The Curtains Rise - Be Aware

The moment is now. For us to be aware of it at first and then use it for the betterment of ourselves and the rest of mankind – The Uncultured Company

I'd like to start with wishing all of you and your loved ones a very happy, prosperous, spiritual, filled with love, happiness and of course good health year ahead. May we remain that special drop which makes this vast ocean called life. I pray for a smile to overshadow your every pain, as I wish upon you to always shine with the best of your soul, as you share it with the rest of us.

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend to you these wishes from the Uncultured gang. We'd like to welcome you to the first issue of the second year of our Uncultured Magazine, which has in all true sense evolved immensely since it's birth a year ago. Do check it out at http://www.theunculturedcompany.com/magazine. We have a theme and the theme is ‘The Messiah In The Cradle’. Have a read to remind yourselves or to realize how God sends us these Messiahs to constantly remind us the true ways of life. I am grateful to my team of writers, editors, technologist, web-hosting folk for making this truly happen. We are indeed rocking now.

Believe in, and keep alive the power of prayer. Remember it is our prayers that can get Him to move the mountains. So come and say a prayer, leave a prayer and take a prayer as your soul worships for a stranger at http://www.worshipsoul.com

I would personally like to take this moment to thank you all for your support and prayers. Thank you for being there for me personally and helping me overcome my darkest moments and helping me back to spreading my message of peace, love and tolerance.

Finally our first "Bollywood' film, hits the cinemas this year. It's a special year cinematically too for us. Praise be to God, for He has been truly generous to me.

Well…keep your diaries free. Yes it's true and it's official here. I am getting married this year. I truly believe that GOD has chosen the one who makes me complete, even though I do feel that I am not worthy of someone as beautiful a person as her. I truly am grateful to God for this wonderful companion in my life. Watch your inbox for more details on this. Anyone free this April? December? Dubai? GOA? Mumbai?

We might not be able to change the world, but we will surely touch the lives of the people that we meet. – http://www.tagorealmeida.com

Smiles, prayers and best wishes

Tagore & The Uncultured gang
One World, One Faith, One Race. One Colour, Just A Different Face
www.theunculturedcompany.com
www.tagorealmeida.com
www.worshipsoul.com

Annoying my baby all over again

You are the butterfly that moves around with me,
You amplify the beauty of every sight that I see.
You’ve left your smile on my eyes, your voice in my head,
I can still smell your skin; my ears remember every word you’ve said
You feel that I don’t listen to a thing, so I smile seeing you go insane
Then I know I’ve hopelessly fallen in love with you, all over again

You didn’t let me know that you’ve reached home safely,
After all this time, you still haven’t understood how much this worries me.
Sweetheart, I need to know that you reached safe and are fine,
Coz in your well being, I seem to smile in this life of mine.
And because I worry about you so much, I know it drives you insane,
So I try to be calm, but in a day or two I get even more worried all over again.

You say you want to throw a party, we put together separate list of friends
You seem to list everyone I know for me, while I don’t care who attends.
All I want to make sure is that a few of my guy friends are there,
So that I can hook them up with some of your chick friends there.
That will drive you crazy, coz you care about your girl friends more than my friends will ever do
Then I realize that I am annoying you again baby, because I do love you.

Note: I wrote this for my baby, and I love annoying her, coz in romance there is a certain beauty, that women never understand. Smiles & Prayers - Tagore -

The path adjacent to Maya’s legacy

Deep within I know you can hear me cry
You know the reason too, so you never ask me why.
But there isn’t much that you feel you can do
You dance into the night and long for me to be there with you.

You sit beneath the stars, the fire keeps you warm
You blush as they clap after you perform
You took a bow, what did you dance to baby?
You saw a smile on their faces, but the smile wasn’t me.

With every step that I put forward, I seem alone on the floor,
The music plays just in my head, but I can’t sing the words anymore.
Coz I was so used to dancing alone, but then you came along
You went on about your own world, making me forget my only song

I need you now, but I can’t seem to see you near me
I need to hold on, why won’t you have a dance with me baby,
Coz I’ve forgotten the lonely steps that I used to danced with my shadow
I fell in love with you, now my shadow doesn’t want to dance with me anymore.

Will you ask me to dance, will you ask me to look you back in the eye?
Will you hold me in your arms, away from the world that doesn’t hear me cry?
Will you make me strong and help me be the person that I know I should,
Will you be my man, my love like you always told me you would?

Note: Ok here it is. The first look at a song from LEGACY. This appears in the film when Maya finds herself completely in love with Ammar, having fought back teh feelings, so that she could remain in a world of her own. This is the song that makes her reveal to herself that she has finally fallen in love, and that her life no longer belongs to just herself. We all fall in love and we all realize that our life gets shared with that someone special. Go on give them a part of your life and replace it with a part of theirs. Become one to create a new world, follow a common dream and keep alive the legacies that beautify everything around yourselves. Smiles & Prayers - Tagore Almeida - P.S: The first teaser of Legacy appears on my site www.tagorealmeida.com in the next few days, as this weekend I sit with my first producer & director to discuss this film. So spare me a prayer. Thanks

The Colourless Man

I believe that every man and woman have it in them to be an angel,
Just like all of us have it in us to love over and over again.
We survive the heartaches; we have it in us to overcome the pain.

Baby, do you know that I too lose my self control?
I see you look at me; I know you want to hug me when it’s cold,
What’s stopping you then angel, is it coz I’m different, I’m not the same?
I didn’t know that love knew barriers made by man. It’s such a shame.

I know I love you more than any man with the same colour of your skin,
And I could keep you smiling always, in the love that we would be in.
How I wish I could tell you, how much you mean to me,
I wish you would see how much I need you baby.

The world has her own rules. Rules GOD never dreamt,
man would stoop so low to create.
Just so he could live in what he thought was his comfort,
In his insecurities, he built walls to differentiate
Between religion, Caste and Colour.
When will he learn that there is true freedom, behind this barrier.

If you could let go of your fears and realize the salvation in every breath,
Break away from the man made barriers, and feel the freedom you’d get!
You’d be able to love like never before, then you’d understand
That we are all the same and I’m not really a colourless man.

I pray that you will overcome all, I pray for the universe and her folk
Who branded me different coz my skin is pale.
I still have the faith; I very much know the power of prayer,
We will overcome these barriers, and our good soul will prevail.

Note: I wrote this initially as a reference note to myself, as I was working on the screenplay for a film that’s just completed it’s shoot in Mumbai. I came across this poem recently and read it a couple of times. I know I wrote it initially to keep with the theme of the film I was writing, but now I see a lesson in there. We are all different, at some stage or the other we get alienated from the world around us. We also alienate others who we feel do not belong to the world around us. Remember the world is NOT just made up of the world around us. What we do not see, what we do not understand is also a part of this creation. Everyone breathes, everyone loves, everyone hurts, everyone feels exactly the way you do. So rise above it all, and learn to love, breath and live in not just the world around us, but beyond that too. Understand the power of your prayers, feel the mercy of GOD and love without barriers. I pray and I smile for you and for me to be so. – Tagore Almeida -

Love You Today And Tomorrow

You forgave my every sin,
You cleansed the wounds that hurt within.
You watched me grow all the while,
You picked me up and made me smile.
My unanswered prayers turned into blessings, and now I know
that this has become the foundation of a love that I never had felt before
Oh my Lord, I promise to love you today and tomorrow.
The stars spell out the smile that I see on your face
The rain cleanses my sins, it washed away the tears that roll down my face.
Oh Lord, I want to be a slave to enjoy all that I could never see before
Be my friend, let me love you today and tomorrow.
How comes we’ve become so good? How comes we seem to understand,
each other’s sorrow and happiness all the time?
But whatever the answer is Lord, all that matters now is that things are so fine.
I want to be a slave to enjoy all that I could never see before
Be my friend, Lord - let me love you today and tomorrow.
You forgave my every sin,
You cleansed the wounds that hurt within.
You watched me grow all the while,
You picked me up and made me smile.

