My Old Kentucky Home

Words and Music by: Stephen C. Foster

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home
'Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day;
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy, and bright,
By'n by hard times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

Weep no more, my lady,
Oh weep no more today!
We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,
For the old Kentucky home far away.

They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon,
On meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by that old cabin door;
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight;
The time has come when the people have to part,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the people may go;
A few more days and the trouble all will end
In the field where sugar-canes may grow;
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter, 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky home, good night!

Chorus

When this cruel war is over

Dearest Love, do you remember?

When we last did meet?

How you told me that you loved me kneeling at my feet.

How proud you stood before me in your suit of blue [grey]

When you vowed to me and country ever to be true? [nevermore to stray]

Weeping, sad and lonely, hopes and fears, how vain!

When this cruel war is over praying then to meet again.

When the summer breeze is sighing, mournfully along,

Or when autumn leaves are falling, sadly breathes this song.

Oft in dreams I see thee lying on the battle plain,

Lonely, wounded, even dying, calling out in vain.

Weeping, sad and lonely, hopes and fears, how vain!

When this cruel war is over praying then to meet again.

If amid the din of battle, nobly you should fall,

Far away from those who love you, none to hear you call

Who would whisper words of comfort, who would soothe your pain?

Ah! The many cruel fancies, ever in my brain.

Weeping, sad and lonely, hopes and fears, how vain!

When this cruel war is over praying then to meet again.

But our Country called you, Darling, angels cheer your way;

While our nation's sons are fighting, we can only pray.

Nobly strike for God and Liberty, let all nations see,

How we loved our starry banner, emblem of the free.

Weeping, sad and lonely, hopes and fears, how vain!

When this cruel war is over praying then to meet again.

She is far from the land

She is far from the land
Where her young hero sleeps,
And lovers are round her, sighing;
But coldly she turns
From their gaze, and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.

She sings the wild songs
Of her dear native plains,
Ev'ry note which she loved awakening -
Ah! little they think
Who delight in her strains,
How the heart of the Minstrel
is breaking.

He had lived for his love,
For his country he died,
They were all that to life
Had entwined him -
Nor soon shall the tears
Of his country be dried,
Nor long will his love
Stay behind him.

Oh! make her a grave
Where the sunbeams rest,
When they promise a glorious morrow;
They'll shine o'er her sleep
Like a smile from the West,
From her own loved
Island of sorrow.

-Thomas Moore

A random day in my life

Heylos.... Lotsa people blog and everyone has a different story to share. And there are a million thigs people want to tell everyone and a hundred million that they don't. I have never ever coined the teeny meeny details of my life. But today I think I'm going to try that.


"The morning began as any other. I woke up with the feeling that I have all the work in the world to do (which I probably did according to my dazed, sleepy brain but who would ever explain to it that there are others who have a lot more??) and that any minute wasted would ruin everything. Btw all the work in the world consisted of 2 tutorials. And so like a good girl I drag my lazy ass to the table and diligently switch on the laptop. And (duh.... ofcourse I didn't start working) I realised I could spend a few moments in idle gtalking in an effort to wake myself up. That resulted in quite a bit of wasting of my time. Then I did study for some time before I decided that I needed a break and that I can watch an episode of Scrubs while I have breakfast. And so went he morning with a few breaks and a few naps here and there and I only managed to do a few q’s of both tutorials and get late for the first one as a result of which I couldn’t participate in either.

Then after a lunch at Subway came the much dreaded lab. Now despite my efforts to get hold of a log-book I had been unable to do so. The result of which was me sitting in the lab for 45 loooooooooooooongg minutes waiting for my brain to be tingled by the sensations in the atmosphere an produce something that might make a little sense and earn me a few marks too. But ah well life isn’t that miraculous afterall. Or atleast my brain isn’t. And so I strived and struggled and went to get Kalpit’s log-book a few times, all the while feeling like a sly crook(ohh how I hate that feeling) till I finally found it and then it was a breeeeeeze.........

