Appreciation, gratefully received :)

My Intellectual Property Rights prof at the university, Mr. Apurva Bakshi, took the time to go through this blog, and has very generously said the following: (This is his reply to one of my comments on his blog*.)

Sudeep. Thanks very much for all comments. I think your blog 'Life's a glorious gift' has some highly readable, very fine and interesting posts. Appreciate the remarkable clarity of thought and the beauty of expression. Have already read all your posts and will soon comment on each of them on your blog. Was great reading!! Keep writing and all the best!!

I'm probably being childishly over-excited, but hey, that actually is important--finding joy in the little things of life...
Thank you, sir.
I hope I continue to get enough of such good stuff, but not so much that it doesn't excite me anymore. ;)


*Wasn't trying to conceal anything by deleting the comment. I'd forgotten I had said the same thing here. (For the ones who don't trust me at all. :P)

Change Beckons! [ANN]

Today...
This blog is not turning 42.5249687 months old, my first post is not 3.58165989 years old, and neither is it a certain web designer's birthday--not that I know of.
Yet, because days aren't special; you have to make them special, I'm making this day special--by revamping this blog.
The entire look now comes with a fresh splash of colour... [Full credit goes to the developers of this blogger theme.]
Please let me know what you think about this change... Or change in general, of course. Here's a thought from Christina Baldwin to leave you with.

Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix.

(Screenshots of the old look are available here.)

At Last the World Won [CrWr]

My heart asks me a question I can't answer:
"Am I earthly, or am I infernal?"
This amazes me; my thinking hits a start,
Ah, at least I still have a ‘heart'!
O you cruel world, I was born selfless,
And you wish to make me heartless!
You wish to draw out of me, all my goodness,
And in the success of that, lies your happiness!
I pity the puppets in your demonic hands,
Trapped like the past buried in the sands.

I was born an angel, serene and pure
You change me, of that I'm sure.
I smile, when actually I'm ready to kill,
I dance when I'd rather be still,
Within me, the colour of purity fades,
Instead of love, there are killing spades.

You desire that I praise and flatter,
Just because it pleases you better.
You think changing wouldn't cost a shilling,
But to change, you are never willing.
You preach of love, humility, and justice,
But you are made up of hate, pride, and malice.
Ablaze within you is a devilish fire,
Goodness you've burnt in the crucible of your ire.

But I can see this is the way to be,
Only in my dreams can I be a spirit free.
I too will ask my heart not to beat,
Kill my conscience and let myself cheat.
I will be what I was never ought to,
Because you desire it, and it shall be true.
I've understood things aren't flowery good,
Covers our pure hearts, your evil hood.
You wish to change me, and change I will.
The good in me, I will myself kill.
From now on, till my death,
Pretence shall fill each breath.
Into my new home, you fake world, I enter,
Defeated by your puissance, I finally surrender. . .




(30 January 2007)

Questions, Comments, Critique

For a person producing a creative/artistic piece, feedback is one of the most important steps towards improvement.
I see myself as a writer and a photographer in the making, so it is important for me to know what people think of my work. I want to work in a way that people can like and appreciate. And the three best ways to measure public opinion in this regard are Questions, Comments and Critique.

Questions: Do you wish to ask me anything related to the work? Does it leave you with any puzzles? Did any of my thoughts/expression confuse you?

Comments: Tell me what you think of my work. What emotion did it arouse within you? Could you relate with it? Did I end up fulfilling the objective/s I started out with? Generally, what do you think?

Critique: Give me a critical analysis of the work. Point out technical, grammatical, ideological errors, etc. Help me improve my skills and expression.

On this post, and elsewhere and everywhere, QCC are always welcome. I'm a big strong girl, you know--I can take whatever you got! :)

My Writing Pieces [ANN]

This is an announcement [ANN] that from now onwards, I shall be using this blog as one of the platforms to showcase my experiments with creative writing.

This decision has come as a result of my extreme laziness—I had actually registered a blog on WordPress which was to be solely for my stories and poems. I have had several potential theme files for this blog in my Downloads folder, I have had "WP blog" as a permanent fixture on my to-do list for every vacation since 2007, and for months I've been mentally planning how to publicize that blog.
However, finally I've acknowledged that I'm too lazy, and since I cannot keep this whole idea hanging in mid-air forever, here's the not-so-grand unison of writabulous.wordpress.com with a-glorious-gift.blogspot.com.

Every week roughly, I'll post from my tiny collection of writing pieces that deserve to be here.

In the meanwhile, you can check them out at one of these links:
writing/com/authors/sudeep1110
storywrite.com/sudeep1110
allpoetry.com/sudeep1110