The Garden of Wonderland

CATEGORY : Fantasy/Surreal

Perhaps it was the garden of wonderland where I stepped in
No... there were no lawns, no precious statues on the terrace
But the glory of the garden lied in more than what met the eye...

A mammoth guitar was lying there with some broken strings,
And some unwanted weeds grew over it to hide it from me
Me stooping to unveil it, touched those weeds and heard,
“Touch me not unless you earn the treasure hidden here”
Staring at those I asked, “What treasure are you talking about ?”
Again silence, no reply I got…

Apples, both red and green all filled that garden’s space
Fiddling with those I thought, there must be some secret vault
Among them a red one asked, “Want to taste our sweetest flesh ?”
After several hesitating moves, I bit off more than its half
The rest half I couldn’t chew, since it fell down…phew !!
Strangely after weeping for long that half-apple told,
”Place me over the guitar, then you’ll get the gold”

Pausing for a while I hummed,
“How can I climb up over the mammoth’s top ?”
The weeds turned themselves into ladders to provide me the prop
Moving upstairs, I placed that half-apple over its roof
And a canvas appeared there with a beaming glow
And the chords amazingly started to play a sonata in harmonious flow

That heavenly ambience lasted for long and long
Suddenly a prophecy came along…
“What about the hidden treasure ? Got the gold here ?”
I replied, “If this melody would bring me gold, I’d follow it till I grow old
Like life’s free pleasures…more than gold’s treasures…
And of all the possessions that I would hold…
The least important would be the gold !!”

ENIGMA - the Conversation with an Angel

CATEGORY : Fantasy/Surreal

[Inspired by “The Alchemist” written by Paulo Coelho]


It was my birthday, after parties are all done
Friends went off leaving me alone
Me making a gloomy face was thinking...
How all our joys turn to be so short-lived
And after a flash, all get blown-off
Suddenly a magical epiphany took me to an angel
With sparkling magic-wand, he blessed me saying,
"Candles may melt down, flowers may die out torn,
These hours of trance may all go forlorn...
But my blessings will always light up your life"
Me being quite a spellbound, replied slowly,
"I've lost my ability to express,
Words are nothing but a jumbled mess"
Smiling the angel continued with gleaming eyes,
"Welcome to the world of illusion...
Now forget all about your past-sorrows,
And be patient...time is the only solution"
Me revealed the weird truth to him,
"Time heals the sour wounds but leaving a deep scar
To remind me of those failures I've accumulated so far,
I've to suppress my voice when I want to cry
Shadows don't leave me no matter how hard I try"
Laughing out aloud, the angel said,
"The history of your stupidity would fill up many volumes,
Silly kid, a failure moves you a step ahead to success,
I'd tell you only a few words, inner-meaning is upto you...
The closer one gets realizing his dream,
The more that dream becomes his true reason for being"
That angel never appeared anymore,
But his words are still like an enigma to me...

Defining Success

CATEGORY : Inspirational/Motivational

[Inspired by the poem "IF" written by Rudyard Kipling]

If you can fight when everything goes against you
If you can keep your head up when everyone blames you
If you don't hurt them by whom you were being hated
If you can trust yourself when everyone doubts you
If you can admit that yes, you've committed the blunder
If you can still wait and not be tired by waiting for too long
If you don't involve yourself in lies even if people lie about you
If you try to realize your dreams, instead of only dreaming
If you learn from your previous mistakes, instead of only regretting
If you can face the consequences for the cruel-truth you’ve spoken
If you can collect the things you’ve broken and reconstruct them anew
If you can walk along with the kings, yet not lose the common touch
If you can open your mind-windows, yet not allow to pollute the mind
If you can value your failures as much you value your victories
If you can meet both triumph and disaster one-after-another
And treat these as just the two sides of the same coin
If you don’t allow your brain to rule over your heart for sake of hypocrisy
If you grow old with new discoveries,
And not merely by living a number of years
Then you would be able to be among those few people…
Who would know and can define the word “success”

Did it connect the Bongs ?

