Quick Update!

It is time for a quick update!!
Yes, dont give me that weird look. You thought only News Channels could do that?

There has been a lot of action in my life of late (NO! Not what you are thinking! Real, Physical Action! Ok you know what, forget about it. :| )

First, there was an accident. Not like the Genesis/Bible types. This happened on the road.
I was pillion on my bike and escaped unhurt. The guy who was biking got six stitches. Yeah, well.

This happened before the Actual first accident mentioned above. So you could call this the Zero Accident.

My guitar got a hairline crack. Yes. Hairline. I am almost dying.

A stupid B-grade CGI Hollywood flick later, which I couldnt even finish (COVENANT!), I am a little wiser.
I will stick to the basics. I am getting back to the Matrix Trilogy. Again. Good ol'.

There was Purani Dilli cuisine too, but thats okay; part of my life mostly now. Atleast, thats what I would like to believe.

More importantly, I have started writing at The Writer's Lounge too. An older story called Room For Rent now features there, as my first post. Go read it here. New short story coming up soon. There is also a lot of activity happening here . Thats my Facebook Page. Yes, I am famous enough to have my OWN facebook page. Join it! :D

'Middle'some Mayhem

A few days back, I sat down to watch 'Children of Men', but
something rather interesting happened. This is how I summarized it on a facebook status update.


"So, the movie starts...people run around, shoot blam blam blam, Michael Caine dies in about 5 minutes (??), more shooting running, another guy dies, run around, shoot, boom, everyone else dies, hero heroine get on to a boat, Clive Owen dies...all in under sixty minutes!! And then I realise, I have been watching Disc 2 of the movie. :| *facepalm* "




This however did not prevent me from watching Disc 1 of the movie. As a result, what
happened was, I was lead to a point in the movie, after which, I knew what was going
to happen. And then I thought, HEY....




Cliffhanger




 “If you kill me, I become Immortal!!” he shouted, his voice trying to rise over the wind as it blew in great gusts around them. His fingers were slipping.

"Convenient! How FUCKIN' Convinient! You really don’t expect me to fall for it, do you?" he barked, looking down upon the guy hanging with one hand. Beyond him lay the dark expanse of an open gorge.  You couldn’t see the bottom; not even if you squinted.

“Enough with the puns George; just pull me up and we can figure this out. What I am trying to tell you is, if you let me go, I die, and then I come back again!” he bellowed, making an unsuccessful attempt at hooking his left hand to a ledge. If he couldn’t get a grip, there was a good chance he was going to fall straight down.

Getting stuck with your once-a-friend-now-an-enemy on the side of the cliff wasn’t just bad. It was fucked up.

The man standing on top of the gorge arched his right eyebrow and paused for a bit.

“What are you talking about? Don’t give me that entire time travel thing again Greg. You already disappeared because of it for months and I had to fill in your shoes. I have been beaten, stabbed at, hell, even dragged around the marketplace by the people you owed money to! Give me one good reason why I should save you?”

  

“Because if you don’t, you shall get old right here and die! And I would remain this way till you were gone! Now pull me up before this gets out of hand!” he said, holding on with his last efforts.

“What do you mean?” George said, still reluctant at pulling him up. He had had enough of punishment for something he never did, and wanted to get over with it.

“The time machine got built! I have programmed it to take me back in time to the point when I meet you on top of the cliff, and that happens in another three minutes! When you get me back up, I can reach down in my pocket and turn it off! Otherwise it would happen yet again!” he screamed, his voice dying out slowly, his strength ebbing.

“Wait...what? Are you trying to tell me this already happened before?” George said, a look of surprise creeping up on to his face.

“Yes...and if you don’t pull me up, it’s going to happen again! So PLEASE PULL ME UP! There is hardly any time!”

George straightened up and grinned. He added “you are not going to get me this time. Enough of your bullshit, you hear? ENOUGH!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he stamped hard on his fingers. A fading echo later, there was no sign of another man there.

He peeped over the cliff face and looked down into nothingness. He was most probably dead. George could now lead his life in peace. He turned around and looked into the face of a man he had just killed.

“Cripes! You are dead!” George said eyes as big as marbles.

“What are you talking about George? I just came as promised; to meet you at the cliff face after the completion of the stipulated year. Now, I know you have faced a lot of trouble for the money I borrowed off the lenders...”

“NO!! YOU ARE DEAD! I JUST KILLED YOU!” George screamed, spittle flying into Greg’s face. He was almost bawling.

“What’s up with you? Look at your watch! It’s four o’ clock, the time I promised to meet you! How could you kill me if you never met me?” Greg, incredulous, questioned.

George slowly looked at his watch. It was indeed four o’ clock. He suddenly felt himself going mad. It felt real, like a sensation.

“It’s all done George, I have made the time machine! All our problems are solved! We can go back and start over a new life!” he said, brimming with anticipation, and took a step forward.

“No it wouldn’t!! Martha is dead because of you, you bastard!” George screamed and lunged at Greg. Greg suddenly swung through the air and found himself hanging from the side of the rock face. Somewhere in his head, it felt like déjà vu. He thanked his stars at having set his time machine.

“If you kill me, I become immortal!” Greg screamed at the growing night, which grew darker, swallowing everything around, swallowing them, growing rapidly, till it became a big empty expanse of an empty universe... 

So...

So.

I have never Ever begun a piece of writing/letter/story/poetry/epic on such a monosyllabic note.

So?

