2006-06-13

Journey and the Destination

What would you enjoy most - the journey or the destination?

I, for one, pick the former. It's the journey that counts.

It's the thought, the planning, the anticipation. It's the adrenalin, it's the excitement. Once you have reached your destination, all you have is a beautiful memory of how you got there. Once you have got to your destination, you need a bigger challenge, you need a bigger task. You get bored once you have completed the task.

Destination feels empty, while the journey can still be a cherished memory.

Just like sex.

You could enjoy the journey with any given woman, even if it is a one-night-stand. Enjoy the ride, and get off at the destination. You wouldn't be able to enjoy the destination the same way, would you?

2006-06-11

Long distance love

Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and fans the bonfire.


- La Rochefoucald

Fanaa

For the first time in my entire life, I watched a Hindi movie in a theatre.

fanaa, it was, at the Savoy. Three hours of song and dance.

It was a beautiful movie, apart from the story-line. In terms of art direction, colour composition, and production qualities, the movie was a top hit. Glamour, beauty, energy, oozing 30 frames a second. The sound was superb. Didn't feel the three hours (had it anything to do with the quick vodka at the Savoy Restaurant and the beer that followed, I have no idea...), it was indeed quite entertaining.

I guess, once the mindset is adjusted to enjoy the Hindi Cinema, one could comfortably blend in with the masses and have a great time. The women, the music, the stunts, the tears, and the whole nine yards... this one could even beat Bond in the snow scene.

Nice movie. A refreshing experience.

I envy the music lovers hear

I see them walking hand in hand, standing close to each other
in a queue at a theater or subway station,
heads touching while they sit on a park bench,
and I ache to hear the song that plays between them:

The stirring chords of romance's first bloom,
the stately airs that whisper between a couple long in love.
You can see it in the way they look at each other, the shared glances,
the touch of a hand on an elbow,
the smile that can only be so sweet for the one you love.

You can almost hear it, if you listen close.

Almost, but not quite, because the music belongs to them
and all you can have of it is...
a vague echo.

- Charles de Lint, Saskia, Moonlight & Vines