CATEGORY : Film-Synopsis

PROLOGUE:-

[It’s about the recently released Beng-lish movie “The Bong Connection”, claimed to be a crossover film directed by Anjan Dutta…No I’m not going to write another sort of film-review here…but previously I read an article on it which pointed it as a satirical take on Bengali lives…I don’t agree, honestly, I didn’t find any satire at all…So did that movie really connect the Bongs ? Or it fails to do so…otherwise, why our interpretations contradict, and these two don’t connect ? ]

Just imagine...
North pole's moving downwards to touch the Southern one
And the South pole's doing just the opposite...
That's the simple quintessence of the film
Not a "film"
Rather an encapsulation of the mindset of today's youth

Initialization involves two parallel journeys...
Person-One from NewYork to Calcutta in quest of music
Probably in its truest form...not perverted by modern orchestra,
And Person-Two heads to Houston from Calcutta
Floating in the blow of hi-tech IT waves...

Time passes by...
Gradually their eventful lives get fulfilled with more events

After hunting at the grass-root level,
Person-One realizes --
Calcutta has moved far ahead the era of Tagore...
Youngs here enjoy at clubs, listen to band-music
Torn between tradition & modernity, they've lost their originality
Older ones pretend to be intellectual giants
Who always criticize without trying to solve the problems,
To make this place sluggish, stagnant, paralyzed…
And ultimately fails to realize his dreams

Person-Two goes beyond the situation of any realization
He stumbles and mumbles as a fish-out-of-water does
Though it takes up lots of days for getting accustomed
But he remains the same 'bangali dudhe-vate' chhele till the end
Being failed to shed-off his strain of inner tradition

Thus two failures converges their lives at the same point
Though their storylines started parallelly
The connecting-factor may be "The Bong Connection"...
But did it really connect the Bongs ???

AMELIE - is another Me

CATEGORY : Analogical

PROLOGUE :-

[I’ve watched this movie “La Fabuleux Destin d’ Amelie Poulain” (The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain) a couple of times previously…probably in the channel ZeeMGM, I guess…though I don’t know French at all, but got the real essence of that film, since the English subtitles were provided fortunately…the dialogue by Amelie that drew my attention first was – “I like noticing details that no one else sees”…and gradually I felt a subtle similarity of mine with the character of AMELIE (played by Audrey Tautou)…Later I came to know about the fame of that movie directed by Jean Pierre Jeunet, it won the Best Film Award in European Film Festival, two BAFTA awards and was nominated in International Film Festival in five categories too…I may fall short of words if I try to put her character’s simplicity through a few lines…still this is a small effort in my own little way… ]

Surprised as well as gone at my wit’s end…thinking…
How can me & Amelie be so alike in so many ways ?
May be there're still some remnants of Amelie Poulain in others too
Extremely introvert, shy to approach in every issue,
With an weird and absolutely crazy imagination
Totally eccentric, unconventional, a complete oddball…

Failed in romantic efforts for several number of times…
She entertains herself…with the simple pleasures in life,
Like…secretly tasting custard with teaspoon
Like…walking freely in the road with Paris-sunshine
Like…bouncing pebbles across the canal
Amazingly…daily hustles-&-bustles of the busy city-life,
Can never affect her childlike simplicity…
Rather her individuality, she confesses,
“I like noticing details that no one else sees”

And one day her life takes a new turn,
When she finds a treasure hidden behind a bathroom-tile.
Later a series of events keep on going…
Where Amelie helps other people anonymously
To achieve their happiness, (keeping herself behind the scenes)
And finds joy simply in making small impacts in others’ lives…
In the miraculous mathematics of the city
There are numerous unexpected connections
When Amelie enters into the plot, the equation changes…
She might add a little number at a crucial junction,
And all the things turns from utter black to the brighter side
But her own life remains still, painfully lonely
And finally she learns to pursue her own happiness
That’s all about “The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain”…aka Me…

R U P K O T H A

CATEGORY : Fantasy/Surreal

(Bengali Article -- plot of my dreamland)

Amar rupkotha'r golpe sob manusher ichhe-dana achhe...
Ora mone-mone jekhane khushi ure beray sei dana diye...
Oder dayboddho hoye kono shwechha-birup kaj korte hoyna...
Sompurno shwadhin bhabe nijer morjimafik kaaj kore ora...

Shobuj udvid-era jemon nijer dehe photosynthesis korte pare,
Temni ei manush gulo nijer mone ek dhoroner chemical reaction kore...
Jar fole tader mone kono dukkho srishti hoyna,
Sei reaction ta dukkho ke shukhe transform kore dey...
Se jonyo tader mone kebol khushi
Ar tader mukhe kebol hashi biraj kore...

