The Noun and the Verb.

Why oh why do people say ``invite`` when they mean ``invitation``? It distresses me to see how loosely language is used. Some years ago, people did not pay heed and even less respect to art. If someone asked you what your profession was and you said, `art critic`, they would turn around and say, `yea, yea, but what do you do for a living?`  Although it riled me to hear such things, perhaps they did have a point after all. For, art, and most of all, art criticism, fetched very little money. And then fate spun on her axis and suddenly art was one of the most expensive luxuries ever. It was a what`s the word? Status symbol. Income tax officers suddenly began to call you to acknowledge, not ask after your profession (they wanted quick-fix courses in order to catch the art bandits). All that goes up must come crashing down, said the Sensex to the People. And down it did come. Tumbling down. Noone is buying art these days. Noone is stupid enough to buy art when they could be sending Invites to others to come buy theirs.

Nothing in Particular.

i like watching Hindi films. i usually cannot wade through an entire length of an old one, but can manage to view parts of the same, especially the song and dance parts.                                         Things have an amorphous way of merging with one another. People too. Dreams come and go at will. People too. Words and actions are usually misunderstood, or half-understood or most dangerous of all, understood according to the way a person wants to or can understand them.  My closest friends, who know me well, are the ones who understand me the least, at times. That can happen. Since words and actions also have an amorphous, non-crystalline form, that can happen. We are so shaped by the way in which we think, we believe, in the way we are, that it turns difficult for us to imagine that others can think, dream, believe, behave, be otherwise. If you are non-committal or bewildered about something that has been said, you are told how transparent you actually are and how easy it is to read you! That is the sweetest part because it is the most ironic. For instance, you don`t respond to something your friend just said to you because you think it is inane or you laugh and shake your head indulgently because you know your friend is childish and will never grow up or best of all, because there was some disturbance and you didn`t even hear what was just said. Your friend says, ``you are so peeved! You are so irritated! I know you so well, Anahite! Ohhhhh, you are so transparent!``  Oh well.   People`s attitudes and their understanding of others` attitudes is complex. Such things can reach mammoth proportions. Who knows, some day a war may be caused or prevented by cracking the code.                                                                                                                                         And this is why i love watching Hindi films, even if it is merely bits and pieces of an ancient one. They are simple and in order to watch and enjoy them, simplistic solutions may be employed. There are porous boundaries within a dialogue. Strange.                                        Remember Nutan in Anadi prancing around poor, naive Raj Kapoor throughout the title song? All he wanted to do was serenade her with a red, red rose and plant it in her tresses and all she did was evade him throughout the serenade. Ohhhhh, what am i saying here? Nothing. Nothing in particular, as usual. But my song, today, is full of mischief. Samajhnewale samajh gaye hain. Na samjhe woh anadi hain.

Nothing in Particular.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if people never saw each other? If they just kind of felt the presence of others, but could not actually see, hear, touch each other? It would be like having a shower, you know; getting thoroughly soaked but never absorbing the water. It would be like talking to someone over the telephone and never finding out what he looks like. What if people went through an entire life-time without ever seeing one another? What about those who lead an entire life-time without discovering what it is to be in love?