Friday 8 January 2010
Just can't get it right today!
I just can't seem to get it right today
I just can't seem to get it right today
I just can't seem to get it right today
I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh, I guess I'm gonna give up
It's nearly been a year since he's been gone
And we still sing his goodbye songs
Goodness knows she should move on
But she just can't let him go
No, she just can't let him go
I'm sorry if I made you want to cry
I'm sorry if I made you want to cry
You should know, I never meant to hide
I just hate bringing you down
Oh, I just hate bringing you down
I just can't seem to get it right today
I just can't seem to get it right today
I just can't seem to get it right today
I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh, I guess I'm gonna give up
And I dropped my paintbrush in the dirt
Still remember just how much that hurt
I cut my hand and wait for it to work
But I just couldn't bring him back
No, I just couldn't bring him back
I just can't seem to get it right today
Oh, I just can't seem to get it right today
I just can't seem to get it right today
I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh, I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh Lord I said I guess I'm gonna give up
Oh Lord I said I guess I'm gonna give up
(A song by Joe Purdy, American folk singer, songwriter! This song is playing in loop on my comp, ipod n in my ears all the while for last two days! Can't get over the feeling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IikEuzPINy4 )
Saturday 19 December 2009
Salvapantallas
Screensaver (Salvapantallas)
I have your voice
I have your cough
I have your songs in mine
Our parallel paths
Like two hooks
On the same wall
Let the bricks command
And I will,
rope the old photographs
We pedaled
against the wind,
behind the waves.
Now I have a song
to show,
maybe when I go ....
I have your smile
in a corner of
myscreensaver
Years ago
Suddenly the house
filled with songs
Music and poetry
sprouting from many corners.
Let the walls command
and I will fight this
war with those old guitars
We pedaled
against time
casting off…
Here's to the times
we lost
the old battles.
and for the rest,
I have your smile
in a corner
of my screensaver
Ruhaan
Translated, with minor modifications, from Spanish song Salvapantallas-Jorge Drexler
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Al otro lado del rio
I nail my oar in the water
I carry your oar in mine
I believe I have seen a light
On the other side of the river
The day will come when we will be able to conquer
Little by little, the cold
I believe I have seen a light
On the other side of the river
Above all, I believe that all is not lost
So many tears, So many tears
And I am an empty glass
I hear a voice that calls to me,
almost as a sigh :
"Row, Row, Row!
Row, Row, Row!"
In this border of the world
Where we are imprisoned, are uncultivated,
I believe that I have seen a light
On the other side of the river
I, very serious, go rowing
Very deeply inside and I smile
I believe that I have seen a light
On the other side of the river
Above all, I believe that
all is not lost
So many tears, So many tears.. and
I am an empty glass
I hear a voice that calls to me,
almost as a sigh :
"Row, Row, Row!
Row, Row, Row!
I nail (plunge) my oar in the water
I carry your oar in mine
I believe I have seen a light
On the other side of the river
(Translated from originl Spanish song "al otro lado del rio" by Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler)
Friday 25 September 2009
say hello, wave goodbye!
Say hello, wave goodbye
The news came this morning- my friend from
Moyla was a dear friend from one of the ‘rehabilitation sites’ in Shahada. He had shifted to the rehabilitation site with his wife and three children around four years back. Large part of his life before this was shadowed by the struggle against the massive dam and all other hardships… he had witnessed his fields and house succumbing to the ruinous reservoir of Sardar Sarovar Project more than thrice… I control the temptation to write something stupid like “despite the hardships Moyla maintained a smile on his face”, for he did not! Moyla had developed this sharp cynicism instead. He knew what had he lost and what had he got in return and this made him a disturbingly sarcastic person… I have come across a very few people who can handle so much of sarcasm without a tinge of negativity.
Moyla spoke Bhili, a language in which Moyla means ‘dead’. He once told me over a round of Gudgudi, that when he was born, he neither made a movement nor he cried for about five minutes. People around him thought the child is stillborn and just when they were to take him away from his mother he started crying. They decided to name him Moyla, due to this confusion. Moyla repeatedly made all possible puns making connections between his name and death!
Moyla’s was the only house in the rehabilitation site where one could find Gudgudi, a local Hokkah, made from a dry bottle gourd-like fruit. A mix of crushed Mahua flowers and tobacco made the flavour for this unique intoxicant. Each time I visited the rehabilitation site, I spent hours at his house sharing rounds of Gudgudi with Moyla and his wife. This routine continued till about two weeks back when I last saw him.
Moyla was fond of having his photos clicked and asked me to click one of his family during my last visit. When I went to his home with camera, his wife quickly changed her Sari and got ready for the photo while Moyla took off the shirt that he was wearing. When asked about the reason for taking his shirt off he said, “When your friends see a photo of a well-dressed man, they would not believe that I am a tribesman. I know what they like to believe and I do not want to disturb their faith!”
Moyla loved to gossip in person, he loved to smoke bidis and he loved to observe and think! He kept his life limited to these activities when he was not in the field toiling under the sun! Moyla indeed inspired me in more ways than one!
Friday 21 August 2009
Motherese
The title is a known phenomenon from psycho-linguistics. It is a very beautiful concept--it is a particular style in which mother speaks to her infant. She speaks slow, a word or a letter at a time and infant gradually learns the language...she (infant) first starts 'thinking' and converts signals from brain into words & finally starts speaking or may be making more meaningful sounds! It does not matter whether a particular child has any natural challenges of verbal expression,; in her mind she still learns the language....Most of us have picked up our mother-tongues, native languages this way!
My blog is in a way an attempt to express my thoughts in such a way that I express only what I feel I must... mainly to myself....and occasionally to everyone ...but always a thought at a time.....-hence MOTHERESE!