Back to PGP and then it was Scrubs time again. Its really amazing how I can get addicted to the silliest things. Ah man. I must learn to fight and not just think about stopping it. Dinner. And here I am blogging away.”


Well if I was hoping I could be a witty, entertaining writer I think I’m disappointed. But then it was a good time pass. (Is it all that life boils down to???? Passing away precious time!!! The time passes away and all you can do is mourn its loss and cry with regret.) But then I think I’m better at rambling. Like writing about random theories and fantasies of mine. :D That’s all for now. Adios!!!

Wheeeeeee........

Happy Birthday to me!!!!! Considering that it is my birthday I should atleast wish myself... I have an urge to ramble like always but ah well..... :D :D

People are books

Well of all the random things that I write here is the latest. My analogy about how people are books: :D :D

1. All people are books written in different languages.
That is why it takes time to get to know people when you first meet them. But once you start reading the book you start learning the language. Some are difficult to learn and it feels like you've known some forever.

2. The world is a library.
It is full of people you can choose to know and read. But some books are not as interesting, some plain boring, some mysteries while some tragic. Its a fine medley(I'm not sure if that is the word I was looking for but ah well... )

3. Do not judge a book by its cover.
Hahaha! I couldn't help this one.

4. Introverts and extroverts.
This one is a bit hard to explain but I guess you could look at it like this. Introverts are people who are tough to read. Difficult language but all you need it the key and then as simple as ever. Vice versa for extroverts lol.

5. You can specialise but never know a language fully.
Its not really possible to know every little thing about a person. (More often than not he himself does not know himself that well.) So you can be best friends or life partners and yet there will always be something new to discover. Something that you can read deep into.

6. Look for deeper meanings.
Not everything in a book is supposed to be taken at its face value. You gotta read deeper into things. Sometimes. (Don't overdo. Really!)

7. No book is ever the same unless it is reprinted. But humans can't be reprinted.

Well, I'm not sure if the last one mad sense but I had to write 7 and well I kinda forgot a few. :)

And miles to go before I sleep.......

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Muses...

There is so much that we all feel that we might be oblivious to. Feelings that we block out because we can't or as happens more often we don't wanna recognise them. Emotions that would tell the world what really is inside you. And yet why would you want the world to know all that? Why would you want anyone to know when you also fail to recognise it? We are all so caught up in our worlds or the worlds that we want to create that we forget whom we are creating them for. The "I" is lost leaving nothing but emptines. But who misses the "I"?? Why is "I" the first and easiest for us to sacrifice??? And we call ourselves selfish!!

And yet its so difficult to judge what we really feel. So much of the emotions that we "think" we are undergoing are actually just what we think we ought to be feeling and what we want to feel.

Is there a difference between what you think and what you feel? Why does everyone pit the heart against the brain? Why don't we accept that the brain can be irrational or that thinking and feeling can go hand in hand? Does everything we feel have to be defied by logic?? Infact shouldnt our brain and heart be in it together? To make the feeling complete. To make it a whole.

I had started talking about something and went onto what dunno. For once I am not going to allow myself to ramble on about things and get away with them easily. I don't even know what i want to write about. Just create words that would somehow crystalise the emptiness within. Suddenly everything is bleak and I don't know where to turn to.

An abrupt goodbye. The words shall be divulged but not here. This is not the place.

Veronica decides to die

"Poets loved the full moon, they wrote thousands of poems about it, but it was the new moon that Veronika loved the best because there was still room for it to grow, to expand, to fill the whole of its surface with light before its inevitable decline."

Maybe she chose to commit suicide because she thought that her life has now reached the full moon phase and there would be nothing but decline.

"What makes a person hate themselves? -Cowardice perhaps. Or the eternal fear of being wrong, of not doing what others expect."

Its always natural to protect and defend oneself. How often have we heard ourselves justify to everyone that what we did and said was right because I can rarely be wrong, and even if I am I surely cannot let you tell me without trying to prove otherwise. And yet at some point this spirit leaves us so that we set out to harm the ME.


