Codes are strange. Even though I can’t code, most of my friends are coders who laugh at the thought that codes are complex. For them, coding is passion. For me though, passion is writing.
They’re all letters, anyway.
This photo is for the Daily Post – Photo Challenge.
Last year, same date, I shared a poem, by the bearded Bard himself. It’s his 450th birthday today, and everywhere, people are surely celebrating him on their blogs and other social media.
One of Shakespeare’s greatest and my favourite play, is Macbeth. I don’t really know why, but, I know I like tragedies. And Macbeth is one of the biggest tragedies. Here, is the infamous scene of Macbeth, also the major twist in the plot.
Enjoy.
Act 1 Scene 3
MACBETH:
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO :
How far is’t call’d to Forres? What are these
So wither’d and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH:
Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch:
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
Second Witch:
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch:
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO:
Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I’ the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal: to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.
First Witch:
Hail!
Second Witch:
Hail!
Third Witch:
Hail!
First Witch:
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch:
Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch:
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
First Witch:
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!
MACBETH:
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more:
By Sinel’s death I know I am thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? the thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be king
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence? or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.
-Witches vanish-
Want more? Read the full play here.
I’ve begun making fancy bead jewelry again.
It’s been long since I had given up on the art of making do-it-yourself jewelry. It all began with a class in school, where we were asked to get creative with thread and beads.
I came up with stuff I never knew I could do. With the help of the internet and other fancy stuff we see on television, I learnt to create patterns on my own to make bracelets, chains and ear rings.
One thing led to another. And soon, I was sitting up all night making bracelets, even though I never had the interest to wear them.
The suddenly, it all changed when a “friend” asked me to do a bracelet for her, and then displayed it as if she had made it. That was the end of it all. The friendship, and my interest in putting beads together.
You can call it childish , because I was young. Thirteen, if I’m not wrong. And at that age, you get offended for things like that. (Honestly, I’ll get offended for something like, no matter how old I am.)
Now though, it’s all back.
I think we made a huge mistake going for the movie. It made me ache in places I didn’t know I had. “A journey within” was the caption. I should have expected it.It was a really deep journey. Particularly the last 45 minutes, with a deep message — a social one (obviously!) but told in a subtly pricking way.
The locations were amazing. The music — needless to say, a A.R. Rahman musical. But there was something else — something that made me feel like I’m missing out on something in life. Obvious, you might think. Because it is. I am missing the liveliness of Nature. And watching Alia Bhatt reminded me a bit of a nomad’s life. Perhaps it was the icy mountains that added to the coldness that the movie ended with.
Later, when I was back home trying hard to not visualize the scenes in front of my eyes, something quite unexpected happened. Every programme on tv, and everything I spoke of with my room mates, reminded me of the movie. I simply couldn’t get it out of my mind. Even now, as I’m typing out this piece, first thing in the morning, I am listening to the songs. It seems like I can’t get over it, like trying to give up after multiple attempts at an unrequited love interest.
The greatest thing about the movie was that it was a love story, but not a love story too. It’s not one that we’re used to in Indian cinema. I know we’ve heard that comment too many times to know better than to believe it, but really, for me, this was so different.
Here’s what I found out: everyone who watches that movie can find themselves relating to the characters at least once. And I don’t just mean the girls.
From what I could deduce from my fellow audience in the theatre, almost all of them had that glum feeling of being stuck in reality, and not being able to make that one journey within, the journey that could change our lives.
Even I, who can’t understand a word of Hindi, was moved by the movie. This movie will reach heights. It might not make a blockbuster hit, and make it rain dollars, but it will touch the people. And that’s what makes “Highway” a successful journey.
I’ve heard a lot of people talking a lot about the blissful feeling of achieving your dream, but let me tell you, it’s absolutely no use of listening to it until you do it yourself. Do I make sense? Blurry, right?
Well, here’s what I’m trying to say. People told me that when the joy you get when you fulfill your dreams is matched by nothing. I now realize the truth in those words. It’s one thing to watch, from the sidelines, at someone who goes out there and realizes their dreams, but it’s another thing altogether when you are looking at yourself one morning, fully contented at having made your dream come true.
I’m just trying to say that I’m half way through my first attempt at a novel.
Yeah, it was a dream. Not any more; now it’s my reality. I signed up for National Novel Writing Month wondering if I could prove to myself that I could become the author I always wanted to be. Half way through the month, I have a satisfaction that I’ve never before had in my life. This is the most I’ve ever written in my life for a novel. There were countless beginnings, but I had never gone past three chapters, at the maximum. Now though, I’ve completed thirty chapters. Wow, I never knew I could surprise myself so much!
I’m on my way, 30 000 done, 20 000 more. Here I come!
PS: I know I didn’t have to write 250+ words to say that I’m NaNoWriMo participant, but hey, this is the month of words!
The Chaos Within 