the black lullaby

A few months back on a chat and music show called Peduru Party, my mother (for those of you who don’t know who she is… the name is Corrine Almeida – the singer) raised an issue about new generation singers miming at live shows. All the other senior artists expressed their disappointment as well, stating that the reason people pay money to come for a live show is to experience a live performance, or else they could sit at home and listen to a CD.

Then my mom made a reference to one of the newer singers, stating that she was very proud of this new artist who when the organizers of a certain show claimed she could not mime, agreed to sing live.

As I watched the show, I realized how well the station itself used this one statement as a tactic to boost their ratings. Here’s what they did. They got the artisit that my mom had spoken of on the phone for a live one-on-one argument. Needless to say, the repeat of that same episode saw the ratings of the show go through the ceiling.

Then just last night, a radio channel contacts my mom for a pre-recorded on-air interview. They pitched their questions at the controversial subject of miming and brought into question the same artist from before. Unknown to my mom, they had also interviewed this other artist and done the same thing in reverse.

I think the media of this country should be applauded on being able to level with the international standards of creating controversy amongst celebrities just to get their ratings going. It is also really beautiful how yesterday’s misunderstanding, which could have been fixed, has become today’s issue, which is moving into a direction that cannot be fixed.

I get that the entertainment industry is an attractive place with which to sell a story but hats off to media people who create unwanted rivalries to make themselves number one. Just a thought though, maybe next time they’d like to do so by telling us exactly how many people die in this country because of the war every day. Or maybe tell us the real story behind a crime involving people who have the money to hush it up. Isn’t that a better way to increase your viewership, listenership, readership?

Just a thought though, amidst all the bullshittership.

More… More…

Just as our picnic was coming to an end at the Dolphin in Waikkal last year.

Caught this during Christmas time at the Hilton. Isn’t this granny grand?

When I went to wish Shivi on her birthday last year!!!

Colombo Sunset as seen from an office window…

Half the building had moved but no… Summa just had to read the news!

When Dilshard was my boss… I miss him men.

More coming soon.

As I sat up late watching the convocation ceremony at Virgina Tech, live on CNN, I suddenly found myself bursting out in tears. It has been a long time since anyone has appealed to my religious side and last night, watching all those leaders speak on behalf of four different beliefs yet say the same thing, certainly did strike a nerve.

I had to ask… How would we as a community react to such a tragedy?

In the midst of our busy lives today I just want to extend a moment of my time in memory of all those souls who are no more after the massacre.

Massacre! Such a strong word isn’t it? Yet you have to ask what would drive a 23 year old to do something so cold?

I passed the news off as a passing bit of information last morning because my attention was placed on the match that had been a huge disappointment the night before. But when I saw that ceremony last night, it really made me sit back and reflect on my life and the great deal of time we spend doing so many bad things when we have so little time to live. And it’s really upsetting that it takes a great tragedy like 9/11, The Tsunami or the Virgina Tech Massacre to remind us of such things.

The Jewish leader who spoke last night quoted scripture. She read from the Bible, from the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 verses 1-8.

I’d forgotten this chapter existed. But I remembered again last night and this morning I’d like to share it with you.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

To everything there is a season, and
a time to every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, and
a time to die;
a time to plant, and
a time to pluck up
that which is planted;

A time to kill, and
a time to heal;
a time to break down, and
a time to build up;

A time to weep, and
a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and
a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and
a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and
a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and
a time to lose;
a time to keep, and
a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and
a time to sow;
a time to keep silence, and
a time to speak;

A time to love, and
a time to hate;
a time of war; and
a time of peace.

I’m not extremely religious but let’s face it… In a time like this, knowing that there is something better out there is what gives us hope for tomorrow. So remember those grieving families in your prayers today.

B.

I see it happen everyday and as much as I would like to commend people for respecting someone else’s success, I despise the fact that they use it as an excuse to keep themselves down.

Some hero-worshippers that I know believe that they were something only as long as their heroes influenced them. I see talented people who’ve got spunk, creativity and balls do to kickass, out-of-the-box work that will stun you, but unfortunately for them and the people they work for, they don’t go all the way because they’ve come to the conclusion that they’re nothing without their heroes.

I don’t know what it’s called but I do believe there is a term to define not being able to let someone’s influence over you go for good. Why do people hold on to it like there was no tomorrow?

I know these types all too well. The minute their role-model turns their back on them, they think the world as we know it has come to an end. They sell themselves short and claim they can never be that good. This mentality is what leads to a depressing scenario of mediocracy and second hand deliveries when the parties involved can do so much more than their heroes ever could.

If this wasn’t sad enough, matters are made worse by these pathetic fools who then influence others that THEY can never be good as so and so. It’s a vicious cycle that has no end, spreading pesimism and negativity wherever it goes.

The saddest part yet is these individuals’ reluctance to accept their own genius. They focus their entire lives on what they’ve lost instead of celebrating the beauty of what they have.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t have heroes, after all they help us determine our goals and give us the inspiration we need to rise high. But when you’ve risen as high as them, believing that you could never rise higher is a fatal mistake, one that needs to be understood by a lot of folk who feel they owe their heroes not to steal their thunder.

Any great teacher will always tell you that they wait patiently for the day their students would outdo them. And then there are those who use their students as a means of getting their dirty work done so that they can exalt themselves when all the hard labour is over.

We say that no matter how great our self-esteem, we feel like there’s always someone out there doing better than we are. If this is your thought process then I have to question where your self-esteem is to begin with?

To sum it all up – my belief is that heroes are people who will leave a lasting impression, but let that not be one of superiority but of encouragement to know that you can be as good or as better as them one day.