" 'Be like the fountain that overflows, and not merely like the cistern that contains.' -English poet

I always thought it was dangerous to overflow, because we might end up flooding areas occupied by our loved ones and drowning them with our love and enthusiasm. All my life I did my best to be a cistern, never going beyond the limits of my inner walls.
........ But yesterday, because of a piano and a young woman who is probably dead by now, I learned something very important: life inside is exactly the same as the life inside. Both there and here, people gather together in groups, they bulid their walls and allow nothing strange to trouble their mediocre existences. They do things because they're used to doing them, they study useless subjects, they have fun because they're supposed to have fun, and the rest of the world can go hang - let them sort themselves out. At the very most, they watch the news on television - as we often did - as as confirmation of their happiness, in a world full of problems and injustices.

What I'm saying is that the life of the Fraternity is exactly the same as the lives of almost everyone outside Villete, carefully avoiding all knowledge of what lies beyond the glass walla of the aquarium. For a long time, it was comforting and useful, but people change, and now I'm off in search of adventures, even though I'm sixty-five and fully aware of all the limitations that age can bring. I'm going to Bosnia. There are people waiting for me there. Although they don't yet know me, and i don't know them. But I'm sure I'm sure I can be useful, and the danger of an adventure is worth thousand days of ease and comfort. "

Random quotes

A few words can speak volumes. Some of the most beautiful quotes that I have heard.

Solitude is a good place to visit but a poor place to stay. -Unknown

Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand. -Unknown

A person can run away from his troubles just as easily as he can run away from his shadow. -Unknown

Art is the demonstration that the ordinary is extraordinary. -Unknown

A wish is a desire without anyattempt to attain its end. -Unknown

"Beautiful!"

When we look at the sun setting behind the mountains, the colours of dusk splashed across the sky, a child laughing or a stunning woman with laughter in her eyes; it is so natural to go "beautiful". And yet beauty has no definition, no criteria. Just the emotion that it evokes in everyone of us. A feeling that you should look up to something with awe and admiration. It is wonderful that when different people sometimes look at some things they all undergo the same feeling. It is what binds us together.

Dictionary's definition: The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

And yet I wonder how we managed to create definitions of beauty too. We have managed to create stereotypes of what should and should not be considered beautiful. I'm not sure how we did that but its something like moral values. As the society grows and matures as one we develop common values that we consider right or wrong. And yes we make mistakes along the way as all masses are likely to. But its the only way we can function.

(I really don't see any other way. Yes sometimes we pay the price of individuals and I hate that too but I don't see a way around it!! :( )

(I got distracted there I think.)

(I'm not sure if the society is always becoming more mature but what I meant is sophisticated which I think we are.)

And that is what happens with beauty. As you grow the concept of beauty is ingrained in you without you being aware of it. Before you know you are calling sunsets, Katrina Kaif, yachts on the sea, waterfalls, flowers against the backdrop of a garden, butterflies twittering(I just wanted to use the word. :D And ya I do think butterflies twitter!!) dolphins smiling and somersaulting and so many other things beautiful. Yes probably they evoke the same feeling in you that beauty is supposed to without being brainwashed (I certainly hope so) but are we sure? Then societies wouldn't have the same opinion about what beauty is. Or would they??

Maybe that is the beauty of beauty. That it excites that same feeling in you across boundaries and cultures, across ages and genders.

Ithaca.....

Life is a long journey. However hackneyed the expression may be, it is nonetheless very true. All of us have different destinations but our lives intersect at some points. It is only this journey where you can travel together and yet have different destinations. Many mark their own destinies while others let someone else decide where they should be going. In either case success is measured by where you reach and how you reach. How do people manage to forget the long years spent in pursuit success? The friends, the beauties, the riches and moments of bliss that the beautiful journey has given you. If success was measured by the destination then what is the destination of all our lives???