Note:God loves you like no one else does. How have you loved HIM? He will never let go of you, and I pray that we never let go of HIM either - Tagore Almeida -

The 10th Lamp Post on 7th Street

Been playing my guitar, singing the same old song
Been standing here, strumming and singing for so long.
There’s still a desire to be touched by love, there’s still faith
That you’ll hear me sing your song, that really isn’t that great.

But it’s a song so true, it’s a song I wrote, coz I do love you.
Will you ever know of it, will you ever know that it’s true?
Every one stops to listen, they sigh at the words, they tap their feet,
But I’m playing it for you, beneath the 10th lamp post on 7th street.

I saw you drive by, your windows were up, you were singing to the radio…
Roll down the window precious, and then you would know
that there is a guy who is singing a love song,
Playing a tune that wants to say sorry for all that went wrong.

When the song says I’m waiting for the touch,
You will hear my soul tell you, that I want to be with you so much.
and baby when I sing about how I’ve left my dreams behind,
I want you to know that your love is all that I ever hope to find.

When I confess that I do shed a tear before I sleep,
I want you to realize that I too weep.
For you to be with me, for you to take me into your world,
So that you can tell them my song is about you, coz you are my girl.

It’s been a long time now, and every one seems to have heard the song but you,
Your neighborhood passes by, some sing the words with me to your song too.
When will you stop by, to hear the only song that I play
Beneath the 10th lamp post, on 7th street every single day.

You will definitely hear me sing your song,
Love will overcome all, these words will reach the heart to which it belongs.

Note: I wrote this recently for someone very special. In some ways, it's about going about doing everything except walking up to the person in question and telling them about how you feel. I'm sure many of us have been there. There is a certain element of nervousness, anxiety and yet it seems like the entire world is just one amazing place, all because you seem to have fallen in love with that one person. So this peice is my way of serenading that pretty girl. So for all of you out there, take a moment, even if you are already married to the one you love, and go fall in love one more time with them. Get a little nervous just before you tell them you love them. Go make a complete fool of yourselves as you make your loved one blush as you see them falling in love with you ALL over again. I pray - for love and romance to always be alive between you all. GO now and stand beneath the window and proclaim your love once again. Smiles & Prayers - Tagore Almeida -

The theme of Legacy

Smiles coming in thru my window, it’s as if the skies are waiting for me
I’ve danced my life on this earth, feels like the ground has had enough of me
Heaven smiles waiting for me to tell her my side of the story, about my legacy
But my lover won’t let go of me, she’s still holding on, very much in love with me

I’ve seen my child grow, and man! She has grown so gorgeous,
She taps her feet amazingly but confined to herself and that makes me furious,
Coz I want the world to see how gracefully she moves, infact just like me,
She’s beautiful like her mother, smooth like me. She’s holding on to a legacy

I know for sure that when her feet start to move,
they move to a fusion sound of the wind, streams and the trees.
Her soul can see an electrifying audience in the butterflies, birds and bees.
She conveys in a language that’s within the purity of every human being
The very same language, I reckon in which the angel’s sing

There he comes. Lord! he’s going to make my little girl fall in love with him,
I know she’s an adult now, but I can’t seem to find that certain style in him,
But yet her makes her smile, and he understands her every move so deeply
Why do I feel that he has something to do with my very own life and my legacy?

Note: Here we are - the first look. The theme from LEGACY – my new film. With Legacy I am back to writing, the story, screenplay dialogues and even the lyrics for the songs in the film. LEGACY is about society, a father–daughter bond and with dance as the back-drop. It is NOT a film about dancers, it’s not a film about people who study dance or are devoted to it. It’s a story of small family who have a lot of love in them, it’s about the society they live in, it’s about how much they mean to each other. It’s about their ways of life, their views, their beliefs and their legacies are passed on from generation to generation. Many a times, we kill the beautiful qualities that we inherit from our parents / grand-parents. These beautiful qualities are a legacy and we must hold on to these. The film is about all of this, a family like any other, that has these beautiful qualities and holds on to these legacies, and believe it or not – to even the way they love to dance. It’s all in the blood, we sometimes forget to hold on to the good ones. So wake, be aware and hold on to even the smallest of legacies that are a part of your world. Smiles & prayers – Tagore Almeida -

Just Bits & Peices

Another morning and I’m contemplating about getting out of bed or not
Will I have a bad hair day? Will the sun shine ruthlessly making the day hot?
A few seconds I’ve been awake, Lord there’s so many things to think about
How I wish, one day I will wake up and learn to smile at everything that I got.

In world of barriers that we seem to tie ourselves to
Complicating our lives with situations that aren’t really true
We want to believe in what we see, in the mirrors of society
And sort of panic when we can’t seem to find ourselves in what we see
So we mould our beautiful self to fit into a canvas that really isn’t our own
We ape strangers, to be a new person, depending on what they have shown

Brother, brother. Don’t you know that you are a man?
Stand up for your Morales. Your father’s teachings you have to understand
You are the angel, you are the smile that glorifies the sun light
And you are the warrior that protects the rest under the moon light

Take a walk; take a moment to smile at those around you
Lend a hand; give laughter to those who want to laugh with you.
You will always be your mother’s passion, your father’s purity
You will be the glue that keeps the love flowing between you and me

Lord, How I wish we all could be the children from your soul
And avoid the shortcuts of life, being pure until we get old
How I wish, man would realize that he really is not busy
To come back home from a day’s work, and play with his family

How I wish the men is power didn’t fool us and get raped by greed
Have we forgotten that the system is merely a tree from our very own seed?
How I wish women could walk safely, without lust fucking-up a pervert’s mind
Why does a human harm another? Why do we stamp on beauty that we find?

Note: This is really just bits and peices that are flowing in my head right now. I ahve these thoughts, perhaps not connected to each other, but they are thoughts that I spend time on. I wish that we freed ourselves from unwanted pressures, I wish we respected other, specially women, I wish we laughed more and more like we did when we were kids. Then I realized 'Lord, these bits and peices, these little thought' if only we followed them, the world would be a better place. My dearest brothers and sisters, there are my thoughts. Listen to yours now. They might be similar to mine or they might be totally different, but whatever they are - listen to them and hopefully your world will start to be a little better than it was. Smiles & Prayers - Tagore Almeida -

The Miracle

Have you ever felt the urge to pray for someone and then just put it on a list and said, "I'll pray for them later" or "when I have more time"?

Or has anyone ever called you and said, "I really need you to pray for me, I have this need?"

Read the following story that was sent to me and I KNOW it WILL change the way that you may think about prayer and also the way you pray. You will be blessed by this.


A missionary told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan.....

"While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks, I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point.On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital.

Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about GOD. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.

Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known I carried money and medicines. He said, 'Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.'

At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, said, 'No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone.'

At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the Michigan congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:

On the night of your incident in Africa, it is morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to leave when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong, I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?"

The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.

This story is an incredible example of how the Spirit of the Lord moves in mysterious ways. If you ever hear such prodding, go along with it.Nothing is ever hurt by prayer except the gates of hell. I encourage you to forward this to as many people as you know. If we all take it to heart, we can turn this world towards the Divine once again.

As the above true story clearly illustrates, "with faith all things are possible" and more importantly, how God hears and answers the prayers of the faithful.

After you read this, please pass it on and give God thanks for the beautiful gift of your faith, for the powerful gift of prayer, and for the many miracles he works in your own daily life .

