Reticent Reflections

Silently I walk towards the mirror and stare at my reflection.
Puffy eyes, disheveled hair and an expressionless face staring back at me.

Along with two quizzical eyes which seem to have thousands of questions.

What am I up to? Where is all this leading to? What next?

I seem to have landed up at a crossroads where the only thing clear is confusion.

Enough!! My mind seems to scream but my heart refuses to hear.

Why is that I choose to wallow in the past and not embrace my present?

Why cannot I make peace with it, let it go and move on towards a hopeful future?

Why is that I still want to live with this hurt and resentment instead of a life with dignity and respect?

I shut my eyes unable to bear the horrifying image of something that was me.....

A tear silently rolls out of my eye as I hear my heart quietly whisper,

Enough...I cannot take it any more as the pain just refuses to go….

Slowly I open my eyes to see twinkling hope shining through.

And right below there I see a line turning into a curve slowly.

This is it I resonate to myself.

There began of a new journey of learning and unlearning things,
Falling, getting up again to fall…loving, living and laughing!

Keeping my fingers crossed I take step after step on this pristine path;

Hoping to meet an immaculate me on this new way~

Clutching onto my dreams tightly in my fist,

Striding away ahead to know the unknown.

P.S. This post is written for That Tuesday Thingy, an *IndiBlogeshwaris* initiative.

Books on Cinema

For a long time, cinema was a world I wasn’t allowed to enter. I grew up in a home where movies were banned. No television, no glimpses of silver screens, and no songs echoing from old classics. For nearly a decade, cinema was a forbidden word like a secret behind a closed door. And yet, like all things that carry truth and longing, it found its way to me. Stories have a way of finding you, slipping through cracks, whispered between pages, caught in melodies. Sometimes through the corners of borrowed books, sometimes through whispered summaries from classmates, sometimes just through the magnetic pull of posters and songs I wasn’t supposed to hear.

Movie Review: If by Tathagata Ghosh – A Tender Portrait of Love, Loss, and Possibility

If , a 26-minute short film by acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Tathagata Ghosh, is a sensitive, evocative piece of storytelling that lingers long after the credits roll. Set against the everyday rhythm of life in Kolkata, the film delicately unpacks the story of a lesbian couple torn apart by the weight of societal expectations and dares to imagine a different future, one where a mother's love might just change everything. What struck me first was the film’s raw, grounded realism. The characters feel like people we know, middle-class families navigating a complex world with quiet resilience. The world of If is filled with silences, glances, and stills, rather than heavy dialogue. Ghosh masterfully uses these moments to speak volumes, allowing viewers to sit with discomfort, interpret the unspoken, and feel deeply.

Book Review: The Story of Eve: Selected Poems by Zehra Nigah

Few voices in Urdu poetry have carried the weight of history, resistance, and deep personal introspection quite like Zehra Nigah. One of the first women to break into the traditionally male-dominated world of Urdu poetry, Nigah’s work stands as a testament to the power of words to illuminate, question, and challenge. The Story of Eve: Selected Poems, translated by Rakshanda Jalil, brings together some of her most powerful nazms and ghazals, showcasing both her literary elegance and her unflinching gaze at the human condition, particularly through the lens of gender, social injustice, and political turmoil.

Reviews & Musings

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