Inked for life!!

5Th October,2008.The day i marked myself with the name of God.I marked myself with a strong belief.I had always wanted a tattoo and i always knew what i wanted.'Ek Omkar' is a Sikh symbolic which means 'God is one'.Yes! it might sound strange to my friends who did not know i was so religious.But,Ek Omkar to me means more than just a religious symbol.It is not only about going to gurudwaras and reading holy books.Look around and you'll notice.All your friends worship different Gods.They go to temples,mosques,churches and of course you've been there with them.You follow what they do there and with equal respect and faith.This is oneness in God and you know you believe in the same.
Well,my post is not about what Ek Omkar really means,but to express my view on what people think of tattoos and especially religious ones.I hope it doesn't sound blasphemous.According to what i have read on the Internet,getting a religious tattoo is an act against the preachings of our Gods.Sikhism is about growing inner faith for God and showing it off through a tattoo is completely going against it.According to what i think,Sikhism is definitely about growing inner faith for God but a tattoo is a conviction.If they say it is not to be 'shown off',then why are there obvious restrictions for the people of the community.Flaunting of chains,belts,bracelets and more accessories has never been given such a thought,so what's wrong with a tattoo?!A person goes through all the pain to be marked with His name and people protest against it.Mandira Bedi happens to have the same tattoo like mine and she had to officially apologise to the Sikh authority for sporting it on the back.Her apology was accepted because the letter said that she has the tattoo simply because she is proud to be a Sikh.


The bible warns us against tattoos.It says "ye shall not make any cuttings in the flesh for the dead,nor print or tattoo any marks upon you:I am the Lord".It says that one must not do anything to modify or change what our God gave us.Well, i guess hair is something which is given by our Gods,how come we cut hair?!how come we cut our nails?! Stupid,what i am saying might sound,but logical!I respect the bible and the Lord and my tattoo says 'God is one'!
A tattoo is no mistake and I am proud of mine.People have different perceptions and accept things in different ways.But,the point is,they need to accept!!

The right track

OK!..it's been a year!!that's right.one whole year since i have been writing.to start with,i would just like to say,for all those who have made this blog a success for me-the visitors,the readers and my friends,who just read it because i asked them to,thank you! if you have read my first post 'astrology-makes you or breaks you?!?!',then only,will you understand this one.so please,check out my first post and then come back to this one!


right!since you know what has happened a year back and what exactly was my,as they call it,'state of mind',this post could be taken as a sequel to the first one.but,i want to clear this to everybody,i am neither writing about astrology nor about my dad.


the year taught me a lot! i won't be saying that it was JIMS,but,it was surely my friends,my seniors and a few,i repeat,a few of my teachers who made me realise that probably i am not half as bad for mass communication,media and journalism.


in the beginning,i was very confused.so many questions in my mind-what am i doing here?!,why?!,what am i going to do?!,what about fashion?!,blah blah blah.....and of course,no answer! i was attending college just to experience a 'regular college life'.made some really good friends and was having fun with them.


i soon noticed my writing skill.won't say its the best,but i was always appreciated.one of the examples could be this very blog! in college,wrote a lot of of reports,press releases,quotes,articles etc. for a lot of events.i realised that i like to write and people like it when i do.i thought,maybe that's what has brought me here.i started taking print media as a serious career option.but,i don't know if i still do!!!


one fine day,my seniors announced that they are starting a student's theatre group.classes will be held every weekend,decent timings and will practice one play at a time.well,i thought it will be nice to come out of the house every weekend and do something i have always enjoyed doing-'nautanki!'.it seemed like a nice activity to do every weekend,so i was game for it.we,a group of 20 something people called The Creative Factory,used to meet at Father Agnel's School and practice.we had our voice modulation sessions,scream out,whisper,laugh,cry,etc. etc. and we practiced and almost completed one of the most talked about plays in the industry 'jis lahore nai vekhya,oh jamiya hi nai',by safdar hashmi.i was,since then,tagged as Hameeda Begum,one of the crucial characters of the play.got a lot of appreciations for that as well.soon,we did a lot of work professionally.street plays for Hindustan Times-i love Delhi carnival was the biggest achievement of all,which brought in popularity and success! it was a great feeling when people came to us after every show and congratulated us.i remember how people read the timings in the newspaper and showed up before time.some asked us to do it again and some said "you guys are great,i watched all your shows today!".all our collars up!we did a lot in college as well.The Creative Factory became a success! and now i can proudly say that i am a government recognised theatre artist(by the ministry of information and broadcasting).all this made me think 'how about theatre?!?!'.though,i am still crazy about it,but,making it a profession...i don't know.