Ora nijera mon theke onek rong produce korte pare,
Sei rong diye kintu ora chhobi e(n)ke somoy noshto kore na...
Ta diye nijeder jonyo alada-alada chhoto-chhoto prithibi toiri kore
Sei prithibi gulo onek chhoto...
Sekhane surjer prokhor uttap nei, nei cha(n)der mishti alo,
Sudhu achhe akash jure ramdhonu, ar tukro-tukro khushi'r haowa...

Sotyi Kotha Jomle Jemon Hoy

CATEGORY : Realistic

(Bengali Poem)

Khub shighroi emon ekta din ashbe,
Jedin prithibi'r manchitro ta bodle jabe ---
Mrito manushjoner norokongkal jure toiri hobe arekta mohadesh,
Ar tader rakto shongrokshito hoye arekta mohashagor,
Batasher swachhotay badh sadhbe RDX
Ar megher arale mukh lukobe molotov-cocktail ...

Sedin hoyto emon hobe ---
Cholti pothe h(n)ochot kheye manush thomke jabe,
Sotyi bole klanto hoye, shishu mithye bolbe,
Ful ta pran nasher voye ar konodin futbe na,
Prithibi ta olosh hoye ar kokhono ghurbe na ...

Sedin ami somosto vul sheshe ---
Alo-a(n)dhari'r crossroad-e eshe,
Pichhpa hote byartho hoye,
Deoale pithh thhekiye, bullet-biddho hobo ...

Sedin amar mritodeho tar postmortem kore dekho ... Thhik temon avash pabe --- Sotyi kotha (buker vetor) jomle jemon hoy !!!

RAINDROPS - On a stained glass

CATEGORY : Analogical

Raindrops...falling carelessly...
Resembles my careless emotions,

Raindrops...dripping in melodious chorus...
Coincides with the rhythm of my heart-beats,

Raindrops...dotting the surface in asymmetric semi-circles...
Reminds me of the fragments of those broken promises,

Raindrops...blinking playfully at each other...
Reveals the secret story of my twinkling desires,

Raindrops...perfumes the body of earth...
That intoxicating fragrance takes my delight to the land of Utopia,

Raindrops...coats the green-leaves with silver-silhouettes...
Stains my brittle glass-mind with different hues,

Raindrops...running down my face...
And has wiped off my tears...for no one can ever see me crying,

Flashes of lightning enters my half-lit room...
Breaks the mirror...and breaks my reflected image too...
And the growling clouds...brings me jolted back to reality again...

Lost Life

CATEGORY : Pessimistic

Sometimes I feel like…
Life’s out somewhere else instead of being here,

I’ve my parents who do care for me,
I go to class, I study, I’ve got a job,
I hang out with friends…
But life seems to be elusive
Something just out of my grasp
Like an illusory mirage in a lone desert…
And I wonder when I’ll catch it up !

Rewinding back through the past…
It was a long time ago
When I had first forgotten to dream
And realized the thin barrier between
Two of us…me and my dreams…
That was the very first moment
When life started to escape out of me
Leaving me buried alive behind the thick walls
Where rays of hope can never get in…
And I wonder when I’ll catch them up !

Saviour…please break through the wall
Smash this night, shatter this darkness
Into thousands of twinkling dreams, whirling hopes…
And get back my lost “life”

D E P A R T U R E

CATEGORY : Pessimistic

On the last day...
I turned back to see him once again,
My eyes could see none in disappointment...
Got only a series of footprints on the floor
Bracing myself against the wind,

Could hear his voice whispering in my ears...
Could feel his shadowy presence in my heart beats,
But my eyes could see none in disappointment...

Some strange feelings of familiarity
Were floating around in my thoughts...
Some unspoken words,
Including some unasked questions,
Some never-meant-to-be-fulfilled desires
Some unforgettable moments with sparks
Strokes of colorful shades in my black-&-white canvas
Had gradually woven a phase with golden threads
Still I can remember those days...
But now it's all torn stretching the holes within...
Leaving a deep scar in mind...

Life goes on...every day a bit ahead...
New stories keep on being processed...
Stories of daily failures,
Stories of numerous unrealized dreams,
But still whenever I think of those days
With passions of absolute innocence...
Teardrops slide down my cloudy eyes
Appearing to be just some water...
But actually is...
Highly condensed, liquified pain...