Its amazing how kids can react to art..unlike grown ups they don't need to find recognizable shapes and a reasonable presentation of facts. In the morning i was watching 'Mirror Mask', a fantasy movie with my daughter. I could see her getting completely engrossed in the narrative. There were absolutely no questions like ..how can this happen..how can a cat have a man's face ..I waited in vain for her to ask something but she was completely satisfied. On and off i could hear her mutter 'aisa nahi hona chahiye tha' thats when the protagonist, a teenage girl would be carried away by black elements or could be seen in clutches of horrifying creatures.
Its sad how logic and reason take over fertile qualities of imagination and fantasy as we grow up. Feel a dire need to return to fairytales, folktales and this time read them like my daughter without a single question in my mind..will it be possible to unlearn..will it be possible to shake away the reason which has so strongly made a dwelling in my heart..is it possible to be a child again ...i wonder

I can't drive. As soon as I turned 18 i joined a driving school and in less than a fortnight had my learners license in my wallet. The actual test came when my dad started taking me out for driving practice in his car. Suddenly the realisation dawned upon me that it wasn't me who used to drive the institute car so smoothly...I gave up in some time..couldn't coordinate my hand and leg movements..found it terribly ardous and was completely dejected.Few years back gave it a try again but failed miserably. Probably in near future will try once more ..like the spider..try try again until you succeed.
Today while going to college i saw frustrated faces behind the wheels caught in a terrible traffic jam while i was reading 'Death of the Author' by Roland Barthes. These days i feel good about the fact that college is so far from my place. I get to read so much and somehow i have always found reading while commuting or traveling very exciting..there are no absolutely no distractions and you don't even get to change your position..its more like meditating...remember reading a conversation that swami laxman joo had with one of his disciples in which he stressed on the importance of meditation while moving....Now if if had been driving i would me missing this won't i? It might sound like making a virtue out of a necessity but then there are always two sides to a coin. As a college student have done my maximum reading in buses and trains..but then it cannot take away the fact that i can't drive and i should be doing something about it soon.

Monalisa Smile

Yesterday I saw Monalisa Smile, the movie, for the fifth time. Couldn't resist but put aside the aricle i was reading to see the movie again. Apart from being a good hollywood movie starring extremely talented Julia Roberts it appeals a lot to me personally. Its about a young woman Katherine who gets selected to teach Art History course in an elite and highly traditional college in mid 1950's . The movie is moreover about her bohemian and radical attitude and her efforts to make Art a living breathing discourse than a boring subject. Her interaction with her students goes beyond the classroom discussions and she helps them look at things differently...she makes them react to Art rather than remember facts about it...But she soon becomes an eyesore for the elite society and she is virtually thrown out of the college

Her student Betty who had written against her earlier writes in her last writeup

"...she is going to Europe ..there she will find new walls to break she has been a total wanderer but not all wanderings are aimless...."

Katherine is not successful in the strict sense of the term but she manages to touch various lives in her short sojourn..really makes me wonder what success really means

Are resolves meant for breaking..lets see

I have made a resolve to write everyday..anything that i feel like..probably jot down my ponderings..thats how this blog was born..why a blog..why not a dairy ..hmmmm because i don't want to lose whatever i have written..funny how the virtual space seems to be safer than a good old dairy...various narratives are always bubbling in my head, especially when i am traveling alone..at that time they seem to have tremendous potential but when i get to write them down there is a terrible quality loss...this reminds me of bhartrhari's three stages of speech..when my thoughts are in pasyanti mode they make so much sense but unfortunately what comes out on my computer screen leaves much to be desired...maybe i need some more practice...practice in writing extempore without correcting myself ..without stopping to relook what i have written...not exactly automatism but some form of internal purging...an exercise..lets see how long i can keep it up before i take refuge is ghalib's words
khayal hi to hai, badal sakta hai