The Woodlanders

It is a lesser known novel from Thomas Hardy. However, it touched my heart the most. I was in the flushes of romance during my early 20s when others were busy firming up their career path.:) In that process I even wrote a novel after my B.E., which few of my friends hail as a national comedy.:)
I chanced to read this novel and found it too captivating and unputdownable. The character of Winterborne seemed attractive because of his unflinching love for Grace Mulbery.
First, let me give you the plot summary as per wikipedia:
The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterbourne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury. Although they have been informally betrothed for some time, her father has made financial sacrifices to give his adored only child a superior education and no longer considers Giles good enough for her. When the new doctor – a well-born and handsome young man named Edred Fitzpiers – takes an interest in Grace, her father does all he can to make Grace forget Giles, and to encourage what he sees as a brilliant match. Grace has more awe than love for Fitzpiers, but marries him nonetheless. After the honeymoon, the couple take up residence in an unused wing of Melbury's house. Soon, however, he begins an affair with a rich widow named Mrs. Charmond, takes to treating Grace coldly, and finally deserts her one night after he accidentally reveals his true character to his father-in-law.

Melbury tries to procure a divorce for his daughter so she can marry Giles after all, but in vain. When Fitzpiers quarrels with Mrs. Charmond and returns to Little Hintock to try to reconcile with his wife, she flees the house and turns to Giles for help. He is still convalescing from a dangerous illness, but nobly allows her to sleep in his hut during stormy weather, whilst he insists on sleeping outside. As a result, he dies. Grace later allows herself to be won back to the at least temporarily repentant Fitzpiers, thus sealing her fate as the wife of an unworthy man. No one is left to mourn Giles except a courageous peasant girl named Marty South, who all along has been the overlooked but perfect mate for him, and who has always loved him.

What a novel! I used to fantasise of my position as that of Winterborne. Now it seems that what a silly thing it was to think like that. But then it is probably another way to live. On the contrary in my musings I find that I was more in love with life sans everything else. My muse still exists and I am truly a Winterborne now involved in a sinecure in the eyes of the world! I do not mind that anymore. But will reflecting on my past loving memories at least provide me an objective to live further?
The poem in the novel was touching,
‘ If I forget,
The salt creek may forget the ocean;
If I forget
The heart whence flowed my heart’s bright motion,
May I sink meanlier than the worst,
Abandoned, outcast, crushed, accurst,
If I forget.
Though you forget,
No word of mine shall mar your pleasure;
Though you forget,-
You filled my barren life with treasure;
You may withdraw the gift you gave,
You still are queen, I still am slave,
Though you forget.’
There is a movie on the novel directed by Phil Agland and it won a few good awards and nominations.
The cast was as follows:
Emily Woof ... Grace Melbury
Rufus Sewell ... Giles Winterbourne
Cal Macaninch ... Dr. FitzPiers
Tony Haygarth ... Mr. Melbury
Jodhi May ... Marty South
Polly Walker ... Mrs. Charmond
Walter Sparrow ... Old Creedle
Sheila Burrell ... Grandma Oliver

Jab we met!

It is probably the time when one feels like writing for oneself. just for oneself with little regards for anything else. i feel like crooning 'tera na hona jane kyon hona hi hai'! The movie Jab We met is great for me because it made me realize one thing missing in our everyday lives- the music in work. Forget all the cliched motivational craps of our thought gurus. They all are baseless and are meant to elevate the sagging spirits of the white collared slaves. It was great for a jilted lover in the movie to have found out what life is from a very-2 loud and peurile babe who inadvertently shows him a new way to live- by loving oneself and life. If only we could do that! Let us love ourselves first. How much suffocation surrounds us! Who is resonsible? It is us. And why do we do that? The loft designations, fat paypackets, pseudo-pride, and all the negativity that we gather in the name of urbansation and progress. And look what gets the beating? Love and life. We are not filling our moments with beauty but are rather taking away the beauty from it. That is sacrifice and the killing of spirits just to appease others. When will we live for ourselves? I do not like getting up in the mornings. I do that to conform to the societal norms. What do I get in return? Just a lil bit of satisfaction that others have noticed my getting up for some damned task.
Let us enjoy first whatever we like if it does not border on profanity and pleases us without displeasing others.
We say that we must work as per a pattern. Why so? Why a pattern in everything? Is that how lives are supposed to be?
We were born without our consent. We were sent to schools without our consent. We join a college without our consent. We join a job or our work without our consent. We marry and have kids without our consent. The only thing that we can do with our consent is to die. That is because lives nowadays are not lives. They are deaths. There is nothing like a 'free' man. Believe me, with all your riches and status you will be always be embroiled in the vicious circle. No break from that.
Let us try to break free from the fetters. Let us love first and live later.
Yes, Jab We Met was quite interesting and Kareena was especially tantalizing in that.
Synopsis:
Aditya Kashyap (Shahid Kapoor), a demoralized industrialist, gets even more depressed after attending the marriage of the girl he loves the most. Feeling ashamed to face the world, he walks out of the marriage gathering and boards a train in the night. Over there, he meets Geet Dhillon (Kareena Kapoor), a beautiful talkative girl who is leaving Mumbai to go to her hometown - Bhatinda (Punjab).

In the beginning, Geet irritates Aditya to a large extent and every meeting becomes mental torture for him. She discloses big plans to him of eloping with her boyfriend Anshuman (Tarun Arora) as she fears resentment from her parents. Geet irritates Aditya to the point of getting him to leave the train. As she tries to get him back on the train, she ends up missing it and the two find themselves stranded on a desolate station with no luggage or money. Geet confronts Aditya and tells him that he is now responsible of reaching her safely to her house in Punjab. Both of them begin an idyllic journey through the exuberant North Indian heartland, and make their way through buses, taxis and camel-carts to reach her house.


Kareena Kapoor as Geet Dhillon in the filmOn arrival, Geet's family (Pawan Malhotra, Dara Singh and Kiran Juneja) mistakens the two for lovers. Before this misconception can be cleared, Geet escapes to her boyfriend in Manali. Aditya leaves with her, confirming the suspicion that they are lovers. In Manali, Aditya feels empowered to return to Mumbai and resurrect his ailing business.

Destiny despises Geet's love story as Anshuman avoids and dumps her. On the other hand, Aditya begins to do well in life after he resurrects his failing business empire. One day, Geet's family, who think that she is with him, confronts Aditya. He is shocked to learn that Geet has not returned home. He takes it upon himself to find her and tells her family that he will bring her home in ten days.

Aditya finally tracks her down in a Himalayan town and is traumatized to learn about Geet's misfortune. Consoling her to face the circumstances, he manages in patching up the relationship of Geet and Anshuman, and they decide to travel back to Bhatinda. Back in Bhatinda, Geet's family again mistaken the two for lovers. Trying to clear the misconception, situations make Geet realise that she is in love with Aditya not Anshuman, and therefore they get married.

What a movie! Great dialogues, songs, scenes, climaxes et al. Kareena slips into two different characters with consummate ease. Shahid is good. He is a cutie-pie with bagloads of talent. Director Imtiaz Ali has done a wonderful job.