IF..

One of the best poems i've come across... found it in my archives..It's amazing how sometimes these few verses can teach u such simple yet big things in life...


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

-Rudyard Kipling

Om Shanti Om...

The movie is everything but shanti! Over-hyped would be clearly an understatement. I am glad I didnt spend a single penny to watch it... Saw it on a dvd and had the privilige to fast fwd those painfully-boring-un-hummable songs which were just packed into the movie for the heck of it and had no connection with the story whatsoever.

When I had watched Farah Khan's directorial debut 'Main Hoon Na' I thought it was pretty bad and overly dramatic... But after seeing OSO I feel MHN was way better.. at least it was entertaining. There is absolutely nothing new in this movie. The story is the same old one about rebirth/reincarnation which has already been used in hundreds of bollywood movies.. The transformation from Om Prakash to Om Kapoor in the second half isn't handled well and is far from convincing. Coming to music, the only song worth listening to is 'Aankhon mein teri...' And I still fail to understand what Farah was trying to do with the 30+ bollywood stars in the song Deewangi... Akshay Kumar's 'Return of Khiladi' shown in the movie is priceless! Watch the movie and you will know what i'm talking about :) Shreyas talpade is quite funny in the first half but he is wasted completely in the second half.. Deepika Padukone hyped to be the next super star in bollywood does nothing to shine as an actress.. She defnitely looks awesome with those excellent 70's costumes in first half and the modern look in the second .. but is that all?? we want to see some acting too!!

Lessons learnt :)
- If a movie is heavily marketed, there's not going to be much substance in it!
- You can market/sell any crap in bollywood!

Long-stitch embroidery...

.... A new thing that I tried out this weekend. Here's the output....

Had done a few cross-stitch ones long back in college but this is the first time I tried out a long-stitch.. so didnt have much of an idea how to do it; used my own style and techniques :) Have to learn how to do it in an optimized way, using fewer thread loops.. Took me 3 days to finish, considering I spent 3/4ths of my weekend on this! Hope the next one comes out better...