Note: I always post my original work here, coz I love being able to express whats coming out of the soils of my very own soul. However today, I'm putting in here a forward that came into my Inbox, not because I do not have a peice ready to post here, but because I just couldn't stop the milk of humanity flow out of me when I read this. I'm still riding on the waves of Tarishhyasi and when I got this story into my Inbox, I just had to forward it to everyone. Say a prayer my dearest folk as someone is saying a prayer for you too. The biggest thing you can give anyone is a small prayer. Love you all, in my heart and in my prayers - Tagore Almeida -

Mothers. Ma, Mama, Mom

Today is my most precious and adorable ma's birthday. Mama when I was small, Mom when I was a teenager, and since the past few years, she's simply MA.

MA – cannot live without her, even though all my life I lived thousands of miles away from her, there is always a closeness, a connection with her. It’s like MA is always there, right from being able to give you that comfort that you are being loved and prayed for, to being nagged about cleaning up my room and wearing the right stuff, to eating healthy (MA never ever believed that coke and ice-cream was the best breakfast for a 10 year old and upwards).

Have you ever noticed how a chicken will fight everyone in sight who try to go close to her new born? Similarly in any species in the world, humans included, you will realize that there is no force on earth, stronger than the love and protectiveness of a mother. She is the soft clouds that you can rest your head on when life tires you down, and she again is the rock wall that protects you from the evil elements of life. A thousand bullets on the battle field called life will crush you to the ground, but in her arms, her single smile, her gentle words of comfort can wash away those wounds, as strangely a blanket of love covers us.

Mother
Father's always been the hero, who grew up from rag to riches
Both in fortune and in soul
Was there to make sure that there was a meal on the table,
An example of a perfect gentleman, who stuck with goodness and yet bold.

A Mother is the source of love, the source of comfort and life,
Her role as creator, makes her a mother first and then a woman or a wife.
She is the power that gives birth to another human being,
She will love you forever, like no other human being.

This is just a song to sing in respect and in appreciation
To my mother and to every mother for being so pure and for the affection
For being the source of love that flows within every one,
For being the moon at night and dawn when a new day has begun.

In complete gratitude to the Almighty, for giving us all a mother. To every mother – for keeping us all in love. On a personal dedication, this is my mere words of love and gratitude to you Ma, my most precious and adorable one. Thank You. May God bless you and all the mothers in the world forever. Happy Birthday –Tagore Almeida-

Uncultured-ly Mumbai

Alright, first of all do forgive me for the long delay in updating this BLOG. Also before I start I’d like to thank so many of you for emailing me finding out if I was ok and safe. Well as you can see, I am well alive. Thank you and God bless you all.

Uncultured-ly Mumbai, is the best term that I can think of to explain what I brought with me from my first hand experience there. I landed up in Mumbai on Tuesday 26th itself, at around 9am. The weather was sunny and I right away headed to my friend’s house in Juhu. An hour later I had to leave to meet Vyne for lunch and then had to get back to Juhu to be picked by my friend and off-beat producer Pravesh Sippy to be taken to his place at Beach Candy for dinner. I had promised Pravesh that I would be at Prithvi at 5pm. Having had a great lunch with Vyne, we came out of the restaurant and saw it was raining, not heavy showers but neither was it a drizzle. That was just after 2pm and since I wasn’t doing much until 5pm decided to get onto Yari road (Andheri, Versova) and say a quick Hi to my friends Mamta and Rajeev Kheror. Got there as the rain got slightly more stronger – but then again the dinchak auto made me savour all of Mumbai. Got to the Kherors and soon we were sipping on Chai and finalizing plans to meet some journalist, Radio Jockeys, film makers and some other personalities at the coffee shop at Prithvi theater the next evening, so that I could show case the Uncultured Company and my peace cause to these people. Lots and lots of chai and even more rain. Looking out of the window, one could not see any earth - not even a glimpse of the concrete on the roads. Cars were already have submerged in the water. I tried calling Pravesh to apologise that I was running late, and perhaps even stuck at Yari Road. No contact whatsoever as the mobile networks were jammed. Finally at around 7pm Pravesh smsmed me (apparently he sent me the email at 4pm-ish) telling me that we’d have to postpone dinner for the next day. Rajeev tried to take me around atleast to find a cab who would take me to Juhu, but we failed completely. A bottle of vodka in hand we went back to the Kherors and spent the evening just chilling like friends and taking about the weather. Stories began coming in about how people were stranded, neighbours couldn’t get hold of their loved ones at all. Seeing this the neighbours all did their best to contact a distant uncle in some remote place and requesting them to make a call or to go and find the missing person. It was all done so effortlessly. I remember we were talking and I fell asleep not knowing when. Thanks to Mamta and Rajeev aggressiveness (LOL – and Sandya Advani backing them up) that I stayed there that night. All the invitees for the meeting the next day were still very enthusiastic about meeting the next day as per schedule. The next morning the Gods of the rains had shown some tiredness and there was just a light drizzle. I had to get back to Juhu. We fnally found an auto-rickshaw that offered to take me as far as it could. Yari road to Andheri four bungalows was a piece of cake, clear roads, less people on the roads. Those on the roads were on their way to work!!!! (Note: This is a very common Mumbai thing. Nothing stops these people from their lives)

The auto guy stopped abruptly and I soon knew why. All I could see was a river that had no end, street lights on either side of her and people walking in the middle of her. That used to be a main road 24 hours ago. Thousands of people just walking into or out of her. People with water up to their waist walking, in somewhat of a human chain. Some in fear but majority of them in smiles and braveness. I had to do this. The auto guy told me that a bus was approaching and that I should get onto the bus immediately instead of walking in that water. I agreed and got of the auto and jumped into the bus. As the bus drove into this river, the water has covered the first 2 steps of the bus, but it carried forward until it came to a small cross roads. A fellow passenger told me that if the bus went right I’d be ok as it would be very close to Juhu, else I’d have to get down and start walking to my right. The bus unplanned, took a right as the rest of the roads were blocked. However a few minutes later it stopped and they declared the bus could not move further. Why? Te he road ahead was not only a river, but people had left their vehicles in the middle of the road and just left them and walked away. The roads were now blocked with parked cars. I got off the bus and decided to walk it out. What happened next is nothing but the beauty of the human soul.

The water got deeper as we walked ahead. People cared about the well-being of everyone around them. Kids were being carried by strangers and were assured that nothing would happen to them. Thanks to the pot holes in Mumbai’s streets, people were careful where they walked and begun walking on the dividers in the middle of the road. Not once, for the 3 hours I walked did I ever see anyone misbehave and try and push someone off the elevated divider. Not once did I see anyone who tried to butt onto the divider being asked to piss off or not being allowed to come onto of the divider onto safety. There were those who you knew were praying, then there were those who were singing to keep the spirits up. On either side, people living in the buildings nearby were throwing bottled water down at us, so that we had some safe water to drink. An elderly lady was tired, the water was above her waist and she needed to rest. A young man struggling to push his motorbike thru the waters just stopped. He asked the lady to sit on the bike and started to push the bike. The pressure of the water was bad enough, he was clearly tired, but he still got the old woman on the bike. Immediately another 2-3 youth put their bags around their neck and started to push the bike from the back. They just exchanged a subtle smile and nothing more was made of this. In front of me, there was a man, perhaps in his 50s, grey haired and a rough stubble. He held a bamboo stick in his hand. The dividers in the middle of the road were all of a sudden not useable, as the government had put these railings on them, so people had to now walk on the road itself, not knowing where the potholes were. I made friends with Navneet who lived nearby, we talked about ourselves, the rains and smoked together like old friends. Suddenly the man in the front yelled ‘THAMB’ (stop). Using his bamboo he had found a pot hole. He warned the people behind him (us) and then made sure that we warned those behind us and so forth. I must have walked atleast 20mins ahead of that pothole and constantly looked back. Everyone was warned about the pothole by those in front of them, as they warned those behind them. Finally Navneet reached his building, and insisted that I go and reat at his place. I declined solely coz I had walked quite a bit, and soon I’d reach my destination.

