The Coffee Table Talk

A storyteller, following the ancient tradition of cave chroniclers, standing in vrikshasana (the tree pose) on a hill top (it is sunny, but windy), breathing in and out stories (relishing it all, but at times overwhelmed), declares animatedly that she will continue to – tell stories, share rare story gems, and connect with the pacy universe while also keeping the website ad-free.

Big thanks to my readers. Stay tuned!

Also, a humble request to the new subscribers to check the spam folder after subscribing. Silly (but necessary) confirmation emails often land there instead of the bright inboxes. Merci!

Ya-hoy!

Chiming Stories (formerly Home Chimes)

P.S – Supporting a storyteller is good for the world’s health (and undoubtedly, for the storyteller’s health as well). Shower some love by sharing, commenting and subscribing to the Weekly Newsletter.

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Hand-picked Post

           Weekly Newsletter 

Mother India

Sujata – The Voice of the Unheard

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam – A tale of role-reversals and downfalls

Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (That which moves is called a car)

Jagte Raho (Stay Awake)

Madhumati – A Mesmerising ‘Tale within a Tale’

Mrinal Sen’s Aakaler Shandhane (In Search of Famine)

La Strada And The Round-Faced Clown

The Silence of the Lambs

Whiplash Victory Tuning

Sherni – Even in the dense jungle, the tigress knows her way.

Gabbeh

Gabbeh, the 1996 film, is a simple tale of a gipsy girl, her clan and the way their life goes on. Unfolding beautifully just like an artist painting a canvas, Gabbeh quietly touches the grand questions.

Essentially Gold, The Lavender Hill Mob

Ranked as one of the greatest British films of all time, The Lavender Hill Mob confides in the audience, letting them see, feel, laugh and think without tickling persuasively with a joke here and a punch-line there.

A Tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, the Film Philologist who Reinvented Cinema. 

Our Friend Totoro

Chidren of the Sea – A Glimpse and A Message 

The Map to Miyazaki

Mirai

One, Two, TREE

Paper-Light-Lemon-Fresh Stories

Arthdal Chronicles is a South Korean fantasy drama TV series that takes us back to the Bronze Age in a mythical land named Arth, where different human species and tribes struggle to be on the top of the power pyramid.

Regina Spektor’s Musical World – Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

Of Monsters and Men and This Journey

O Apache!

Together We Enjoy Enjaami

The Circle Game, Joni Mitchell, You and Me

Kora and Kankles

The Answer Is Blowin’ In The Wind

The Wonderful Mr. Tambourine Man Song

Lovely

The Drifting Montages

Jasmine-Rich Raga

Weather Forecast Says Listen to George Ezra

Agnes Obel and The Narrative

The Choir and Their Toads Sing ‘Double Trouble’

“You will hear thunder and remember me,

And think: she wanted storms. The rim

Of the sky will be the colour of hard crimson,

And your heart, as it was then, will be on fire.”

– Anna Akhmatova

Which One?

Out of the three worlds, this time, which one can you hear? Which one appeals to you more? The fish’s saga, the floating leaves’ travelogue or the tall dry trees’ declaration?

The Knight’s Missing But The Horse’s Here

Nature’s furious, the clouds are anger-dancing, the trees are trembling, surrendering, oh trees you say, oh here the mighty mountains are kneeling, falling flat, many many streams erupting singing jingling hymns, begging for mercy, but the nature god has turned its back on us.

Charu, eight, hears the elders saying such things, quite animatedly, and she thinks of a solution immediately, “they should simply walk to the side where the nature god is looking… and talk.”

A deluge of emotions, of past eras, of destined ends, of old knots, of shared hopes, of what is remembered and forgotten, of the less and the more, Midnight’s Children is a fantastically chronicled piece of magnificent writing.

‘Frankenstein Or The Modern Prometheus’ speaks to you directly, showing you with its wintery-cold hands the myth through the lens called life.

Call it a myth, an experiment, a mistake, it retells, at the same time approaching the same unknown vision, the story of Victor Frankenstein – a man who humbly tries to be god.

Rabindranath Tagore beautifully writes in the language of love, his characters always express something which stays usually hidden within a heart, sidelined by the talkative world.

Time’s moving, time has changed, many ruled and died, no more Sultans, no more sultanates, what’s in it for you? Has the power game changed too?

          Part I & Part II

…”a Greek gentleman in a straw hat, standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe”…

That hazy glow you see when you close your eyes and breathe, that dot, it is the one that surmounts, it has and it will, sometimes with and sometimes without the shell.

That the dark clouds will pour heavily and ceaselessly, that the rainbow will nurture joyous moments, that a true feeling is there to stay forever, but only to forsake rudely with lessons to accept and time as a remedy, making a revelation that such is life, does this change what is transient into eternal?

The second track requires a different set of shoes feels Rebecca very strongly. A pair that can match the track’s rhythm, can dance, tip toe, jump and even fly.

Yes fly! For walking on the second track is dull and usual, but dreaming high, high, high requires tools. Tools like the right pair of shoes, a chirpy, gritty soul that eats butter-jam dreams, a soul that drinks milky-milky creams.

         In The Sundarbans

Silver cascade shimmering the night sky, music to the waves and surreal beauty to the eyes, the Moon loves the art of discipline.

It may be difficult to believe for the Moon’s splendour defies time, it stupefies the clock, it follows the path of a dreamer, but how could this be possible if the Moon knew not discipline?

The delicate mustard plants are ruling the world and the forests are shying away from their glory, what a splendour, a burst of yellow joy this is.

Only when I couldn’t find the pen today, I picked you to write my random thoughts down. Not so sharp, but nice and silvery, I wrote some charcoal rich lines. That you are not related to permanence, that all the lines written can be erased and that I was thinking about permanence before I reached half of the page, made me ponder. Life was different as a child, when I scribbled, played the dot game on the last page of my notebook and the famous noughts and crosses. I was chaotic and fearless, almost heroic when you and I first met.

        Together Pan-optically

In this moment, I am a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I am complete and incomplete, I am pleased and uncertain, I wish for nothing and I know I have to wait.

Because the distance covered reminds me of the hurdles I have crossed and the ones I could not, it reminds me of a throbbing past and a dreamy future and it reminds me of how much time is left.

A joy so complete without any rise or fall, so free without any time corners, so real without true being false, false being true.

I feel I am all alone in the two worlds. Taking a step forward I see lightning as ‘the fast’ meets ‘the slow’. I am not injured; I can endure the lightning but not the confusion. A beautiful path lights up as far as the mind can reach. Back and forth between a one-way; crashing becomes a certainty.