Aadat ...no not Atif Aslam one!

Hello and welcome back!

In between all the Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj magic, I heard this little really cute romantic piece and it just stuck in my mind and since then it has been going on in a loop since a pretty long time. This is a one off song from the movie Patiala House and the movie is so unlike the song! No, I didn't plan and went for the movie but it just so happened that I saw the movie and throughout the movie, I was waiting for the song and what I find; it is the end rolling-credits song! I was thoroughly disappointed but never mind the song is so good.

The overall music of the movie is not so bad, okayish hummable songs but the one that stands out for me is this one. It must be the best song sung by Vishal Dadlani. He has just surpassed himself in this one. Music is given by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and they are pretty good as always. What I was most surprised by was the lyricist of this song. I have never heard of her although she has penned down so many songs and even dialogues for movies like Kambakht Ishq, Dostana, Heyy Babyy, Tashan etc. The songs of all the above mentioned movies are pretty good and definitely can be listened to more than once. But Anvita Dutt Guptan has just conjured something out of her magic hat to pen down this lyrics. Simple yet so strong and carrying so much emotions!

The song is very simple and is pretty much self-explanatory. The lover compares his beloved as being a habit and he feels that this habit is everywhere around him, in all the things he possesses. Further he says, she is so amazingly beautiful that for once even her creator (read God) must have been infatuated whenever he would have looked at her!
Ahh! The play of words!

वो आदत है वो.... - विशाल ददलानी

ख्वाबों के लिफाफों में,
किस्सों में किताबों में,
फुरसतों की बातों में,
अरसों से ख्यालों में,

थोड़ी खोई हुई,
कब से सोई हुई,
वो आदत है वो.........

करवटों की बाँहों में,
सिलवटों की राहों में,
सहमी सहमी सांसों में,
सुरमई सी बातों में,

जिद्द सी छुटे नहीं,
मुझसे रूठे नहीं,
वो आदत है वो.......

वो देखे जिधर,
डोले नियत उधर,
ये महका हुनर,
उसने सीखा किधर,

उसको बनाने वाला,
कुछ कुछ तो बहका होगा,
जब भी पड़ी होगी नजर....

चोट बनके कभी,
ऐसे दिल पे लगी,
वो आदत है वो....

इन्तेज़ारों में रहूँ,
उम्र भर में तो रुकूं,
दिल को कैसे दूं सुकून,
उस से मैं ये कह सकूँ,

यूँ ज़ुबां पे चढ़ी,
महंगी जो है पड़ी,
वो आदत है वो........

वो देखे जिधर,
डोले नियत उधर,
ये महका हुनर,
उसने सीखा किधर,

उसको बनाने वाला,
कुछ कुछ तो बहका होगा,
जब भी पड़ी होगी नजर....

चोट बनके कभी,
ऐसे दिल पे लगी,
वो आदत है वो....

ख्वाबों के लिफाफों में,
किस्सों में किताबों में,
फुरसतों की बातों में,
अरसों से ख्यालों में,
ला ला ला ला ल ला....
वो आदत है वो....

P.S.- Songs with the word Aadat are something special!

Gulzared! Part 2 Contd...

Now moving on to the main version of the song. This song has a proper metal-rock kind of composition. Initially starting with vocals taking the center stage and then gradually the accompaniments taking over specially the guitar and the drums. There is some rap also inlaid into the song whose lyrics are pretty hard to decipher but overall it gives an amazing quality to the song. Special mention here for K.K. who has done an amazing job with his voice giving so many different textures to it in a single song!

3. O Mama - K.K. , Clinton Cerejo (Rap)

O mama ...... O mama ...... O mama ...... O mama ......
दिल से ही अब सोचता है दिल मेरा,
O mama, O mama,
सर को अक्सर नोचता है दिल मेरा,
O mama, O mama,
अब खैर तो नहीं,कोई बैर तो नहीं,
दुश्मन जी ये मेरा,वो भी गैर तो नहीं,
जो दिल गया गया..................
O mama, O mama,
O mama.....कन्चे मारे,
बिल्ली जैसी आँखों वाली,
एक म्याऊँ सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama,
ऊँघे कभी, सूंघे कभी, झांके कभी,
आऊं कभी, कभी जाऊं सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama.