Hey guys,

Just a little collection of pics I’d taken off my phone…
my boss on the day we moved back to Colpetty from freakin Grandpass!!! Notice the bananas on the side.

Arrvinda and Mihira posing for the JWT Girls Calendar 2007! He he he!!!

Naveen holds up the traditional ‘L’ board after he’s asked to work on a pitch!

Johann goes Dracula at Sakura!

the smoker and the tat!

the drugged and the beautiful!

Ok more on the way soon…

A quote from a conversation I had with a former lover not too long ago. This was the answer I got when I asked the question “Why can’t we go back to being friends?”

It is true though… People do change. Sometimes they change so much that you would look on one individual as two different people. We would all like to believe that the people we love and the people who love us will always be the way they are wouldn’t we? Not gonna happen.

Let me tell you a story, a true story that amazes me even to this day.

I once knew a woman who sacrificed everything for her family because she wanted to see them happy. She gave and gave and gave with all that she had in her. She fought hard to make a name for herself and dedicated her life to being someone of significance. She was put through so much of heartache and so much of pain but she toiled on because the joy she gained from seeing the smile on someone else’s face was huge.

She had a son, a young man who believed that the whole world was conspiring against him. Raised with the same values his mother had he was taught that the needs of others came first. He was brought up to make sacrifices as his mother had done. He was taught to put his dreams on hold so someone else could live theirs through him. He was opinionated and always knew what he wanted to do, but he gave it all up because as he was always told – that was the right thing to do. Like his mother, he too lived through a lot of heartache and tears. Burdened with worries that he shouldn’t have had to deal with at such an age. He dealt with them and never felt sorry for himself for too long because – that was the right thing to do.

That would be their story… Now I’ll tell you another one, also of a mother and son.

She was a strong woman who had a plan for the future. She mapped out where her life would be in the years that would come and she put everything she had into making sure she got there. She wouldn’t fall prey to the tricks of relatives who only wanted money. She was smarter than that. She broke the rules of society to find her happiness because no one was going to give her any otherwise. She could judge people from a mile away and understood what game they were playing even before speaking with them.

Her son was cold compared her. He lived by the principle that if you were heading out to make someone else happy, you need to be happy first. He blamed himself for the mistakes he made and would leave nothing to chance. He lived his dreams to the fullest and would unleash a darker side of himself on anyone who decided to stand in his way. There were no rules in his life and all that mattered was to live as though life ended tomorrow.

I could never understand how these two pairs of people could ever have anything in common. I’ve written for you very short descriptions of their lives and even through them, connecting the two pairs seems like a bit of a stretch doesn’t it? But there is one crucial point that connects these two pairs, both are the same people. The same mother. The same son. The same lifetime.  Funny ain’t it?

Everyone agrees that people change. But what I’ve found the strangest is that the very people who make such statements are amusingly offended when others change. Hmmm.

B.

here it is guys, my new poem… enjoy…

Dancing on Styx

Toes on water, heels on nails,

Moves that leave my core impaled,

Spinning sideways south and north,

Charmed by the devil’s chord,

Memories short and memories long,

Fuse as one melodious song,

Hurling me through time and space,

Holding strong through every pace,

I see him waltz out of her life,

I see her quickstep into strife,

She gently hustles two and fro,

Then kicks back with her solo,

I see another, she twists the wheel,

Working hard for our next meal,

She cares for us and keeps us whole,

Giving us courage to rock and roll,

My possessed feet go on with zest,

Dancing past my vision quest,

I see the years pass one by one,

Unveiling my life from when it begun,

Within the ballroom of my days,

I snake round every single face,

Those who’ve left me high and low,

Those who’ve left me in limbo,

His slam dance pounding my essence,

Before he stole my innocence,

Her strut that made me loose my breath,

Before she put me through slow death,

The way he tangoed in my heart,

Before he let it tear apart,

The way she took my life so stray,

And formed with it a new ballet,

The end has come, my boat draws near,

I take with me no grudge or fear,

The air churns out an awesome mix

For my final dance, on the river Styx.

Brandon Ingram

I was dosing off trying to think of an idea for a TV script the other day and when I had finally come up with one I was stuck with trying to fit it all into 30 seconds. This is the challenge we go through every day. No matter how big the idea or how great the story it still has to start and finish in 30 seconds.

As I looked around me, at my colleagues sitting in other cubicles, some on the floor, some on the desks, some actually on chairs, I saw that they were doing the exact same thing, trying to fit an entire story into just 30 seconds.

Made me really sit back and think about the years that had gone by and the precious time that had been wasted on absolutely nothing. Made me realize that we put all of our effort into giving something or someone a life that lasts for 30 seconds and yet we cannot do the same thing for ourselves.

I watched my friends closer and tried seeing them beyond who they were on the surface. And it was only then that I saw how many lives had changed in just 30 seconds. I saw the unasuming man who was told his drinking could consume him, he had made the decision to ignore that warning in 30 seconds.

I smiled at the old friend who had now become distant because his girlfriend didn’t like me. She had convinced him in 30 seconds. He had also changed his mind later, in the same span of time. I encouraged the junior who needed a lot more guidance, even though he had proved himself to be a great ideas person in just 30 seconds. I turned away from the woman who pointed out mistakes in others, she had made the biggest one of her life in less than 30 seconds.

I smirked at my boss who had changed her opinion of me during a phone call that had lasted for just over 30 seconds.

I thought of the day that I made love for the first time, the threshold had been crossed within a simple 30 seconds.

Simple message as always… Try and live your life today as though you had only 30 seconds to do it. Trust me, you’ll end up living a lot more than you thought you could.

Love you all….

B.