We walked past the house of the legendary Amithab Bachchan. On a normal day people would stop and look at his house, hoping to get a glance of the man. On that day too, it was like a normal day. People stopped and looked at his house, even though he doesn’t live there anymore, people noticed that there was no entrance to this place, as the water had reached nearly half the height of his front gate. For God’s sake folks, stop looking there, and keep walking to safety. Not in Mumbai, LIFE GOES ON AS NORMAL, and stopping in front of Amithab’s house is a very normal thing to do on a very normal day.

I finally made it to Juhu and saw the earth, the concrete of the road just outside Amithab’s new house, opposite the Juhu Centaur hotel. My friends house wasn’t very far from there, but I still decided to take an auto-rickshaw there. The auto-guy told me that more people were coming from the river and they were tired so he would take more people with him. I agreed and finally reached the safety of my friend’s house.

The rest of the day was just spent hearing stories and doing whatever we could to help people. People who had another 3-4 hours of walking, they were being called by my friend’s parents, offered tea and a chance to relax before they took off. The good Samaritans reached out and NOBODY exploited that humanity. Who were these people? I could not even once figure out if any of them were chritians, muslims or hindus or whatever. I couldn’t figure out if they were rich or poor, Brahmins or labourers. They were just a very special tribe called ‘the Mumbaikars’ (the folk from Mumbai). They smiled, they cared, the gave and reached out unconditionally. At that moment, all I could realize was that these people, consciously or not, but yet very genuinely felt that they were all part of just one world, they seemed to have one faith and they seemed to belong to a common race. Their colour of life was just one, hey had merely a different face. I have been proclaiming humanity for years, looking for it in people and I saw it many a times all over the world. Looking for it in a place – I finally saw it….in Mumbai. In prayers, in gratitude and above all in salutation to you my dearest Mumbai and above all to the real and totally uncultured folk that make her so special. God bless and thank you for making me a part of it, coz in there for the first time in my life, I realized that I was not the only uncultured soul lost in this huge universe.

The Unsung Hero

Another night, just before he went to bed,
Sitting at his desk, he couldnt forget what the Radio said
Another act of inhumanity. what was becoming of the human race?
People harmed each other without a drop of disgrace.

Each night HE would sit and make at least one special doll
A doll that would be a guardian, placed where humans would fall
If the radio said a woman was harmed in some place that night,
A doll would be place in that locality to protect all the women in sight.

If terror surfaced in London, the fanatics went on a rampage yet again,
The victims would live in fear, not knowing the next move would happen when.
But a special doll was made and placed to protect the victims there,
To teach them all to become one, and show them how to love and share.

At this very moment, one of those special dolls is reading this work of mine,
Why are you here angel? Have you connected with yourself in your inner shrine?
In every breath, you can make the difference or it is a moment to learn
You can spread the love, say a prayer and even take away our concern.

You are the unsung hero, worry not about any appreciation
No man or woman on this soil can judge you for your creation
Your reward was set aside the day you were chosen to be HIS special doll
Always be aware of who you are. Unsung hero, listen to your call.

Do not fear, do not let your doubts hide you behind your shield
You will overcome your weakness, your soul will be healed.

Note: This is a poem from my new book that I am currently working on. It's also the new subject that I am talking about. We are all heros my dearest folk, it''s just that we have detached from humanity, given into temptation and short cuts and have thus forgotten what we are doing here. Right from being the member in the family who keeps things togather, to the class leader, to the manager at work, we all must carry the responsibility of being human too, and do good and give on that level knowing that we do not expect a reward back from mankind, coz the reward itself is so huge for goodness, that only the creator can offer it to us. So when at times you feel unappreciated, taken for granted and low, do remember that you are not one of those who has been unappreciative or used and abused you. Besides, if you stop giving the goodness, you would have let such people win. So dont stop being the unsung hero. Learn to avoid people who give you pain and suffering and instead use that time and energy to pass on the love to those who need it and you. In prayer, in love and in gratitude, I salute all you Unsung Heros right now, right here.

On a daily basis all the good that we do gets noticed by a SINGLE and most merciful God. I spent 9 years in London, and it will always be my second home to me after India. I would like to dedicate this poem to every person who felt a heart beat towards this incident, and specially to the victims and their loved ones. We will, unlike those who are responsible for this disgraceful behaviour, be the real heros in the world, coz unlike them, we unite in love and in prayer and survive all of it.
Smiles and Prayers - Tagore Almeida -

Blood. Legacy & Family

Blood. It is about being in the blood.

Ok here is something that is miles, if not continents away from the usual stuff that I stand for. Those of you, who know me, know me as being tolerant and open minded about everything in life. That is why I am NOT fanatical about anything, not about religion, races, colours etc. However, people very close to me know that I am not just fanatical, but extremely weird about one thing, rather one person and that I will stand absolute NO negative comments about him. The man is Amitabh Bachchan, or as I simply refer to him as 'Dada'. He is not just the greatest superstar in India, he is NOT just the coolest man walking, he is NOT just the living definition of success, to me and in my own little and wishful (but yet very genuine) world - he is FAMILY. Family because even today, when I am in my 30s, I cannot watch him die on screen. From Deewar to Sholay to Agnepath, I have to close my eyes, or put the DVD on stop and If I do watch the end, then I have to immediately watch at least an hour of SIMPSONS just to forget that Bachchan had died in the film. Fanatic? Weirdness? Who cares? I don’t.

Anyway, last evening I went to watch a film called SARKAR. Now let me tell you that this article is NOT a review of the film. I am sure that you will find hundreds of those everywhere. If you want to know about the film, well then, in one line, I will say that it is brilliant. It is already up there in my top 5-bollywood films ever made. There you go, that my review of the flick. After the film was over, I could not talk to anyone for about an hour. I was dumb struck, I tried to distract myself, to come out of the shock but I just could not. What had amazed me about the flick was not just my 'dada', or realizing that this was one of Ram Gopal Varma's best, or that even Abhishek Bachchan walked over everyone in terms of performance. There was something more to all of this, and this is what this article is about.

I remember watching a film called REFUGEE, many years back. Abhishek was being launched. I noticed at that time, the very powerful family that he belonged to, didn’t go in for a typical film wherein they could show the audience that they could dance, sing, fight, ride a horse and romance on the hills for Switzerland/Australia all in one film. At that time itself, I sensed a complete sense of confidence in that family. It was a clear signal that they did not need to stoop to a level wherein they would have to depend on great locales, music, and every other thing that unfortunately goes into making a 'hit' movie in bollywood. Instead, here was their child, in a non-contemporary flick, and this is how he could perform - as an actor. What followed over the years was this actor doing his bit in films that did not have anything substantial in them. We, the Indian moviegoers just cannot seem to rise above at awe we have for larger than life, phony characters that we see portrayed again and again on celluloid and that too by the same actor doing the same damn thing over and over again. Moreover, every time we get a 'good' flick, with foreign locales, mechanical music, and often-cheap dialogues we praise the actor to the skies and the nation goes berserk. Note when I referred to the 'good' flick, I did not mention anything about good acting, but the actor gets all the credit, does another few films doing the same thing and then he fades away until another one makes it to the top. No wonder then, none of these clowns have been able to come even close to the success and charisma of the Big B. I must state here that the exception to this has always been Amir Khan, who I do consider to be a very talented and stylish celebrity.