ऐसे दबे पाँव आये वो की चाप न हो,
O mama, O mama,
ख्वाब में मिल जाये लेकिन वो ख्वाब न हो,
O mama, O mama,
उम्मीद तो नहीं, फिर भी उम्मीद हो,
कोई तो इस तरह आशिक शहीद हो,
कोई गया गया ..........
O mama, O mama,
O mama.... कन्चे मारे,
बिल्ली जैसी आँखों वाली,
एक म्याऊँ सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama,
ऊँघे कभी, सूंघे कभी, झांके कभी,
आऊं कभी, कभी जाऊं सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama,
O mama.................

The acoustic version deals more with the beauty of the beloved whereas this version describes the state of the lover who is hopelessly, truly, madly, deeply in love with the beloved.

He is cursing his heart, saying that all his thinking processes are carried out by his heart only and not his brain. His heart overpowers his brain and does not allow the brain to function normally being enchanted by the beloved. His heart has become his own enemy and now he has lost it to the beloved and can't be saved. And over that he can't do anything about it because after-all it is his own heart!

The next few lines are the same as in the acoustic version and describes the beauty that the beloved is using weird similes and situations which I have tried to explain in the previous post.

In the next para, the poet is describing the wishful thinking of the lover. The lover yearns that the beloved comes to her tip toeing (so that he is not aware of her approach) while he is dreaming of meeting her implying that although he is meeting her in a dream but she is not a dream but a reality! Just Amazing play of words! Further the poet says there is no hope for him, but let beloved be there as hope. And he wishes one of the lovers will get martyred in this way.
Some heavy stuff indeed!
Hats off to you Sir!

Gulzared! Part -2

Its time for the next song in the 7 Khoon Maaf series. This song is called 'O Mama'. There are two versions of this song - one acoustic and the other normal one. This song is sort of a bollywood's tribute to the Rock genre. This song truly gives meaning to the genre called Indy-rock which can be said to have started with 'Rock On'.
Both versions are magically rendered by K.K., with him giving the perfect feeling to the words of Gulzar.

First we get down to the acoustic version. This is a mellowed down version with vocals taking the main focal point with just a guitar as accompaniment.

2. O Mama (Acoustic) - K.K.

गोल बनाकर होंठ, बहुत पास आये पर,
O mama, O mama,
उनके लब ही देखते रह गए चाय पर,
O mama, O mama,
टकराए होंठों से फिर भी उम्मीद हो,
कोई तो इस तरह आशिक शहीद हो,
कोई गया ..... गया ......
O mama, O mama,
O mama, कन्चे मारे,
बिल्ली जैसी आँखों वाली, एक म्याऊँ सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama,
ऊँघे कभी, सूंघे कभी, झांके कभी,
आऊं कभी, कभी जाऊं सी लड़की,
O mama, O mama.


Well, it is very difficult to pin down the particular meaning of this song because here Gulzar has used so many weird similes and situations. However, over a broad perspective, this song tends to describe the stunning beauty that the beloved is.
The lover has been called over to the beloved's house on tea. He gathers all his courage and goes near the beloved with an intent to kiss her, but is hypnotized by her and just keeps on looking at her lips. The next two lines are pretty confusing and may be related to a situation in the movie so will not go into detail on that. Next few lines describes the mischievousness of the beloved as the lover compares her eyes to that of a cat's and beloved herself to the meow of a cat! Pretty weird comparisons here! Probably because the cat is the most feline and graceful of all animals and is always associated with mystery and darkness!

I initially planned to cover both the versions of the song in the same post but I am facing some technical difficulties with the Devanagari conversion function of the blog. So, I am taking the normal version of O Mama to a new post.

Gulzared!

Well now that I again left my blog in midstream, coming back to it has been a little tough. I planned to write my personal life in Bangalore after I wrote the professional one but it so turned out that I returned to my base (read Kolkata) having spent hardly four months there. I didn't had much control over whether I should stay or come back as it was almost an automatic decision after the debacle that was my trading there in Bangalore (refer my previous post). So I came back to Kolkata and the personal life story got shelved.

I have a rough outline of that post in my mind but that is for later. Currently I am here because I am totally obsessed with Gulzar's words in 7 Khoon Maaf! The music, picturization or composition of the songs are definitely amazing but the thing that grabs you by the neck and forces you to pay special attention are the lyrics of the songs. And not just one, almost all of them have got some different class!

So here I am, to pen down as many lyrics as I can and provide meaning to it as much as I can and further help with meanings or lyrics are most appreciated!

