Poems of Life...

I am back folks. Few weeks back I watched a Hindi movie called Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara after lot of cajoling interspersed with some degree of threat from a very close pal of mine. It was highly entertaining that cuts through the treacle. But, the movie was more than just an entertainment. It was a collage of existential snafus and complex relationships. But, there is light at the end of tunnel. Three musketeers traversed a journey of lifetime, leaving the audience with a FEEL that defines the argot of new generation lifestyle and its complexity.

In this blog, I am not going to discuss the plot. For that please go and watch the movie. I am more interested in the poems uttered in soliloquy (that too in the background) by Imran, one of the protagonists. Imran is a copywriter by profession but he writes for himself too. This is revealed during a conversation with his biological father. Few of those poems have turned out to be an inspiration of life which we shall see later. His life is riddled with multitude problems. So is everyone’s. The director has employed a technique of divergence & convergence in an attempt to give the plot a well knit structure. Imran’s poems serve as catalyst to unwind those stitches.

Kabir, Arjun and Imran are the ‘three musketeers’ who are childhood buddies working in various parts of the world to earn their living. However, Kabir is getting married and hence the three pals must meet and celebrate a bachelor party where adventurous sport awaits them.

Imran got involved with the ex-girl friend of Arjun few years back. Since then, their friendship took an altogether different dimension, stone-cold and strenuous. In a heated argument followed by Imran’s prank (throwing away cell phone from a running car) Arjun couldn’t stop his old wound gushing out, tearing asunder the shackles of untold frustration he cackled:

“Hooking up with my girl friend was not funny…”

4 years have passed since that incident and Imran has apologized many a times, but some wounds take time to heal, some never does.

Imran: How many times do I have to apologize? Let’s just make it clear

Arjun: (pointing towards his heart) Till it doesn’t come from here.

The stray of divergence reached its zenith. Arjun is a lonely guy. A typical NRI, hacks, who doesn’t have time for his private life. He is unwilling to take that incident as a mere “accident”, and rightly so. Beseeching for the most peaceful place on earth, Arjun experienced an under-sea diving with the help of instructor Laila (later turned into love-birds). Hard, stingy soul showed a sign of vulnerability as Laila painted sheds of grey on the dreary palette of a sensible mind. Tears streaming down his face, silence, moment of inspiration invokes poetry-from whom else?-his beloved friend Imran.

"The moment flows by the molten sapphire

Deep blue silences

No Earth below, no sky above

The rustling branches and leaves

Are saying only you are here

Only me

My breath and my heartbeat

Such depth, such solitude

And me, Only me

I now believe I exist”

Surreal. Touchy. Ceaseless goading edifies the silence. The warmth of molten sapphire breaks the brazen gait of loneliness; the “bliss of solitude” breaks the mire of depression- Imran’s poem catapults the ‘cuddle-seeking-nature’ of human beings, its expression in reverie. Not only Arjun, but each and every person living under the ruthless roof of post-modernist kingdom helped by unfathomed complexity can’t help themselves rather to cry and surrender to the brutal complexity that life has to offer. Life in all its bounty is not always mundane, bleak and desolate. Life needs exuberance, life needs Laila. Act of convergence, part 1.

Imran, the poet himself needs to find, what mysteries life has stored for him under the radar of false parentage. He needs to find his biological father. He needs to find the truth. TRUTH about why he was left to brought up by another man, who was ‘father’ in every sense, but a different blood.

However, the thrill was cut short. Agony that conjured him so long was gone. Instead silence pervaded. Father, denies to take responsibility- it was shock then, it is shock now. The prejudice that has eclipsed his judgment for his mother needs awash. It was time for another poem, another heart-burnt epiphany of life.

"When clouds of pain loom in the sky

When a shadow of sadness flickers by

When a tear finds its way to the eye When fear keeps the loneliness alive

I try and console my heart Why is it that you cry? I ask; This is only what life imparts

These deep silences within

Have been handed out to all by time

Everyone’s story has a little sorrow

Everyone’s share has a little sunshine No need for water in your eyes

Every moment can be a new life

Why do you let them pass you by

Oh heart, why is it that you cry?”

Riding through the caravan of joy our life takes the trajectory of unknown sorrow that is hard to express, hard to touch, hard to feel even- you cry- you become numb-you love- only fly in the ointment remains that you don’t know why you are doing all these things. We are no androids, cyborgs, not characters of science fictions- We are bloody humans. The lugubrious homo sapiens. “I love you Imran” cries her mother- and we finish act of convergence, part 2.

The final act of parity is also restored by the lilting cadence of Imran’s poetry. Kabir has got himself entangled to a marriage which he is not ready for and doesn’t have the courage to speak the truth before his family members. For him it is too late. But better late than never, says life. They face the mighty rage of mad-bulls hounding behind them after participating in the traditional bull-race of Spain. Final lessons learnt- Life is all about motion, Run-Run-Run. Imran’s final poem sums up the essence of life; life- that inspires to move on.

"If you’re carrying your restlessness in your heart

You are alive

If you’re carrying the lightning of dreams in your eyes

You are alive

Like a gust of wind learn to live free Like to flow like the waves that make a sea

Let your arms be wide open to every moment you meet

May every moment gift you a new sight to greet

If you’re carrying your wonder in your eyes

You are alive

If you’re carrying your restlessness in your heart

You are alive”

The cup of torsion is full and like the gust of wind, like the sleepy blue ocean and playing waves the protagonists start their new journey with zest, gusto and promise in heart. Through Imran and his poems, an epiphany is reached- epiphany of how to face challenges in life. If you can fathom it, then YOU ARE ALIVE…