So I always wondered who would ever carry the legacy of Mr. Bachchan forward. Now even though I do feel that ShahRukh Khan has achieved, in terms of fame and fortune, more than any other of his colleagues have, and that too not being from a 'filmy' background, I cannot still see him being the heir to 'Big B' legacy. He just doesn’t have it in his soul. Amir could have made it to that, but he has opted to be an actor rather than anything else. There will NEVER ever be another 'Big B' and that is final. I know people talk about there never being another Dilip Kumar or Dev Anand. I agree, but it is insignificant. With all due respect to these great men, but the 'Big B' is more than anything or anyone that has walked the soil of bollywood. Today, when most of his colleagues are long retired, he is R.O.C.K.I.N.G celluloid, ads and the media overall, giving the younger dependants-on-frolics a run for their money. I will say this again, there will never be another BIG B. So what happens to the future of this legacy? Who is worth being crowned the rightful heir to this throne? NOBODY can be his equal, but then again someone needs to carry forward the legacy that this great man has created. Someone needs to be the guardian of it all. Who? Who? Oh Lord, Who?

Now, to know the answer of this, go and watch SARKAR. The heir the throne has risen, and in SARKAR you will see the amazing Ram Gopal Varma, show you the legacy, the shy prince who then rises above all, and eventually is crowned the new king. Abhishek for most of the film makes you forget that thee Big B is part of the same frame too. He makes you forget that thee Ram Goal Varma is the master behind those frames. He makes you even forget most of the time, that he is the son of thee Big B. He stands there like A force to be reckoned with. His eyes, the sober expressions and that style, will make your jaw drop. You come out of the cinema dumb struck and your mind doesn’t seem to know a single word to say anymore. After much time has gone by, you realize what you just saw. You saw the blood of Mr. and Mrs. Bachchan become one and they called it Abhishek. In him, you see the anger of his father's character and tenderness of his mother's character. I mean character as in their common roles on celluloid. He has the talent from both his parents. Where can he even run from it? It is there, and it is seen here now. Abhishek has not depended on everything else around him, but his acting capabilities. He is the heir to what I keep referring to as the 'Bachchan' legacy. He is it's rightful king of the future. He is the blood of the Bachchans, and for decades to come, he will remind generations, as to whose son he is. As he rightfully said it himself 'I am my father’s son, and I will always be in his shadows'. The true making of a young king.

For my younger readers, who do not understand the depth ness of this blood, legacy & family, the let me tell you it's like Simba taking over and continuing his father - Mufasa's legacy. This is what this is about. Dada and Jaya-ji you must be proud again today, for your little lion has finally roared, and the jungle called cinema has awakened taking notice of him. Only a good son can be aware of the blood in him and do the right thing, and Abhishek has done that. It's about family honour, it's about the blood that flows thru, and that is passed on from generation to generation, along with discipline, style, charisma etc.

For the die hard Amitabh fan that I am, watching SARKAR has calmed the storm of worry that killed me within, regarding the throne, the legacy and yes...my Dada. I know that his article is NOT about peace, love and tolerance – topics that I usually write about. In a way, its about tradition, loyalty and above all......family.

Tagore’s Prayer II

It's been quiet a while now since I wrote my first prayer
You’ve heard me out, touched me. Thank you God for letting me know you’re there.
You’ve seen me smile, you’ve seen me struggle, and now you are seeing me cry,
I know these tears will cleanse your streams and oceans making every sin die.

Jesus, man nailed you to the cross so mercilessly,
That you cannot free you hand from the cross to reach out and touch me.
I stand below your cross, looking at your murder that I didn’t do,
I’m so much in pain, so I stand here and start praying to you.

I hear a bell in a distant temple, it seems to sense my sorrow and tear.
Bhagwan, tears roll down my face as I realize that you’ve come so near,
I’m still asking Bhagwan, I’m still begging in these tears. I am so much in pain,
Yes, I’m still trying a different shrine, calling out your name again and again.

Allah, isn’t my attempt at worship, good enough for you?
Tell me, please tell me. Don’t you know how much I pray to you?
I sense your presence, your love. I know you love me truly,
Then why is it Allah, that evil is still keeping my girl away from me?

So my Lord God, creator of all that I see,
What are the mountains & oceans for, if not for my baby and me?
You want me to chant your name, your love, to tell them that we are one
When this is the very same thing, that is killing your favorite son.

Answer me Lord, respond to my pain
Like a spoilt child, I’m weeping and throwing a tantrum again
And as I cry bitterly I ask you Lord to answer me,
‘Please God, please for the sake of your creation – answer me,
and turn the world around if you have to, but please give me my baby’

Note: I was going thru my old work, looking to find something to put up here on my blog. There are a number of you out there now who have started to 'stalk' me on this site, so I'm making an extra effort to update it as frequently as possible. Anyways, I found this poem, and immediately laughed at it having found it very sweet and yet it projects an immense connection with GOD. I realized that I have always behaved like a spoilt brat with GOD, demanding that HE makes things right - because at that time I was huffing and puffing and throwing a full blown tantrum which seemed to have a mask of deep pain in the name of love. But I do like this piece of work, it reminded me of my child like affection and relationship with GOD. What I never knew then, as most children never realize when they are throwing a fit, is that the adults know best. Similarly GOD knows best - ALL THE TIME. He can see beyond the horizon, thru the fog and way above the clouds. When an ant's foot touches a leaf, He senses it. When a pebble shifts in a streambed, He knows it. If there's a worm hidden deep in a rock, He'll know its body, tinier than an atom. HIS compassion towards us cannot and will never be able to be described. So the next time you pray, know that HE does not have to wait to hear your prayer, HE already knows what you need, and HE has already done what is best for you. All you have to know is, believe THAT. In the meantime, if you want to throw a tantrum like this moody libran here, go ahead. HE still loves you. - Tagore Almeida -

Ay Gopa!! Gopa,

“Hurry Up! We are getting late. Where are you Ethan?” – yelled his father, as he tried to get them ready for the school bus. 5 year old Ethan walked very calmly to his father and said ‘Here. I am in my body’. That made his agitated father smile.

“I am going to have two babies when I grow up, mum. Two”, declared 4 year old Merryl. “One will be a green pony and the other will be an orange pony”. Her trying-very-hard-to-be-over-things mother listened and then said “You have chosen Interesting colours for your children Merryl”, as she died within trying to figure out how her 4 year old was thinking on those lines. But the mother found it extremely funny too.

The workaholic was back home for lunch and as he ate with his wife, she complained how their 15 month old son was turning out to be a terror. She told her husband how she had to yell so much that her voice was giving way. The father could clearly see that the little boy was terrorizing his mother. The father tried his stern voice trying to let the boy know that he couldn’t get away with what he was doing. Lunch was over and the boy fussed with his father, throwing kisses at him, doing something ridiculously cute, and making the father smile. Soon the father had to leave to get back to work and the toddler begun to cling on to his father. Finally the toddler said ‘bye Baba’, waved his little hands to his father and threw him a flying kiss. The father came out of the house, got below his building, then went up again, opened the front door and told his surprised wife ‘Stop yelling at the poor guy’. Mission accomplished. I reckon the little toddler went back to his little room, pulled out his ‘mischief’ plan and exhaled ‘phew that was close!!! Now, how do I control mum?’.

A fanatical catholic grand mother, emphasizes on prayers to her little grand-daughter. She tells the little angel how Jesus went to Calvary and there he died for us all. She sensitively breaks into the hymn that proclaims the same. The grand daughter joins in stating ‘you went to Cadbury, there you died for me’. The grand mother’s deepest moment of prayer is beautifully disrupted with a smile, a blush and then upon establishing eye contact with her grand daughter, who just realized that something she said didn’t fit in, the grand mother laughs and hugs the child. A moment more precious, more divine and above all, like all the other stories mentioned here, a moment of pure innocence – sheer divine.