I haven’t done a lot of things before that I am trying out for the first time now. I haven’t job hunted ever, but I just did it a while back and scooped up a job. I haven’t ever given a surprise to my parents and I am past quarter life. Did too. A few other unmentionables, but you get the drift. You could call it blasphemy.

I call it perception. Point of view.

So?

I haven’t written on the blog in a while, and for longer, not written stories. It doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing. I have written a novelette and it should be out before you guys can get this blog out of focus again. If you still haven’t bought the book you see on the side panel, do a favour to a starving author and he would bless you with more stories. Okay, I exaggerated for a bit there, but aren’t that all writers, pseudo or otherwise, about?

Enough with the trash talk already. If you are here for the first time, flip through the archieves and you would land up over a score of short stories. For free. Free highs. Free Kicks. Of late, that four letter discount into nothingness is the only thing that matters.

So?

Become a follower. Spread the word. Buy the book. Like the fan page on Facebook. Do my bidding or I would turn all of you into multi-coloured tadpoles. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to find out if I am lying or not.

All you story mongers, tale vultures and fable vixens, do not fret; the wait is finally over. I give you THREE COURSE. Feast.

Hometide musings...

A roller coaster trip, spanning three cities, three modes of transportation, countless relatives, changes of weather, and so much more, finally wraped up today morning, as I set foot into the City of Djinns. What caused the entire whirlwind of events and occurences? The Big Fat Indian Wedding!!!

It started with a flight from New Delhi to Kolkata on the fourth of August. With just about three hours of sleep in my kitty, me and my brother landed in an extremely sticky/sunny Kolkata at about ten in the morning. Close to an hour later, I was finally united with my family and a gazillion relatives. Most of the remaining trip has been trying to piece together the most complex jigsaw of the extended Indian hierarchial family. The only other high point is anybody's guess; people tryin to get me set up with some "sweet girl who sings like an angel!" Your's truly has managed to return, if I am allowed to use the word; "unscathed"! If anyone of you actually wants to know what transpired in the ten missing days, lemme know, and I shall endeavour to post about it. No guarantees about how it shall turn out. Looking forward to a writers meet this weekend and a quick meetup for the graphic novel. Also in the offing is fresh fiction fiwting. Sorry, writing.
In other news, Clarity of Night turned out to be a flop show this time.I managed to get into the forties club though. The Forties Club, is a special system of marking where to qualify as a finalist, you gotta make a forty out of forty five. Thats the only accolade that I managed this time. Any which ways, here is the entry that I sent in. If nothing else, its gonna be a part of my next collection of shorts! Presenting, The Maker.

The Maker

Make it shine…

Light bouncing off the million faces, sunshine is a sliver of broken glass meant to cut through your defenses. Shimmery, radiant. Let it slice through the barriers of your psyche, like melted butter. You must. You will.

Every single one screams.

I block it; it’s my job. Bawling, screaming, a pile of thrusting limbs, a growing confusion. Material. Raw. I create their Nirvana, I design their enlightenment. I am blocking every single emotion trying to clutch at me, as I work on them, one at a time. The rest continue screaming, a desperate mass, but I ignore them. I am paid for this.

They look me right in the eye before going.

I am a preserver; I have never killed. I separated what you did not want; would never have wanted. You will never see those eyes; all you would see are the colors and a respiring brilliance. ”No stone”, you said…”something real!” I only delivered what you asked for. I turned the mundane into a masterpiece. The ones that go are never missed; they really don’t go now, do they?

Turn, turn, turn. Shine. It’s nothing but a stone now. It won’t scream anymore. Won’t look you in the eye. Won’t question your purpose. Glitter. You never need to know what it was; all you see is what I turned it into. I did it for you. Stones never have a heart, unless it’s a heart of stone.

Forget your useless jewels now; wear a soul...

Of Weekends and Wishes...

Phew! Thats probably the perfect word to choose from the English language that would best describe the weekend gone by. Let me wrap it up quickly before you get bored. Saturday saw the Writer's Meet take place at Cafe Coffee Day, Outer Circle Connaught Place, registering a decent attendance by old and new. The highlight of the event was Nigerian author Onyeka Nwelue, author of the award winning novel, The Abyssinian Boy. While he chatted along about his book, his works underway and foray into crossover films, we sat there, bug eyed, glad to have met another of our ilk. After exchanging books with him( my 'autographed' copy with his!) we finally bid our goodbyes. The next day proved to be more bombastic than the first. A Book Club, an initiative by some of the best of the Delhi Univ frat managed to rope in none other than Tasleema Nasrin! While I sat and chatted with her, yours truly died. Here's why:

Tasleema: So you are a writer?
Me: Yes.
Tasleema: Do you read and write Bengali?
Me: Yes ofcourse!
Tasleema: Will you translate my works?
Me: Dies!!!

If that was not all, I also managed to grab a copy of her latest work No Country For Women and got it personally signed by her. A candid chat with her proved to be more illuminating and inspiring than most wikipedia trawlings and random reads that I have done in my life.
Oh, and before you dismiss the blog for turning into a "Dear Buggardly Diary" kind-of-a-place, here's promise of bringing in fresh fiction shortly. I have become active on twitter( please refer to sky colored box in the right side) and my fiction has managed to manifest itself there as well. I have started something called "Twitter Flash Fiction" and the experiments can be seen in the box on the right. Besides, Mere Yaar by Advaita has finally made an exit. There is fresh music!! Temme how you like it! :)

Adios till next time!