Yet another shot at pinning down Love

Doesn't Love come

In all shapes;

All sizes;

All colours.

Multiple times.

Simultaneously. 

In all ways;

In any way,

Anyways. 

Reflection

Of oneself,

In other eyes. 

Perception of

A piece of divinity. 

The sunshine.

Timelessness.

Limitlessness.

Spontaneous connection-

A oneness. 

Synchronicity in the air. 

If all that be Love,

Don't we then go all ways? 

Woman, Man, Fluid, Trans...

Lame, Sightless, Deaf, One-armed...

Socialist, Communist, Capitalist, Humanist... 

Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Jain... 

Married.

Single.

Divorced.

Separated.

Complicated... 

What else cannot be transcended? 

Beyond. 

In Love. 

Every One,

A potential soulmate. 

You would see your reflection,

In the nasty worm 

that eve-teased you,

or adam-teased,

In the bus yesterday. 

But if you meet your teaser

In the dark alley

And see your reflection,

as (s)he overpowers you,

And don't whack your reflection

In the balls, 

Genitals, 

If that is what it takes; 

Then I will call you 

Completely cuckoo! 

If I am in limitedness,

Can I perceive limitlessness? 

If I am incomplete,

How can anybody ever complete me? 

If I am not in love with myself,

Do I really, truly, love anyone else? 

Love knows no sacrifice. 

Clarified, rare, moments

Of pure perception,

Oneness of being

That needs no more doing. 

Isn’t it its own doing?

Doesn't Love fulfil itself? 

We do more: 

Plan 
Expect 
Talk 
Demand 
Court 
Marry 
Protect      
Help... 

For ourselves. 

Jab Harry Met Sejal

An appraisal of Harry and Sejal's meeting, many years after it actually happened.  

Image from Kathmandutribune.com

This is a leisurely, lazy, alright-why-not piece on this Imtiaz-Ali-meets-Bollywood-Stardom movie, Jab Harry Met Sejal.  I really love the original of all these Meeting movies, When Harry Met Sally. I also love the Imtiaz Ali version, Jab We Met.  So I waited breathlessly for Jab We Met 2 (Jab Harry Met Sejal).  But ended up catching my breath and actually watching it sometime this year only.  I read some of the not-so-favourable reviews and hadnt wanted to get disappointed because Imtiaz Ali is one of my favourite Tellers of modern Indian Love stories. Well, now what I am feeling is ambivalent.  Not so disappointed and yet a little disappointed. It has Ali's touch of love for sure. How he narrates the course of love and dances around and through those fine boundaries that romantic love unwittingly transgresses is definitely there. Watch the movie to get a taste of Imtiaz Ali's world of love and romance.  He usually remains within mainstream Bollywood lines and tries to stretch those lines from the inside by depicting complex nuances and shades of love between black and white. 

The film also has a taste of Bollywood stardom. Well, more like mouthfuls of it. In the bigger than life form of Shah Rukh Khan of course. If you have never been to Europe, then you must go on this proxy Europe tour with an aging but still handsome and charming SRK as your tour guide. I think he was actually meant to be a grumpy and insulting man who has been dragged to repeat a tour (grudgingly) in a futile search for a bauble, by a nauseatingly innocent woman in search of herself. He starts out well. But he loses the act very quickly and becomes his charming Shah Rukh Khan self soon. I mean, come on, this is SRK we are talking about. He cant surely be anything but "Raj, Naam to Suna hi Hoga"? But the sprightly Anushka Sharma carries her act through quite convincingly for most of the movie, with her Gujarati accent and calling Harry, Hairy. However, maybe falling in love changed her fundamental mannerisms and accent?  She loses it some time in the second half of the movie, and I was wondering if I was looking at a repeat performance of "Taaniji" from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.  But, I remember that we are still in the frames of an Imtiaz Ali love story - and I realise the story is trying to as well.  

The characterisation is intact. One or both of the protagonists are usually in search of themselves or some part of themselves in Ali's movies and love helps them discover, and transforms them. Of course for the better. This is true blue Indian romantic love we are talking about, ne? Here, the woman trying to come to terms with her sexuality, coming in to her own, getting comfortable and gaining confidence in her own skin is a journey that we get to see, albeit in slightly immature, teenagerish ways. But hey, who am I to judge? To each her own, right?  A man losing his inner "womanising" self through falling in love and finding a home within himself as well as an actual returning home, is perhaps the other journey.  The man's journey could have been more compelling, more attentive, in its portrayal.  And yet, we do get to see the subtle inner conflicts that arise, the contrariness and the resonances that humans can display in the throes of romance. We are told quite upfront that Harry is a 'womaniser' and Sejal sees this truth, and has no value judgement about it. That is a refreshing difference in Bollywood cinema. She also sees the underlying truth of his loneliness. That is a subtle thread of relationship and understanding that was captured quite touchingly and yet without fanfare and raucousness.  Here is a Harry unmasking his flamboyant colours to discover a sensitive self within, and here is a Sejal who is coming out of her hitherto protected, cocooned existence to find her bold and flamboyant self.  