There is so much of innocence in these angels, so much of purity. They hold no grudges, no anger and no hatred. Most of all they are not manipulators, not conniving and then makes me wonder... what happened to us? We were those children some time ago. I pray for every parent to do the right thing for their children, to make them realize who is right and what isn't, as they grow up. I pray that we adults inoculate a sense of morality, a dose of braveness so that the kids might know that what might seem like a difficult or tough choice is actually something for their own good, so that they will learn to know the right path, the right people and above all that they will keep alive within them always, the umbilical chord between them and THE almighty. It's a shame that so many kids go astray, simply coz they are put on that path by none other than their own parents and/or guardians who are looking after them. Children are the light not just of tomorrow, but of today too. I say this because I truly believe that today they are the reminders to us adults on how much more pure we once were.

The kids in my life call me Gopa. Ethan invented that years ago when he was even smaller and a lot less naughty than he is now. I think he was trying to tell me to 'Go Far' away from him, but I just like to kid myself that he called me Gopa. When he says Gopa! I know he is going to take me for a ride. When Elaine says Gopa, it's usually a deep question about life. Thank God she asked her mother (my sister) what adultery meant and not me. I would have run away from her, doing my version of McCauley Culkin's scream. Merryl can ask me her 100th 'WHY?' in one single conversation, but at least I do not tell her what he mum does when she runs out of patience. 'Because the sky is too high' - I could never do that coz I don’t believe that Merryl would stop at that. Amaar can look at me, smile his most mischievous smile and then declare 'Chick-en!!'. That means he is hungry....again.

When I see these children in my life, I have just a few prayers in my heart. I always want to be Gopa to them. I want them to take advantage of me, take me for a ride, while I hope I never fail them. Secondly I pray that these kids always have that innocence in them as they grow to be able to connect to all the Gopas that they come across in their lives. By this I mean that I hope they trust, love and bond with whoever they feel is a Gopa to them, and may that Gopa NEVER betray them.

Go now and be the Gopa to the world around you. Amin, Amen
-Tagore Almeida -

Goan Boy

You were raised in the arms of the ocean
Playing by the feet of the mountain
Blessed with loneliness, you noticed the waves embrace
and heard the stream say her prayer in absolute grace

Nobody but you, noticed the mountains grow
and you alone could see the palm trees touch each others toe
The sun and the moon, told just you that they were married a long time ago
You could see their sacrifice of being apart, so that they can help us all grow

My Goan boy, you then grew up and were forced to look the other way,
Where fanatics were killing, sowing seeds of destruction in what they say
Abusers don’t give a damn towards you, let alone acknowledge the soul of the oceans and the streams
In a world where Mother Nature’s songs are overshadowed by human screams

Tagore, why did they ever let you grow my Goan boy?
The darkness of mankind came after you and killed your joy
I know you want to go back home, but would it be the same?
But the sincerity of life awaits you from where you came

Note: After a very long time, I wrote a poem about ME, about how I was feeling when I was talking to my father recently. Then something strange happened, and I felt as if my father had written these words about me, having heard my talk. I was going on and on about awareness and the lack of it in the human race today. I think anybody else would have thought of me as a misfit, but dad didn’t and I could sense that he knew where I was coming from. The times when I grew up away from them, from a very young age, in lovely GOA, to the time I faced life in London from the age of 15. I had grown on my own, in a somewhat fairly tale assumption of life and this world. There are those of you out there, who do believe in the goodness of life, of people and above all in the beauty of God and HIS creation. You’ll are RIGHT, absolutely right, and because you see the world this way, there are time when you will be hurt. The mountains and the oceans that I refer to in this piece of work are like the good beliefs that we have, and when we are made to look the other way, I mean what we see man do today, right from killing at war, to backstabbing, to taking for granted the ones around them. Let it be, your reward awaits you…when you get back home. In the mean time, this is the journey and we still have a long way to go, but be assured that we will all eventually, and when the time is right get home. I pray for you, I love you and I smile at you in pride as you connect with your own GOA – this creation, my every brother and sister who I take the liberty to refer to as my Goan boy and my Goan girl. Goan smiles & wishes from the universe – Tagore Almeida -

Beautiful Woman

You are a woman with every drop of beauty within you
Your smile is like nature, you voice is like the birds that sing,
Your eyes are the ocean in which the moon and sun sink.

You could have had the best of life,
The wealthiest man would make you his wife..
The oceans and the forest together would sing,
As you could have become the queen to the richest king.

You discarded the chariots, you discarded the kings
You discarded the wealth and all the materialistic things
You left your innocent world, before your life had begun
You surrendered to a call, my beautiful woman.

You chose a carpenter, instead of a king,
And you sat on a mule and traveled through the fields
Palaces should have graced you, but you knocked on every inn,
They all turned you away, as you carried your child within.

And so the beautiful woman, settled into a stable
And tried to rest where ever she was able.
Amidst the cattle, sat there the carpenter and his lady
Bring into this world a messenger for you and me.

This special woman, the most beautiful of all,
She sacrificed it, to bring us the coolest man of them all
As a mother, you sacrificed and gave us your son
Thank you for the messenger who died too for me, thank you my beautiful woman.

Note: I wrote this years ago when I begun to be embraced by my faith. It was my song for Mother Mary. My own mother recently travelled back to India after having spent a 45 day vacation with me. It was great to have her here. She shopped, and shopped more and then still stood assuring as she declared that she hardly purchased anything. The cutest thing was that after a 100kilos of baggage she still convinced us that she had got nothing. This incident brings tremendous joy to me, coz I thank GOD that I can provide my family with this. God is truly most generous. When ever I do my 'uncultured' related events to promote peace, love and tolerance in the world, I have been often told that I do a very noble task. Maybe I do, thats not important. Today I have realized that what is important to people is what GOD's guardian for us does, and this guardian is our parents, specially our mother with who we establish a connection much before we physically enter this earth. From great men like Jesus, to mere mortals like you and me, we all have this beautiful woman in our lives called 'mothers'. Give back to them, a token of appreciation in the best way that you can, for all that they have done for us. Exalt thyself my dear brothers and sisters so that from the heavens, our most beautiful GOD watches your beautiful woman, as she sacrifices and yet sheds a tear of joy, as she sees her child (YOU), do the best for her and the rest of this creation. To the beautiful woman of each one of us, smiles & prayers - Tagore Almeida -

Imagining Lennon

I’d like to believe that there is a heaven.
And I have that comfort, so I don’t have to try.
I feel there is hell below us, and that a good GOD lives above the sky.
But, I really do wish that all the people would live for today.

Yes John, why the hell are there so many countries.
I wish we could just see this land as one, and it isn't hard to do.
This world is evil & people cannot imagine there being ‘nothing to kill or die for.’
I wish people had just faith, and like you said ‘and no religion, too’
How I wish John. Imagining all the people living life in peace.

I definitely do not think that you were a dreamer.
And for sure you were not the only one.
Don’t know about the rest, but I’m in, and I’ll pass on your hope
So that really the world will really be as one.

It’s such a shame, but will we ever be able to imagine no possessions?
I too wonder John. I wonder if we can.
Wouldn’t it be beautiful, when there’s no need for greed or hunger?
Thanks for reminding us about a brotherhood of man.
I’m remembering you John, and am really hoping and trying,
To imagine all us people sharing all the world.

Today, tomorrow and forever and ever.