my friends and seniors made a lot of movies and i became a part of them as well.since i enjoy acting,i,along with my friends,worked really hard.hence,siyah khoobsurati and parasite were really appreciated.also,intersecting lines,our next project has been shot successfully and will be soon premiered in college once edited.a few friends of mine want me to consider acting seriously and do something about it.but,again,how serious am i?!?!...i don't know.


i am always surrounded by aspiring directors,writers and editors.so,it has encouraged me to innovate new ideas.and since,my brain has an active thought process,i have written down certain concepts into scripts.i plan to make these scripts into short films by putting in some effort of direction.i won't say "i am appreciated" this time (lol) because i have not yet taken any step further,neither have i discussed it with anybody.though,i will soon.but,is direction or scripting my potential career?!?!...i don't know.


so,it's been a year.2 years are still to go.i still have a lot to experience and learn.i am happy.i am enjoying.i am content.but,the decision made,a year back-how well is that going?!?!...i don't know.so many questions in my mind-what am i doing here?!,why?!,what am i going to do?! blah blah blah.....but,i know i am on the right track because the question 'what about fashion?!',just doesn't exist!if you don't understand what it means...it means i have no regrets and that's what matters!!!

An ode

it takes time to know people better and make friends.

Friends so truthful,friends so helpful,
friends who appreciate,who criticise,
friends who make you laugh and they are always there-
they make you realise!

new in college,we all were.a lot of communication gaps,attitude,misunderstandings,differences and distances.it was only possible for all of us to be together,if we worked together.i did manage to make some good friends but i was more thankful to The Creative Factory to happen.it was great to know that some of my classmates shared the same interests as i did.theme plays,stage shows,street theatre and movies,we all worked together and shared a lot of experience.if we worked fr 5 hours,it was a must for us to chill out for at least 2 hours!this was actually the time for us to bond with each other.and this was the time when i realised,or shall i say we realised,that not only was he a talent,but also a great guy!

during the practice sessions of one of our first plays,we realised,though given just a couple of lines to speak,he always did a great job!he was one of the funniest guys in our comic act 'gawahi'.very interactive and talented in street theatre.made some really good movies(proud to be one of his first actors),but more than anything else,it was always wonderful to have him around.a pure heart,principles,a great sense of humour,a positive approach towards life-he had it all!

he was one of those few who always used to appreciate my work and also...criticise.he shared some of his future plans with me.i still remember our 'khayali pulao pakao' sessions where we used to think and discuss our acting and directorial plans.he had certain principles in life that made him the guy he was.if you take a look at his orkut profile,it still says-'mujhe dosti karna pasand hai...dosto se,matlabio se nahi'.A bit filmy,and may be that's the reason we thought he would be a success in the industry one day!

31st may,2008.i was at a nearby market place with family when i came to know about what happened.two of my classmates lost their lives in a train accident.an accident we all could have never imagined of.the two were cut by a train on the tracks right behind the dhaba where we all shared some of the most funnest times together.i didn't know Manish that well personally,though i feel equally sad and sorry,but Ashar-i dedicate this post to him.he was a very talented actor,director,editor...but above all,an amazing person.i am glad that i came across such a guy and made him my friend.miss you Ashar!

'koi hass kar mujhse meri jaan bhi maang le...par dhoka dene walo ko main chhodta nahi'. -Ashar Naseeri

MAY THE BOTH REST IN PEACE!