The Teacher

I want to ask my teacher some questions.. I don’t know if he will ever answer them for me.. maybe he will be just smile and brush off his greatness as nothing.. and I will once again realize how small I am compared to him..

I have seen you since childhood
Toiling away your hours
Trying to make a better life for me
To give me what I want

Did you never question the benefit to you.. or how worth it was for you to see only other benefiting?

You sat and heard me cry
To take away all my pain
And make me see the light
By telling me simple stories

Did you never want to lose your patience with my childish problems?

You always followed a certain path
A path not easy to follow
Of absolute truth and integrity
Which brought you pain and suffering

Did you never want to just give up and take the path traveled by the others.. leading a more comfortable life..

In the quest for knowledge and truth
You gave up simple pleasures
Always doing the right thing
You set out to be an example

Did you never tire of being the greater one, sacrificing, compromising and adjusting

I just want to tell you my teacher.. That you are my pillar, my source of strength, my connection to God and to everything else that is true, wonderful and holy..

W.O.W.?.!.?

So yesterday I sat and watched the making of Friends.. or rather the making of the 1st episode of Season 6.. Where Monica and Chandler want to get married in a Chapel in Vegas and their plans are sort of .. well lets say.. quelled by Ross and Rachel’s decision to do the same!

While watching the making I realized the amazing attention that directors, art directors, producers, prop managers, sound and light directors and make up artists pay to detail..

I never even noticed it but they apparently change the display of teas and coffees in the shelves every two to three episodes because “after all which coffee shop is stagnant” and that they debate for hours over which shade of marker ink should Ross and Rachel have on their faces the morning after they put it there.. (when in actuality the show is being shot 6 months later..)

They have special sound artists who create noises such as heals running over cement and then the same heals running over carpet and enact is as the actors perform, in complete sync with them to create the most life like and natural sounds.

.. Its amazing how many cameras are focused on the actors to catch every angle of their act and how scene by scene each one is joined together to flow in the most continuous manner, in a way that the audience sees the best lighting, body movement and area of the studio.

The thing I found most amazing was how much writers improvise while the scenes are being shot. Even after spending countless hours trying to come up with a script, working till the wee hours of the morning and going back and forth on every scene, some scenes fall flat on their meter, being declared as “not funny enough”.. and then while the cameras are rolling writers come together to come up with funnier lines..

I guess the point of this blog.. is to sort of pay a tribute to the 1000’s of people who work very hard and tirelessly.. to bring every episode to our television screens..

Naina..

Maine abhi dher si baatein ki..
.. tumhari aaknhon ke saath..

Jo tum na keh sake
Who aankhein bol gayi tumhari

Baaton baaton mein mujhse poochne lagi..
Ki mera naam kya hai

Maine has ke jawaab diya
Tum nahi jaante.. ?

Massomiyat se mujhe dekhte hue boli
Ek naam hai maloom mujhe.. Par lagta hai tum koi aur ho

Main phir muskurai
aur bina kuch bole..

Jo sawaal mere samne aaya tha
Uska jawaab de diya

Naina mile jo tose..
.. ek kahaani ban gayi