Note: I recently talked to a bunch of youth and tried to convince them that they were the future who I depended on. My talk was called 'the unsung hero' and very soon i'm going to be making it a part of my entire 'uncultured' talk. John Lennon to me was the perfect example of 'the unsung hero'. you may be stunned and wonder how one can refer to this man as the 'unsung' one, specially taking into consideration that he was the front one of the world's first greatest band. Well thats my point, everyone remembers him as the front man of the Beatles, as the guy who was shot dead in New York, and the guy whose wife was Yoko Ono, and last of all we do add the fact that 'yeah he was the guy who spoke about peace'. To me though, John Lennon was first about peace and then everything else. He spent his life crying, pleading and singing to the rest of man kind to 'give peace a chance'. I wish, i truly wish we remembered him for this first and then everything else, coz truly - this is what he was all about. In a world full of self greed, dirty politics etc, we yet again ignored an amazing hero. Today it is upto you and I to never give up our efforts to be the change that we want to see in the world. Live on, never give up, coz by being the 'Unsung Hero' you will touch atleast one life. Imagine!! - Tagore Almeida -

It’s All About Love

Gone are the days when I woke up with a heavy heart
Hardly slept a wink, kept looking out for you in the dark
Gone are the days of fear, gone is the flow of my tear
Eyes opened like they were before, I can now see life so clear

It’s all about love, It’s about you making me want to smile
It’s all about love, it’s about sensing each other’s pain from a mile
It’s about being the reason to live, God how could it ever be the reason to die?
Just transparent, the truth is not distorted, no room to lie.

Love is when I smile, and smile just thinking about a part of you,
That lives in me, while a chunk of you lives in me too
It’s not about sex, it’s not about lust and lack of dialogue
Only love can be your vision as you travel in the fog

Love is freedom in the midst of being prisoned by your affection
feeling so secure, insecurities don’t stand a chance against your dedication
but every one has to see the darkness I guess to know the real value of the light
Love is Allah’s hug, bringing me out the darkness as HE held me tight

Note: This is my poem to myself, as a token of appreciation that I can relate to life like I always did until a couple of years ago. It’s coming back man! Thank you Allah, thank you Jesus and thank you to my most wonderful bunch of people who have held my hand and taken me back to the spot on my path from where I got lost. Talk to me about life, talk to me about the universe, hey talk to me about love. Sanjay wants to see me make two walls fall in love again and make them have babies. I have promised in these coming weeks, I will. My beautiful people, if someone takes you to the edge of life, you don’t need it. If someone cant tell it to you as it is and has to often say ‘I meant this and I meant that’ you don’t need it. In love, in freedom there is no concept of ‘little bit’ – it’s the open skies, free yourselves from the pain and breathe the universe, breathe the soul of mother earth – breathe it for Allah. I am back to living like a Hindu, loving like Christian and praying/believing like a Muslim. Life awaits you and when someone loves you, they will feel for you and put you before anything else. If they tell you that they don't know what to say or do, leave them now, coz they do not love you. Allah himself has put love into us, and thus we will always know how to love. Bismillah. Alleluia. Hare Hare. Take the deep breath and live knowing it’s all about love – Tagore Almeida -

Hail Thy Name

Lord its really amazing to be loved by
Mercy me, you really are the force in all the good that people do
I read a man's note, it said 'do not forget how kind HE is',
If that be so, forgive my every sin and heal my every disease

Be merciful to me, let me hold your hand master,
I want to sing your praises and spread your word there after.
I was knocking so hard, I wondered how you didn't hear me
But a good man told me that I should wait in love for you to come and take me

I was waiting my sweet Lord, waiting for your touch,
Waiting to be in love with you.
YOU picked me up, adn then held my human hand
I hail thy name, knowing that I will now travel with you on this land

Note: I cannot express, and perhaps shouldnt even be stating what I've been thru recently. Dark, dense and at times as hot as perhaps the fires of hell. Last weekend I nearly put an end to it all, in a way I am far to embarassed to admit. But then, i have always known how fortunate I am because of how much God loves me. Yet another miracle. People call me a survivor, but I truly know I am not. I am just the fortunate one, the favourite son. It's been years since I acknowledged that - but yes I do know I am 'the favourite son'. Being that, it takes no rocket science to understand how much the 'opposite' side wants to put you down and harm you. The fool that I am, i nearly let them win, but then again, they perhaps forgot who they were messing with, just like i forgot who I was - his 'favourite son'. In the name of life, back on the path to be able to hear words of the trees that flirt with each other, the song of the oceans, the mischief of the rainsdrops, the love of the sunshine and above all the embrace of life, i pray for us all. For me in appreciation to being brought back to my life that I knew until recently, and to all the rest of you - so that you may love me, like i love you. Love, Breathe, Smile and above all Live. I am on my way back and promise to make you smile, laugh, live and love like you've known me to make you do so. - Tagore Almeida -

How Long? How Long Will It Burn?

Something AM and you are about to start your day,
You are at the helm of the sinner’s den here
You have been a parasite; you’ve lived on the ones who were right
Sucked them to their death, the rest in line live in fear.

You have chocked the good to death, another feather in your hat
You pierced a tear in the joy of life, as you lick his blood from your knife
You are at the helm of negative vibes, there aint no heaven for you
Back to the fires beneath the soil, you will go back to where you belong to.

Coz heaven can’t have you up there, as there is goodness everywhere,
You sold your soul to pleasures of evil, you made yourself the child of the devil.
You may kill another human for their goodness, but then you drown in your loneliness,
Beyond resurrection; will you ever learn? How long? How long will your life burn?

The purity of life will kill you, what will you do with your life then?
Screaming & weeping for evil to save you? Coz purity is an enemy for you.
The goodness of life will haunt you, one day it will be your turn,
How long will you survive now, how long will you burn?

Note: Wrote this just today. Spent last night awake beyond 2am. Need to write ‘Man & The Extremist’ – my kick-ass white paper that’s already grabbed the attention of those I mentioned it to. Years ago I wrote two shorter series under that title and those who read it were blown. Writing ‘Man & The Extremist’ is not like writing a new poem, a blog or a script. This requires a complete surrender, ceasing to exist as your own self and being just a carrier of the words from the unseen force. This poem is a ‘small part’ of the notes that I am making to write ‘Man & The Extremist’. In addition to that, this poem is also related to a new movie script that I am working on for friend. Being the writer of the film, this poem is my personal theme song that reflects the protagonist of the film. Live you life in fun, in giving, coz remember - you cannot be the parasite, you cannot be in evil’s den. You are, like majority of the people here, a part of the good side of this creation. Live on – Tagore Almeida -

Weren't You The One?

I seemed to have forgotten the look of your smile
then again, You haven't been yourself for a while.
As we lived, living the colours and moments of the world,
An enemy came by, and caught hold of you my gril.

The world seemed to come to a hold,
While you fought back, trying to be string and bold.
Nothing can explain the pain that you went through,
No one could see the battle field that tore within you.

But now you're gone, and your pain has come to an end,
But tears flow from our eyes, prayers offered in our open hands.
Loved ones can't get over the loss, tears flow as they cry,
All because you were called to die.

You're happy now I know, in a garden that holds peace mile after mile,
You seem to be smiling again, but weren't you the one, who had forgotten to smile?
Happiness still exist in the world I suppose, but you took away it's shades from me,
But weren't you the one, who always wanted to see me happy?

I know you are in heaven, you're an angel to us all,
You left your loved ones behind here, and went upon hearing God's call.
We wanted to see you smile and be happy, we prayed to stop your pain,
You're smiling now. The Pain has stopped. But we seem to be crying again.
For your sake, as you would always want to, I know we have to move on,
You're now a bond between us, a strength to which we must hold on.

Note: I wrote this after my aunt died of cancer. I remember she would sit with me and moan about how I never went to church, never did things that I was supposed to do, and yet laughed with me on literally everything that I did. When she was very ill, I remember sitting with her on her bed side and talking to her about GOD, in a very passionate way. I made her audio tapes of my favourite songs and added my voice between them, to connect every song with our human's connection with GOD. She never understood how I could have changed, and yet cried a million tears in happiness that I was embraced by the divinity. Over the days, I saw her go deeper in an embrace of salvation. She finally passed away in another country and I never saw her again. To those of you who have lost a loved one, say a prayer, in kindness and know that they are in an embrace more precious than we mere mortals can ever contemplate. Remember them as the ones who helped us evolve, and in gratitude we offer a prayer for them. - Tagore Almeida -

Hope…After One Of Those!!!!

