Whispering Shadow

Despite being incredibly busy over the past few days, I have managed to find time for many of my favourite activities, which  includes photography (here I go again!). My subjects off late have been varied and mostly natural. And in all I have noticed one common thread - they look more beautiful when they are where they truly belong. A monkey jumping from one branch to another in a dense forest...another scratching his friend's back to relieve him from his itchiness...flowers that wear colours with textures that only enhance their splendour...a lake that provides a mirror to the sky above and the forest surrounding it...a shoe print in the sand, burying a leaf with ruthless perfection...the lack of sophistication of villagers, that you so want but can't have...or the sun taking  time off from it's boredom of watching over many lives it has brightened in one part, only to see some more in another. They are sights which give me contentment, put me at peace with myself. They gi...

After having won four Golden Globes, Slumdog Millionaire has made its way to the headlines of the newspapers. Brickbats and praise, both have come in plenty. Brickbats because of the apparent one-sided portrayal of the country as a religiously torn, poverty stricken economy where the second name for life is struggle. Praise because of it's fluent story telling, cinematographic brilliance, and most of all the fact that it is a masala movie made with technical perfection. A.R.Rehman is particularly brilliant with the background score, ensuring that the Indian touch is not lost while making a international film. As most people know by now, the films tells the story of Jamal Malik through the questions of the game show "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" The fact a slum dweller could answer questions which leave even the most prepared puzzled cannot be digested by the arrogant host of the show. He calls for a police investigation. The story is told by the protagonist in the cour...

Life has more twists and turns than the most exciting of movies. And not one of us can gainsay that. Whether it is fair, is a different question. But if it was always fair, then the world would have more happiness than it could handle. Life would have become boring in utopia. The irony today is that it is this boredom which we all seek. And we are all right in doing so. Just that some times, we get the cake, other times we get the cherry. Like today morning, I knew I had done well. My belief was further strengthened by the official results. I was one of the top 2700 from a set of 270000 who took an exam. I thought I deserved a call. But they did not. I thought I will sail through, but the script was written differently. I was happy when I saw my CAT score card. 95.1, 97.37 and 96.67 percentile in the three sections and 98.91 overall. In my opinion the score was good enough for a call. But the happiness was short-lived. As I scrolled down the sheet, I had not one call from any of the s...

I have just been given my first blog award by the ever smiling Vishesh for reasons mentioned on his blog. From whatever Jane's blog tells me,   Premio Dardos means ‘prize darts’ in Italian and that it is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing on this blog. I am honoured. This is my first award and I am naturally feeling great about it. Thank you.  As the tradition of the award goes, we must share the appreciation we receive. So I am going to give it to the following bloggers whose writings, according to me, have stood true to the essence of this award. Vishy: For the most sincere and subtle writings about the thoughts of a desi in America and his attitude of a believer. More so, for being passionate about his photoblog, though it technically doesn't meet the preconditions of this award.  Astrodominie: For her clever and thought provoking writing and grammatical perfection. Anshul: ...

It has been two years since I have been on the blogosphere. I have learnt a lot from my able blogging buddies, taken encouragement from them, received healthy criticism and I would like to think I have improved, in terms of both the quantity and quality of the posts on Whispering Shadow. But still, perfection is far from achieved. So fortunately for me and unfortunately for you, I am going to go on with the opinionated and desultory expression of my thoughts for at least a few more years to come. Talking of birthdays, birthdays/anniversaries of loved ones have always proved to be lucky for me. Since the blog can be counted as one of those, I am hoping I get lucky again. This time it’s technically a day later but the blessings of the goddess of good fate can not wane off over a period of just a day. And if a slumdog can become a millionaire, anything is possible as long as ‘it is written’ (Slumdog Millionaire is highly recommended). Gosh, things I do to do please myself!

While I was waiting on the station for my train to arrive, I noticed bustling on the rails abutting the platform. I had to strain hard to gauge what was transpiring in the veil of darkness. A mischief of rats was scouring the gravel for food in the litter which had been thrown by irresponsible passengers on the tracks. They moved at a great pace crisscrossing between the two parallel lines, as if it was the last time they were ingesting for many years to come. A train was approaching. I was hoping that their animal instincts would forewarn them to evacuate their feeding grounds for the safe shelters of the sewer drains. But they didn’t budge. They persisted with the hogging. I gave the train a miss to see what damage had the train done to them. Guess what? I didn’t see one dead rat. They went on with their customary routine. Fear is such a subjective emotion, I said to myself, both in its presence and effects. I caught the next train. I was in a first class bogie. Through the metallic ...