There is also the usual spiritual, psychological, Rumi undercurrent that is there in Ali's movies that sort of laughs along with life's ironies (or feels poignant, like in Highway). Think about it - in this film there is a gem, something priceless that they are searching for everywhere outside and this leads them on a merry dance, and ultimately she finds it with herself.  And by the time she finds it, we and possibly she as well, realise that the real treaure that she is searching for is something else, which is also with(in) her.  Call me whimsical, but that seems to me like a metaphor for life's search.  "The treasure is within" or some such!  (There is also the phrase from the movie itself and its song, Jeeve Soniya - "What you seek is seeking you")

The music pieces are good as stand-alones but do not really flow with the story.  Like I said, if you have a leisurely, lazy Sunday, and as an absolute fan of Imtiaz Ali you have watched every other movie of his, then Jab Harry Met Sejal is an alright-why-not, to complete the Ali collection. 

You Wait for Me

The feeling of Utter Joy. 
What am I searching for? 
Everything is right here. 
Just here. 
Being Home. 
You of course are a manifestation. 
Of this. Of being Home. of Being home. 
Is it just you Arunachala? 
Or just me? 
What is this resting? 
I am in it.
It is in me. 
It wont be for long.
Wo(man)'s destiny is to Search! 
But just for now,
I rest. 
-------------------

I heard this story of a Guru. 
He knocked his disciple unconscious,
Who wakes up awhile;
Aware. 
Of his Highest Consciousness. 
A ton of bricks hit me.
And I have fallen;
In Love, it must be. 
For this Intelligence, Love, 
Whatever you want to call it. 
The Big It. Supreme Spirit. 
Highest Self, The Buddha. 
Krishna, Govinda, Shiva, Brahman.
Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Sarada Devi. 
Whatever you name It. 
Whatever form you give It. 
It is in Love with us. 
-------------------

You've been sending me 
Messages and invitations. 
All this while. 
You've been asking me,
To turn and look at you. 
You want to dance with me;
No more no less. 
What do you do?! 
When I don't see your messages. 
You knock at my door,
You ring the bell, time and again. 
I say, what a nuisance,
This bell is. 
-------------------

Someone got lucky.
His It, It crashed his door open! 
-------------------

You have hurled grenades at me.
You've also rained on me;
A bone-drenching downpour,
Complete with light and sound effects - 
You've called to me - 
Thru' unconditional love.
     My daughter's touch. 
     The lick of my beloved canine.

And what do I feel? 
My daughter's touch. 
My dog's lick. 
And my love for her
& her touch. 
My love for my dog
& his lick. 
My love for my partner,
& his kiss. 
I have gotten lost in them. 
Blind and deaf to the invitation behind. 

The Invitation behind,
Every name,\
Every form,
Every label,
Every category,
Every idea,
Every condition,
Every every.
That now I know
Is waiting for me. 
You wait for me. 
-------------------

It is patient and active
All the time. 
Of this I am sure: 
My It is in love with me.
Just as yours is in love with you! 
Of this also I am sure: 
That I will again and again,
Lose myself - 
I will forget to unwrap the covering,
to find the invitation inside. 
All that I can pray for is then,
Even if I forget,
Let me again and again, 
Wake up to your summons. 

Its a New Love Story

What do you do

When you fall in Love

All over again? 

You've been with him,

Twenty years. 

Touched heights of ecstasy,

Together,

And sunk to the depths of despair. 

You've been with him,

While separated and apart

Not understanding - 

Why & how he's within. 

You've been with him,

Thru' the times without. 

While he'was changing

To a different he.

And you'ere changing 

To a different you.

Time leaves her marks. 

It's another he, now.

And another you. 

Inexorably drawn together

Yet again,

By some ancient, secret rhythm-

That makes you dance with him. 

For him. 

Names have not changed;

It seems like,

The same old husband-

And wife,

Making comfortable home & hearth.

And yet. 

It's a new Love Story,

That you both are narrating. 

Fresh, like the morning dew. 

Of hearts in tune - 

Learning to sing together,

The many songs of life,

Blending, seasoning... 

So, what do you do? 

You write a poem,

About falling in Love again,

And the promise

Of being held by it

And holding it.