This is one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking poems I have come across. :D

Ithaca

When you start on your journey to Ithaca,
then pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
Do not fear the Lestrygonians
and the Cyclopes and the angry Poseidon.
You will never meet such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your body and your spirit.
You will never meet the Lestrygonians,
the Cyclopes and the fierce Poseidon,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not raise them up before you.

Then pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many,
that you will enter ports seen for the first time
with such pleasure, with such joy!
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and corals, amber and ebony,
and pleasurable perfumes of all kinds,
buy as many pleasurable perfumes as you can;
visit hosts of Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from those who have knowledge.

Always keep Ithaca fixed in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for long years;
and even to anchor at the isle when you are old,
rich with all that you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would never have taken the road.
But she has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not defrauded you.
With the great wisdom you have gained, with so much experience,
you must surely have understood by then what Ithacas mean.

-K. P. Kavafis (C. P. Cavafy), translation by Rae Dalven

Hope...

"Hope" is the thing with feathers--
That perches in the soul--
And sings the song without the words--
And never stops--at all--

And sweetest--in the Gale--is heard--
And sore must be the storm--
That could abash the little Bird--
That kept so many warm--

I've heard it in the chillest land--
And on the strangest sea--
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb--of Me.

-Emily Dickinson

Serial killers

Every crime has a reason and a purpose. While to most of us the reasons are not justified to a selected few they are. How can a murder be ever justified for it is the violation of the sanctity of life? There is no mercy, no sympathy for a killer.

But then again how do you define guilt? Is a child guilty of kicking if he does it while sleeping? Its natural to him though it may hurt the person next to him. Just the same way in the contorted world of the killer he might just be sleeping unaware of his own actions. Is it fair or even just to punish someone for something that he might have no control over? He doesnt have to be punished but helped and treated to understand the world as we do. To know and recognise the morals that we have. He is definitely harmful to the society but punishment is not the solution though isolation is justified.

Now that was presuming that the killer is mentally deranged and goes about killing people. But what is he understands the extent of his deeds and the consequences? What if he is a cold-blooded killer who kills for the fun of it? Would'nt it be insane if i call him sane? Is'nt he more so becasuse despite the fact that he knows and understands he does something? Its not a choice but an obsession. An obsession over which he has no control because he is gripped. If anything he needs more help. And what's more possibly there is no help for him. There is no getting him out of this contorted reality. The obsession is an ailment over which he has no control so how can we punish him for that? He just happened to be different. And we might have to pay a price for that which is unfair. Everyone has choices that we make in life. But is it fair to punish someone who does not have the mental faculties to make the right choice? Is putting him in a prison going to help? Technically it will remove this person from our lives making the world safer. But at the price of justice?

Now I can't come with anything more. My rambling skills are exhausted!!!! :D

This leads to a conclusion that probably all serial killers should not be punished but I have no comments about that!!

The way I look at it

The sun rises in the same direction everyday, the birds wake up like today is no different from yesterday and the world goes on like it always has been. Nothing ever stops and yet today and tomorrow are soooooo different. People, events and you, everything is different. While yesterday could have been dark today is just a new day. Its so surprising that what matters so much today does not the very next day. Maybe its the perspective that changes or people. An optimist would say that the we grow and learn to face the music and a pessimist would say it never mattered much in the first place. Well I am not sure if i was clear but I don't really care about being clear. Life is beautiful. The dark colurs and the bright ones make this canvas what it is. But not surprisingly, you need to be on the brighter side to be able to appreciate that.

I'm sure someone has said all this before. Everything about the colurs of autumn and spring but somehow I feel like writing about it. Its like a movie. Even if u know all about it you have watch it yourself to be able ot appreciate it! In the cosmic sense maybe today isn't different but at a micro level it is bloody different. And I am different and I feel different. Damn!!!!!! the damn is not for different but coz i dunno what to write.

