The Good Pain

It pricks and hurts, it bruises and aches. It makes me numb in places I never knew, it makes me cringe  and writh in pain. But I don't need a painkiller, because this is a good pain. The sweet drops of blood that fall from touching a rose, the loving scars that come from the pen with which you wrote. The aching heart that loves him for letting go, the now peaceful mind that is ready to glow. Can this be happiness in the form of pain? For I feel no bounds to it, yet it hurts. It hurts a lot, but I want this pain. It's the pain of moving on from pain. The pain from leaving behind the past. The pain of looking forward to a new life. The more I look forward, the more it hurts. But I welcome this pain like its my new elixir. I wish to stay in this pain forever and never let it die. No painkiller is going to help, for I want this pain. I truly want this pain to relish and devour me, to change me inside out and create a new being to survive in this world. 

The Tale of the Ancient Immortal

Going into a poetic frenzy is the best time of your life. Here's another poem, inspired by Walt Whitman's 'Voice of the rain'.

The tale of the ancient immortal 

I open my eyes and see,

A vast expanse of water around me. 

I'm one of the millions found in here, 

But I know not what to expect 

For me and my peers. 

I feel like I'm drifting, drifting towards a light.

Maybe this is the end of me, 

Maybe my life was just a second of

Seeing the blue skies. 

I weep and weep till I can no more, 

I give myself up to the mercy of nature. 

I must have died there, 

For I have no recollection of anything else whatsoever. 

But then, I didn't. 

I came back to life as I plummeted down to the ground, 

I came back to the world, to give life to the world. 

I came back as the rain. 

My journey is an endless one.

One day, in a mighty ocean, 

While another day, sitting on a window sill. 

One day, giving life to a small plant, 

Another day, in a field, sitting still. 

As long as this cycle shall continue,

I shall serve nature, as a selfless servant. 

As long as life shall continue, 

I shall raise the earth like a growing infant. 

The Internal War- Most random poem written yet

The internal war 

As day breaks, war begins.

Clash of swords and sparks from armours 

Tumult of warriors moving in to kill.

Blood is sprayed in directions of all

Onto the battlefield, cold and hard. 

Brown turns red, red turns crimson, 

Clumps of grass dripping with blood.

A battle that lasts for days but feels an eternity,

A battle with yourself that you are prepared for, 

Yet never foresee. 

Choices - A poem in light of recent events

Choices 

And the bullets wake me again, 

From my dreamless sleep. 

For years they've reached my ears,

But they were drowned by the screams. 

Blood is like a friend I meet everyday.

It glistens in the light, 

Almost happy to see me.

But why is it that I'm not so? 

Instead of the rifle, I want to hold a pen,

Instead of shedding blood, I want to spread my wings. 

But that choice, never rested with me, 

For my fate was sealed the day

I came into a world of such love for hate. 

Tomorrow will come when it is my turn

To hold the instrument of destruction. 

Refuse and I shall also be put to sleep, 

By the same sound that woke me up. 

Belle- Birth, status and slavery

I know, I know, I'm bad at keeping promises. Please don't throw squashed tomatoes yet. I vow to keep my promise this time. As of now, here's a review on a wonderful, inspiring and eye-opening movie based a singularly rare upbringing of a child.

In the year 1761 with the beginning of slavery, came a story of a girl born to a family but destined to be in another. With a black mother and a white father, she tussled between their differences. After her mother's death, her father, Captain Sir John Lindsay of the British Royal Navy, takes her to London announcing her as the sole heir to all his wealth after his death. After explaining the situation to his family in London, and after witnessing much protest from his uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, it was decided that the girl would be named Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsay and would stay in the Kenwood House. Dido had a companion as well. Along with her, William Murray was raising another niece of his, Lady Elizabeth Murray who's mother had died and father had remarried.

Together, through the blissful days of childhood, both Dido and Beth became the best of friends. But, there was one thing in the back of Dido's mind. Seeing so many paintings in the manor she understood that a black person was always beneath a white person, yet never had the courage to ask why she was different.

Days moved on and soon the two girls were stepping into the age of being courted. As guests came over to dine and see the two girls, Dido was always unwelcome to have dinner with her family and met them later after dinner. All her enthusiasm dies down when she realises that she too will be judged according to her colour and she won't have any say in the matter.

Time moves on and the plot emerges. Dido's father's death on a ship, suitors and others questioning the existence of a black female in a white aristocratic family and slavery shaken from its roots, the little girl who was taken from the slums to live a life she was born for, finally learns the truth. Colour over blood was the way of things. Does she accept herself as one of their own or does she succumb to her mother's half?

A moving tale set in one of the most controversial yet beautiful times of England, Belle was one movie I felt connected to. Her battle against herself and others regarding the colour of her skin was somewhere I've been. Being a South Indian, I'm kind of on the darker shade of colour. Coming to Delhi, where most people are even fairer than Snow White herself, it was difficult to accept that I will be different. One particular scene in the movie, where Dido is sitting in her room, staring at her reflection does something that hurts more than ever. The way she tries to rub off and claw away her skin just to be accepted in society was one of the saddest scenes of this movie. But, the beauty of the movie is in the transformation of Dido from a girl of the slums to a girl of the aristocracy, questioning every detail of her life and waiting for an answer. It's a history based movie, but I recommend it if you're in for a bit of heavy drama, love and tears.

