Daughter of the East

The sun has set in the East
Pain and sadness house the heart
I goad the ashes for a hope
Mourns a nation torn apart
The bog rejoices its success
Though her specter shall prevail
Sounding the reveille
Till democracy takes its revenge

These verses were penned down last year. I guess it is necessary to give an idea about the time frame because the lines have somewhat lost their shine.

11:30 pm. 27th December, 2007, standing outside the PPP regional office, looking at the lambent tongues of flame, a hope burgeoned in me that this might lead to a chain effect(don’t read revolution); ousting of the junta and installation of democratic leadership. Hope was fulfilled but certainly not the way I wanted.

Did we learn anything? If the people of Pakistan get a free and fair chance to elect new guards for future security in the next elections then we just might had.

Good Will Hunting

Finally there was something worth that one and a half hour. I truly regret not getting my hands on it earlier. Every scene was a pearl in a string. I would resist the temptation to write down every single dialogue over here and restrict myself to a few.

First there was this scene where Will is having an argument with a big-headed Harvard first-year grad student (Clark) who was trying to make Will’s friend Chuckie look bad in front of girls. Will comes in and shuts him up by telling that he is just repeating some previously crammed lines from a book and doesn’t have any original thought on the subject. The last line is what answers a lot of questions. I think this what matters in the final analysis. Here is an excerpt

Clark: Well, as a matter of fact, I won't, because Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social -
Will: Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth"? You got that from Vickers' "Work in Essex County," page 98, right? Yeah, I read that too. Were you gonna plagiarize the whole thing for us? Do you have any thoughts of your own on this matter? Or do you, is that your thing, you come into a bar, read some obscure passage and then pretend - you pawn it off as your own, as your own idea just to impress some girls, embarrass my friend?
Clark: [looks down in shame]
Will: See, the sad thing about a guy like you is, in 50 years you're gonna start doin' some thinkin' on your own and you're going to come up with the fact that there are two certainties in life: one, don't do that, and two, you dropped 150 grand on an education you could have got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library!
Clark: Yeah, but I will have a degree. And you'll be servin' my kids fries at a drive-thru on our way to a skiing trip.
Will: That may be, but at least I won't be unoriginal.

Skylar and Will have this energy or some kind of vibe which makes everything around them 'comfortable' when they are together. I don't know how to explain it, maybe that is what good chemistry is all about. I liked the way Sean described soul mates, not to mention Will's reply.

SEAN:Do you have a soul-mate?
WILL:Define that.
SEAN:Someone who challenges you in every way. Who takes you places, opens things up for you. A soul-mate.
WILL:Yeah. Shakespeare, Neitzche, Frost, O'Connor, Chaucer, Pope, Kant--
SEAN:They're all dead.
WILL:Not to me, they're not.
SEAN:But you can't give back to them, Will.

There are many scenes which I would have loved to share but someone who hasn't seen the movie would be somewhat lost. Taking an excerpt out is pretty brutal. It's like breaking that string, the charm of looking it as a whole is far greater. I'll end this post with this clip.

Enigmatic and enchanting. Perhaps it was Will's turn to face some originality :)

Starting Afresh

Perhaps I read this story in Bustaan-e-Saadi. Neither I remember the exact words nor am I able to find the book. It was about a very old person, who on being inquired about his age, replied that he was merely four years old, adding that it has been only four years since meaning of this life has dawned upon him so he had decided to disregard rest of the sixty meaningless years (or something to that effect).

Looking back over the years and the idea of disregarding them in a jiffy seems welcoming, brooding over them does not. So much time has been wasted. Still don’t know and understand a lot many things. Never learnt them and might never get the chance to do so. The vague desire of man to be homo universalis...

It would be nice to move on, start afresh. But what guarantee does one have that ten or twenty years down the road one wouldn’t stumble upon a new meaning, a new horizon. The previous one was just a mirage, another run-of-the-mill trick out of the great magician’s bag. Idols smashed down, and principals torched. Life would be again on the crossroads. Then once again this urge to trample over the bygone years would seethe but it would be the threshold of that troubled, twilight period which Turgenev describes as the one when regrets come to resemble hopes, and hopes are beginning to resemble regrets, when youth is fled and old age is fast approaching. The decision would be much difficult then.

A Gamble

All the aces of my life
willingly proffered to her
She had nothing to lose
I, everything to gain
cognizant of previous wounds
Inner-self demurred temerity
Effacing every doubt
letting her complete me
Took her time, had her fill
But left without a goodbye

12th December, 2008. Published in US Magazine, The News

Of Parenting

When you were young and accidently broke your mother’s favorite vase, did you simply collapse with fear? When your father used to come home, did you with the rest of your siblings scatter away turning out T.V, DVD Player as you flew the coop? Did you have to think a gazillion times before you could go up to your parents and say,” I made a boo-boo and I am sorry”?

If my long term memory serves me right, corporal punishment was never an option in our house. All I remember is a blow on the back from dad while studying for mathematics’ examination (I am sure it was unintentional) and a slap or two from mom (purely intentional) for pestering her. At first I thought these were the perks of being the only kid but this punishment thing simply doesn’t run in the family.

After so many years, I wonder, would have I turned out any different if answers to these questions in the first paragraph had been in affirmative. Most probably I would have. Would it have been worth it? I don’t know. It’s all relative. The temptation and ability to blab out everything at the end of the day to my folks is something I cherish. Best present a parent could give to his/her child. Many a times I simply didn’t do something bad, because I knew I would ultimately let it all out. They would come to know and there is no hiding from them. I knew I wouldn’t get a beating but still I was and am scared. Mental warfare at its best.

Worst times have been those when intentionally or unintentionally this communication gap was temporarily bottlenecked. As soon as you find yourself not answerable to anyone, problems start brewing up. Mr. Know-it-all smarty pants ends up creating one heck of a mess. Our lives would be much simpler if these communication lines are kept live and running.

I once read in Reader’s Digest to consider your children as grown ups when they stop asking you from where they came and stop telling you where they are going. I think no matter how much we grow up we should always let them know where we are going. They may not always like it and we may not always agree but in the end it works out for the good. One could never find a better cushion to fall back on. They are your first and last line of defense. The chink less armor.