The first one is my favorite song of the album, beautifully sung by Suresh Wadekar, named Tere Liye.


Basically this song is a sort of love muse between the lover and the beloved. The lover is telling the beloved what all things he has brought for her and only her!

1.तेरे लिए - सुरेश वाडेकर

तेरे लिए ......... तेरे लिए, तेरे लिए ....... तेरे लिए,
लफ़्ज़ों में लम्हों की डोलियाँ लायें हैं ......
लफ़्ज़ों में लम्हों की डोलियाँ लायें हैं, लायें हैं,
शेरों में खुशबू की बोलियाँ लायें हैं, लायें हैं,
हमने सौ सौदे किये,
तेरे लिए ...... तेरे लिए

In this first para, Gulzar wonderfully crafts the world of words, saying that the lover has brought palanquins of moments in his words i.e. he has so many anecdotes of past moments (which he spent with the beloved probably?) to tell her via his words.Further he has brought the dialects of scent in his poetry i.e. he can make beloved experience many tones and overtones of lovely perfumes and scents through his poetry. And to bring these two special gifts he has done hundreds of transactions (made a huge effort) only to please the beloved! Lovely!

आँखों में ना चुभे, तारों की किर्चियां,
शीशे का आसमां लायें हैं, तेरे लिए ....
तेरे लिए तारे जड़े, हीरों से भी कितने बड़े,
हमने आसमानों में, लाखों के सौदे किये ....
तेरे लिए ......... तेरे लिए, तेरे लिए ....... तेरे लिए,

In the second para, Gulzar conveys the care which the lover has for the beloved. The lover says he has brought the whole sky made of glass for the beloved so that the shards (किर्चियां) of the real star do not prick her eyes if ever she wants to go for a ride in the sky. Further he has brought and inlaid the stars in the sky which are even bigger than diamond just to please the beloved. As we know Diamond is considered to be the most coveted things by a woman, here he has brought stars which are even bigger than the diamonds. And to bring all these things, he has spent millions which just doesn't matter to the lover because it is for her and only her! Awesome!


हलकी सी सर्दी हो और सांस गर्म हो,
शामों की शाल भी थोड़ी सी नर्म हो,
तेरे लिए ओ चुने, पिस्ते चुने तेरे लिए ,
हमने तो परिंदों से बागों के सौदे टी...
तेरे लिए ......... तेरे लिए, तेरे लिए ....... तेरे लिए,
तेरे लिए ......... तेरे लिए ........

The last but not the least is the best of the three paras. Here Gulzar has described the perfect setting for romance. He says, the weather should be a little wee bit cold and the breathe she takes, a wee bit hot. Further the shawl she is wearing may just be a little soft. And just to suit this weather he has specially picked raisins and pistachios from gardens after trading with the birds for them just for her and only her! It is just out of this world!

Cheers to Gulzar and Vishal Bhardwaj too!

Banglored! Part 1: Professional

Well! Two weeks to the day, I landed in Bangalore and how my life has taken a U-turn, I cannot stop wondering! In fact both professional life and personal life have been affected and affected big time!

First coming to the work front, the first week was a roller coaster for me. Although to be fair it wasn't the whole coming to Bangy reason. The markets also sensed the change in me and began showing their uglier side. I came on a high from Kolkata with my best three days back to back as the last three days there. And here I come to Bangalore; the second day I am into the office and Voila! my biggest lost ever! I wasn't expecting it but obviously you don't expect your losses or you will be well prepared for it before hand! The day was the day markets started turning ugly and it was my mistake as well so had to accept it any way!

Then next day with a thought somewhere back in my head, rather a quote by my manager/mentor - " The mistake lies not in hitting your stop losses and making losses but it lies in trying to recover it in a day or a session when you start trading emotionally and without reason. The biggest mistake is again making a big loss next day when you are stopped out of market". But the darkest fears came true and again I ended up substantially in red. Normally after this kind of couple of days, a trip to manager's cabin is mandatory but me being a trader from different branch and under a different manager nobody said nothing to me which I believe was a mistake on their part. Nevertheless the next day passed without much incident and me neither made money or lost it.

Then cometh Friday the most feared of all days! The first few hours went without incident but as the American hours started, it all started to become wrong for me. I kept trying and I kept loosing and after a while what happened is anybody's guess. I was stopped out of the market! A week long of trading in a new place has costed me almost $ 16000. But still I was pretty unfazed as it was the phase of market and almost every person in the company has lost big! So with all this happening it closed my worst week ever in the job.

