Gypsy in the woods!

Much has been said and written about this classic over the years. Swades is probably last movie from the saddles of Bollywood which had (we call them) superstar actor(s) and mainstream director working together not to chase 100/200 crore club, but to create something beautiful, meaningful, long lasting and realistic piece of art! Its pity that none of today’s established actor/directors are looking keen to trace back and walk on the path of legacy Swades has created! Swades work on many levels, but I think what makes is so unique and repeat watch is its characters! As they say, every character written shall complete its circle at the end of story. And Swades does that beautifully! From protagonist Mohan Bhargava to flash and go water selling boy, everyone has their story to tell. Ashutosh Gowariker has taken his time to detail out each character and though that has made length of movie quite long for some, in the end each character leave its own impact. It forces us to sit bac...

शिवरायांनी गुलामीत पिचलेल्या महाराष्ट्राला मान ताठ करून उभे राहायला शिकवले. सोळाव्या वर्षी डोळ्यात स्वराज्याची स्वप्ने घेऊन त्यांनी सुरु केलेल्या महायज्ञात कित्येक वीरांच्या रक्ताची आहुती पडली. स्वाभिमान, राजांचा शब्द आणि येणाऱ्या पिढीसाठी उद्दात्त स्वराज्याचे स्वप्न डोळ्यांत घेऊन कित्येकांनी जीव तळहातावर घेऊन त्यात उड्या घेतल्या.. सरसेनापती प्रतापराव गुजर आणि त्यांच्या सहा बहादूर सरदारांच्या बलिदानाची कहाणी ही मराठ्यांच्या इतिहासातली  स्वाभिमानी, निष्ठावंत आणि ध्येयवेड्यां वीरांच्या रक्ताने रंगलेली भळभळती जखम आहे. १६७३ च्या सुरवातीला आदिलशाही सरदार बहलोल खानाने स्वराज्यावर आक्रमणे करून रयतेचा छळ मांडला होता. राजांनी त्याला रोखण्यासाठी सरसेनापती प्रतापरावांना चालून जाण्याचे आदेश दिले. प्रतापरावांचे मूळ नाव कुडतोजी गुजर असे होते, मिर्झा जयसिंगाच्या स्वारी दरम्यान त्यांनी खूप बहादुरी दाखवली. राजांनी त्यांना सरनौबत म्हणजेच सरसेनापती बनवून 'प्रतापराव' अशी पदवी दिली, हे बहुतेक साल्हेर च्या लढाई नंतर घडले असावे.     नेसरी जवळ प्रतापरावांनी खानाला वेढले व त...

मैंने एक राज छुपाया है तुमसे तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी मुझसे बात करती है.. तुम्हारी बातें, तुम्हारी हंसी और तुम्हारी बचकानी बदमाशियां जैसे मूंद मूंद सूरज और गिला गिला चाँद मेरी दुनिया के जब ये चाँद-सूरज ढल जाते है सन्नाटे के खाई में तब तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी मुझसे बात करती है.. जब रात ओढ़े आती है अंधियारे की चुनर और ज़माने के सितम डूब जाते है काले आकाश समंदर में दुनिया भर की बातें बंद हो जाती है आँखों के बोजिल बक्से में    तब तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी मुझसे बात करती है.. जब खानाबदोशी थक कर घर का पता मांगती है  परिंदे वीरान कर जाते है सन्नाटे के कुवें को तुम पास नहीं होती और कोई वजूद नहीं मिलता मेरे होने का तब तुम्हारी ख़ामोशी मुझसे बात करती है..        -- गणेश

Bhagat Singh, apart from being fierce nationalist, was great writer in his limited span of life. He was fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi as far as writing is concerned. His quotes, poems and letters he wrote to different people during different stages of life are well researched. His letters in particular, are not only beautiful piece of writing but also testimony of brilliant, mature and philosophical man he was in such young age!   This is his hand-written letter from jail in urdu to his younger brother Kultar Singh on March 3, 1931. These are words of young man aged just 23 who knew his life was truncated short.. Mortals like us would have crumbled under fear of inevitable death that was silently approaching but then he was no ordinary young man like us, he had purposefully chosen his dark fate when he could have chosen comfort of living long luxurious life. There was clear thought process behind his each action and thankfully for us, he explained most of them ...

Have you ever wondered what is farthest object in the known universe? It is a galaxy named GN-z11 at distance of 13.4 billion light years away from earth which has been discovered very recently by Hubble telescope. Light from this galaxy took 13.4 billion years to reach earth, meaning it formed after just 400 million years after big bang, making it most distant galaxy ever observed! But hold on! As universe is expanding more than speed of light, right now this galaxy has moved much much farther from us, about whopping 32 billion light years away! That is crazy!! As universe keep expanding, galaxies keep moving away from each other. There will be time when light from some of these objec t will never make it to earth, implying we will never able to see or observe them! In far far distant future (hundreds of billion years from now), there will be situation when light from any galaxy will not reach to any other galaxy in universe! As they would have moved from each other to un...