suppose.

I did travel a little, I could write something about that. When you are sitting in your office on a Friday evening, tired after facing the week, a cup of coffee in hand, piles of emails to send and reply to before wrapping up the weekend, a small experience would be nice to entertain you for a while.

I did form some opinions and introspect a little more about life, maybe something about that.

So now that I understand or rather I am clear about the purpose of my blog, merely to share my thoughts and experiences and not worry about 'Views' or 'Likes' or 'Comments', you will surely see me writing more.