Sudden realisation, this is my 80th review! It has been a long journey and every moment has been unbelievable. Thank you for going through all my writings and appreciating them. Most of all, thank you for your patience and I really am going to continue blogging for a while. Another big thank you to all those friends who keep reminding me that I'm a blogger and I should post at least one review every week. Here's to the next 80!

A Time to Kill- Power of colour

(Not recommended for below 13)

A small girl coming back from the grocery store is kidnapped by two men. They take her to a nearby field, tie her up and rape her. Once they're done defiling her body, they throw unopened beer cans at her, ripping her flesh right off the bone. They try to hang her by a branch of a tree, but it snaps and breaks. So they dump her in the back of their vehicle and drive to a cliff. They throw her off the cliff and down to the river and she tumbles and falls. Everything innocent, everything childish was taken away from that girl. Justice shall prevail in all cases, but what if the girl is black?

Set in Mississippi, during the cold period of rigorous apartheid, an African-American girl, Tonya Hailey is brutally raped. The two men are arrested and presented before court soon after the crime. Carl Hailey, the father of the victim, seeks help from Jake Brigance and gets to know that the two white men who clearly needed to be sent to the gas chambers would most probably walk free. The case ends as the jury decides the two men were not guilty. As the two of them are being taken back in handcuffs, Carl opens fire at the two, killing them and unintentionally wounding a police officer. Carl is immediately arrested for murder.

So, he talks to Jake and convinces him to be his lawyer and the case begins. But not everyone is happy that a white man is representing a black person in court. The Ku Klux Klan, a group of white extremists, start threatening Jake and attempt to burn his house down. Out of fear, he sends his wife and daughter away till the case is closed.

Jake, facing off one of the greatest and most brutal district attorneys, now has to try and win this case to save a man's life. With threats coming in day after day and people getting killed over this, it is now up to him and his team to get through it and set an innocent man free. Will he succeed? Will the power of colour overrule the power of justice?

Powerful and moving, this movie is one of the best courtroom dramas I have ever come across. Adapted from John Grisham's novel of the same name, it's an intense movie with one of the most controversial topics, a white man defending a black man in a courtroom. Cast of this movie is filled with all Oscar winners like Matthew McConaughy and Sandra Bullock and everyone's performance is brilliant. How much does a black man pay to find justice? It's all in the movie.

Eight Below- For the dog-lovers and otherwise

If you've ever owned a dog before, you can understand the mental distress a person goes through if they ever leave their dog all alone. Dogs, they are so selfless, so loyal and so loving and that's what makes it so hard for us to let go of them. Well, things weren't easy for Jerry Shepard as well.

Our story starts in the icy lands of Antarctica where Jerry works as a guide for National Science Foundation. He has his own team of Husky dogs who help him with the dog sled and for a long time he had lots of fun, despite the endless days of bitter cold, with his eight dogs who loved him more than the world. All was fine until Dr. Davis McLaren comes to the base demanding to be taken to Mt. Melbourne to find a meteorite that had come from Mercury. With winter closing in on a fast rate, Jerry thinks it's not wise to go through a treacherous path but is told otherwise by his boss. So, reluctant as he is, Jerry buckles up for the ride and gets his dogs ready.

After a few days of moving on the sled, Jerry notices that one of the dogs is bruised. As he goes to patch him up, the doctor tries getting a signal on his radio but ends up sliding under ice and falling into a frozen lake. Panic seeps through him and he desperately tries to stay above water while Maya, one of the best sled dogs, slowly and carefully goes to him and helps him out of the water. Both Jerry and the doctor fight hard against frostbite and hypothermia as the dogs battle against the cold winds of winter and get them back to base.

Medical help is recieved immediately but the two of them need to be sent to the states for further treatment. With the storm of winter setting in, it would be impossible to get through to Antarctica for the next few months. So the captain decides to use whatever aircrafts he has to send people out as soon as possible. But not all get the option of leaving.

Our eight dogs are to be left behind. With sparing space for people there was no way the captain was going to allow a separate flight just for a few dogs. Yet, Jerry was told that his dogs would come to him within a few days. But sadly, as he left, hearing the faint howls and barks of his beloved little babies who had been chained to the snow, he knew there was no way anyone would be allowed to fly into Antarctica to get them.

Once he returns to mainland, he tries his best and goes from person to person, clinging on to desperation and hope to see his dogs again. While the dogs face the cold all alone, with no food or water, Jerry on the other hand unfalteringly tries his best to find a way to get those dogs back home. Will he succeed or will it be too late? As the raging battle between man and nature begins, both to get eight dogs, who would come out as the victor?

A movie that truly touches your soul, eight below is probably one of the best 'true-story' inspired movie. For me, being a dog owner, the best parts were all the scenes with the dogs. With a parallel story about how the dogs cope without Jerry, the scenes are sometimes funny with a tinge of sadness and a whole lot of pain from your side as you end up hating humans for being such "dogs". Anyway, this is one movie I would have loved even if I didn't like dogs. It's that good. So dog lover or not, this one will get you teary-eyed.