Next week cometh, started trading with very small lots, almost scratched on monday, had a first profitable day in Bangalore on my seventh attempt on Tuesday. Got really frustrated on Wednesday because of my stupidity of losing money after making a decent amount, ended up on scratch. Didn't feel like going office on Thursday so bunked the office. And then come again the much feared Friday! Thursday was a disastrous day for the markets and traders and everything was going haywire. The sub-prime feeling of 2008 was back! And I was all prepared for it big time! I decided to trade with very very small lots and only outright. And the strategy clicked! I made infinite ins and outs of the market and had the best day in Bangalore and may be one of my top 10 days of my trading. But definitely the most satisfying experience of trading the market ever for me!

So this is how it has been for me in Bangalore on professional front. Now just waiting for the rebates, so that my accounts is in a healthy state and also praying the market remains like this for a considerable period of time! Ameen!

Well to long a post to be included the personal life part as well. So will break it into two and the second part will contain the personal life changes and experience in Bangalore.

Cheers!

The Thought Process

I consider myself to be a supremely lazy person even if I am a little better off than many of my friends around me. It has a kind of effect when you tend to think - "Oh! Common I am much better off than him/her". But in reality both of you are well down in the dungeons.

If I find a particular activity very pleasurable then I am very enthusiastic about it but gradually the enthusiasm wears down and I am drawn away from it.

One of the biggest regrets in recent past of my life is absence of any sporting activity from my life. And my thought process is such that I blame all my unfitness on this particular reason. I am too stingy and undisciplined to go to a gym daily and work out and that too all alone with no one else except to keep motivating myself and providing the self tempo required for the same. But sports! Bring them on! I love them! From my childhood days till my third year in the college, almost everyday I have played one sport or the other. And then suddenly cometh fourth year, I got busy with all the worthless (with respect to my health) hall administration positions etc which just killed the sport inside me (pun intended).

When I look at a three-four year old photograph of mine, I cannot help but feel indignant and covet. I so long to be like that person I was (mostly in terms of health only though!).

The thing is, as they say, this obesity thing is all genetic and depends upon the whole clan of your father and mother. So unfortunately if most of your close relatives are on the heavier side thats a worrying sign for you. You need to keep your metabolism level high and have to be proactive in order to keep yourself healthy. Now till my third year, I used to play all kind of sports, used to have good food, have lots of walking and roaming around the campus and felt really healthy. But now, it is all inverted. No sports, no good food, no walking, just sitting and working the whole day and eating junk food; these all things make me feel bad about myself. The biggest thing I would like to change in my life would be this! Hope I am able to turnaround the things!

The only thing that should be constant in life is CHANGE!

Rebirth!

Well....welcome back after 5 years!

Quite a long time back somebody called me covetous...or rather not in that sense but definitely I desire few things very passionately which are not in my control. At that point of time, I was a little bit offended by that but now as as I look back at things and myself over the years; I will have to agree to it more or less.

Why this point all of a sudden? I was searching for an answer as to why did I start this blog? And if I started it with all that enthusiasm and tempo, why I didn't continue the blog? And so I came to this point, I so desired to posses a blog, to write something good, something worthwhile which my friends would appreciate and like. I was inspired by my friends, seniors and acquaintances around me who regularly blogged and had a good following of their blogging skills! So it came down to that!

But after a post or two I lost it! I lost the enthusiasm, the dedication it required to keep a blog running. I just stopped it. But after almost five years I am here again, starting afresh with the blog and what I have learned and experienced is you have to blog for yourself and not for others to keep the thing going.

And it is just not about blogging that proves I am covetous. It is a self realization thing. It is a thing I have accepted to myself and agreed to live with it because for all the things in the world it is not that bad a habit at all! If you covet for things which are under your control as in you can achieve them if you put in required hard work, passion, dedication etc. it pushes you towards achieving it. But yeah definitely if you go by the proper meaning of coveting i.e. excessive desire for possession of things owned by other people than it can be really painful. But, thankfully I feel I have grown out of that thing and I covet for things which are within my reach!

So, I guess I have got my answer and with that I have rejuvenated my blog which this time I really hope to keep it chugging!

Keep coveting but yeah in a good way ;)

P.S : This revisit to the blog world is again inspired from another blog but yeah in a different sense! :)