Zara hatke zara bachke yeh hai bombay meri jaan..

With this melodious song ends the movie Mumbai Meri Jaan...an attempt to potray the undying spirit of Mumbai after the July 7 serial blasts. A strong star cast and some good camera work tell a series of parallel tales of people who were, in some ways, a part of the blasts. Building a strong emotional base, the movie fails to carry forward or even hold on to the emotions. What the movie does, though, is give away a few tiny messages against corruption, over exploitation of emotions by the media, false alarms and of-course communal distrust. In doing so, the movie looks like nothing more than another documentary on the blasts with a very large scope for betterment. That's for the larger audience; for someone like me the movie is much more than a documentary, a deja-vu of sorts. It reminds me of all the chaos, the pain, suffering and fear, and above all the feeling of hatred and helplessness that the blasts had inflicted...things that last much longer than the physical injury. To ease your pain before you move out of the theatre, plays the song aey dil hai mushkil jeena yahan..zara hatke zara bachke yeh hain mumbai meri jaan -in the backdrop of the entire city observing two minutes of silence for the blast victims - a moment that will bring a small smrik if not a full hearted smile on your face as you ready to move out.

And of course..thats me after the blasts..

I carry your heart with me

Saw this movie called “In her shoes” yesterday. The movie is about the life of two sisters, both single and living by themselves. While one is successful but not beautiful enough to find herself a boyfriend, the other is beautiful enough to drag any guy to bed but not successful enough to afford herself a living. The movie narrated the life of these two sisters as they traverse through their good and bad times. Not exactly one of my favorite movies, but a definite entertainer on a lazy Sunday morning.

Anyways, the reason I write about this movie is that towards the end of the movie, there is a recital of a beautiful poem by E. E. Cummins called “I carry your heart with me”. Not often does one come across such a lovely expression of feelings using some simple words. So I thought maybe I should reproduce it here. This is how it goes:

I carry your heart with me; I carry it in my heart

I am never without it; anywhere I go you go, my dear

And whatever is done by only me; is your doing, my darling

I fear no fate; for you are my fate, my sweet

I want no world; for beautiful you are my world, my true

And you are whatever a moon has always meant

And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows

Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

Which grows higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart; I carry it in my heart

-E. E. Cummings