Right now I am sitting at mah desk blogging and looking at the world outside. In some weird way I am related to every person that passes on this road by the road. Something like intersecting lines. Our lives intersect at this road. Everyone has a different life and different worries and concerns. Some maybe happy and some sad. But despite the fact we are just some metres away our lives are so entirely different that it doesnt affect either. Because the distance is not that of a few metres but a life. The distance between known and unknown. And this distance is an unbridgable(i jus coined the word) gulf. And this gulf also exists between people you might know also. hmmm..... A lot might be said still but I am not upto writing anymore. So ill leave it abruptly at this!!!!

Tyranny of boredom

Its a contorted wold and so often we wonder where everything leads to. The worst part is that this world and the people are multi-dimensional(hell you could probably call it the best part). But contrary to that when we see them our view is rather one-dimensional and we are forced to judge. As and when the other dimensions become visible you are forced to reconsider since you really don't know what is true. Because contradictions do not exist. And yet seeming contradictions are all around. Hell they exist in me!!!!!!!! I mean for example lets consider my career choice. Unlike most people I really don't know what I want. I am good at something, interested in something, and hell it all gets so confusing. On the other hand there might be no confusion just a foggy vision and inability to discern the truth.

man!!!!! I don't know if I was making sense but well sometimes it feels great to ramble on and on about things. Otherwise life becomes so boring. I mean well I have things to do that I do so that I don't get bored. But the monotony sets in and lifebecomes boring even when you have things to do. Dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then you want to go like TIMMYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! haha....

And yet like I have always said. "Boredom is a luxury that fools can afford". haha

Shitty movies!!

I really really fail to understand what is wrong with our society. Firstly I have developed this terrible dislike for any movie with any of the following in it: AKSHAY KUMAR, Fardeen khan, Tushar Kapur, Ritesh Deshmukh and Govinda with very few excepions. With no sense at all and utter bullshit that movies like Welcome, Dhamaal, Fool n Final, Om Shanti Om(sadly) and chup chupke; to name a few; show it seems shocking that people actually applaud the nonsense. It makes me question the intelligence of Indian society. And to all those who have to tell me that "dimaag ghar pe rakh ke jaana chahiye", I'd like to say: "sorry dude but my brains are not detachable and unfortunately can't stop functioning". I had always heard about the "herd mentality" but yet it shocks me to see such a blatant example. Not only are these movies and their songs rubbish but they are always remade from other English, Tamil, older Hindi films and even French movies with no acknowledgement whatsoever to the original idea. Not only can we not create original movies but we cannot even copy properly!!!!Almost any song today is likely to become a hit if it is played a few times and is made in a film under a reputed banner. How else do you expect songs like "dard-e-disco" and "ek uncha lamba kad"?????????? It seems that the Bollywood that we are all so proud of has little originality and meagre sense. It is most shameful for me to say that films like bheja-fry, koi mil gaya and black which showed talent and a different idea were also blatant remakes!! Bheja fry being copied dialogue to dialogue from a French film "La' Dinner game" does not have a single new character or joke and though great by Indian standards is pathetic remake if you have seen the original.I really don’t know where to look to find out what has caused this. Maybe it is he schools where we are taught what is already known to us without encouraging us to create something new. Schools where we are taught to respect what everyone else makes except ourselves. I know it just movies and entertainment but it is reflective of the nature and thinking of a majority of our society. Should I call this an "intellectual" drain or "no brain"?Is the 'creativity' a notion of the past and 'mimicry' the trend of the day? Do we really have nothing new to say, nothing new to show? Is everything new and good always supposed to be non-indian? Are we always going to rely on our past to make us proud? A past in which we played no role. Is this what is becoming of the Indian society?

God

"The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his eyes. 'Whither is God?' he cried; 'I will tell you. We have killed him---you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us? Do we not need to light lanterns in the morning? Do we hear nothing as yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? Do we smell nothing as yet of the divine decomposition? Gods, too, decompose. God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.'" "How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us---for the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto."

Life is a mystery

Life is a mystery.......Seems like that is going to become my tagline..... Like you know "Mountain Dew: Do the due"... lol.... For the first time I really dunno what to say..... I can get philosohical, sad, or random but cannot figure out my mood right now.