I'll just walk away knowing that you are doing fine,
Satisfied, back with him, now you don’t need this life of mine.
So I’ll go, I swear I’ll never tell you how much I love you
You can walk hand in hand with him like you always wanted to.

I’ve dreamt of loving you forever, no matter how this world would be
I was ready to face mankind, beliefs & cultures, write you in my destiny
Looking ahead, keeping my focus on us, doing everything that I had to do
didn’t feel the knife in my back, been stabbed by you

you might have gotten your ways, used me to get back your man
you swore on life that you loved me, you’d cry if I didn’t understand
Your ethics are so detached, but today I know that life is giving it back to you
I pray still for your peace, but life has her rules, and there’s nothing I can do

For the betrayal on the level that was so deep and pure
Your only compatibility with him in your bed is not the cure
Coz when that’s over, there will be everything else staring you in the face
Your every sin will come back as you watch in disgrace.

I’ll be ok, you know that victims come out stronger than before
and goodness will always win against evil, this I am sure
I can still understand the love story about the mountains and the valley
And I can still imagine the souls of the skies flirting with the souls of the sea.

Goodness and Love is everywhere!!!

Note: This is for those of you out there who always give and give and give in all your relationships. Be it a spouse or with friends etc. There are those who are just not aware of the things they have in their lives thanks to the lack of their connection with others. They are so self centered, so selfish that they are not in it with their heart and soul, but instead are in there with their mind - thus playing the whole thing for their convenience and within the safe parameters, knowing that they love being in the so called dead situations which they hypocritically claim to get out of. For those of you who have loved, have given and have in return been burnt, let me assure you that there is 'hope'. Hope after one of those horrible experiences, trust me there is....'hope' - Tagore Almeida -

Why On Earth?

I have recently been getting a lot of request from close friends, either single or in relationships asking me for my opinion on ‘relationships’. Well, Karen calls me Dr. Love, thanks to a caller’s question on a radio show that I was on, about her love life, instead of the universal concept of love that I was preaching. Anyways, I am NOT someone who knows much about relationships, but this is how I can sum it up.

We meet someone, we fall in love and we get into a relationship (marriage or not) and then here is the question ‘Why On Earth?’. Yeah! We are in this relationship because we want to share our joys and pain with the other and more importantly when the other person wants to share something with us, we have to know how to receive it, i.e. elevate their success and dilute their sorrow. As time goes by in a relationship, we have to pay more attention to how the other person reacts to things, specially things that can make them sad or ill. We have to be more aware of their insecurities, their weakness and build ourselves stronger not to tackle these moments but even better—to avoid these moments happening. Why on earth did we become one? Because we amplify the goodness, the success and the joy in each other. Why on earth are we still together? Because when are with each other, our own individual fears either get diluted or do not exist at all, thanks to the other’s presence, awareness, tenderness and love. Why on earth are we so connected? Because even though we are two different people, we breathe the same breath, we smile the same joy and we cry the same tear.

Moving forward, we have children and we dream the same dreams for them. If we seem to differ on things we talk about it and more importantly we are aware that children are a gift to us from the Almighty. We have to be the guardians, guiding them to lead their life and NOT our life and our dreams. Why on earth did we have a child? We had a child because together, we would become closer, many a times sacrifice our own moments for that of our child, inoculate discipline, spirituality and goodness so that, in giving so very much we never forget that we are just a little part of the child’s life. Why on earth are we a success? We are a success because I breathe your life knowing that you breathe mine. Imagine what would happen if we stopped!!! Love & grow. Give and give more. God bless ALL of you in your lives

Note: I have always 'Blogged' with my verses (therefore the name 'Verses Of Life'). However today I'm putting in a small text that I recently wrote for my magazine 'The Uncultured Magazine' In less than 2 weeks the second issue of this quarterly online magazine will be available and I want all of you to download the magazine and become a part of it. I want you to go further and contribute your thoughts and articles to the next issues and ofcourse tell all your friends about it. The Magazine is at www.theunculturedcompany.com and then click on the Magazine section and down load the PDF file.This thought or text needs no explaination, it is what it says. I do feel that love is beautiful and once you have it, sharing it with that special someone is even more beautiful. - Tagore Almeida -

Sunshine Everywhere

It’s a lazy morning and I’m still in my bed,
Turned on the TV, now I’ve got depression in my head.
Another bomb, another accident, another fury from mother nature
‘Protectors of the planet’ what else will there be to look after?

There is gloom in the skies of the ordinary man
On this soil, show me a pure spot where my innocence can stand.
Fires burning like hell in every leader’s mind
They race to power, leaving their humanity behind.

But you don’t have to do that; don’t be like them or like me
Your world is around YOU; don’t be influenced by the world on TV
Instead of looking for a pure spot on earth, clean up the trash around you
If you get to be a leader, take your humanity with you

Coz we are the leaders, we are the angels to make things fine
Let me learn your kindness brother, you learn from the mistakes of mine
Let us make peace with the creation, realize that we have to care,
Stop exploiting people and nature, let us make room for sunshine everywhere.

So now, Listen to the birds singing, look at them clouds just sailing
Check them waves, see how they are dancing, see the trees rejoicing
man has learnt his place, he knows that he cannot be at the helm of everything
we have become one with the universe, Oh look at the peace that’s growing.

Note: We are the sun, every day in our lives we have a chance to shine our brightness onto people, to make them happy, to keep them warm. In doing so we can change the world, make it a better place. Go out now and shine your love. God bless you - Tagore Almeida

My Valentine

When I lay on my bed, after a day full of missing you
I think of you as I shed a tear, and then I begin to miss you
And the summer night still makes me feel cold
I feel lonely and need you to hold

The night seems good, cause I travel to our land
Where we are together walking hand in hand
We pass through life as paired woman and man
As we begin to love each other as much as we can

And we whisper sweet love and I tell you that you're mine
And you swear on the skies that you'll always be my valentine
Life holds just a desire now, a desire to be with you always,
To tease you and fight with you, but to love you always

I'll love you darling, like there's no tomorrow
And shower you with happiness, washing away your sorrow
I'll love you, I'll always be there
I'll be your man, showing you that I care

When the night comes in, I'll love you passionately
As we make love through the night, I'll love you endlessly
I'll make you smile, I'll make you cry with joy sometime
Come what may, I'll always be your valentine

Even when the rain pours down, we'll make things fine
I swear to love you darling and always be your valentine.

Note: Happy Valentines my dearest readers. Love & Romance to you all - Tagore Almeida -

The Biggest Sin Of All

I’m turning my back on you, the biggest wrong I have ever done
I’ve told my people to respect this life, in literally my every song
For all the reminders that I have given, proclaiming your glory
I will become a hypocrite and throw it away, and then plead for your mercy

I’m just weak Lord, but the beauty of proclaiming you is truly amazing
The humanitarian cry touches everyone, I see my audience smiling
Back stage though, I faulted and melted let pain creep in again
I’m so ashamed now, love ruined it and it’s all down the drain

So in giving up and committing the biggest sin of all
I no longer am your weapon Lord, rescue me when I fall
Will you hug me even though I turned my back on the path, I ignored your call
Reach out to me before the fires of hell get me to reward me for my biggest sin of all

Note: This might sound depressing but to me it isn't. I wrote this not questioning GOD or anything I wrote this knowing my limitations as a mere mortal. Yes it is about my failure, but then again why can't i write about it and accept it? Failure is very much a colour of my soul as success is. This one is from a new book coming out on the 28th of Feb 05. check it !!!! - Tagore Almeida -

Carry On

When the world that you have betrayed is going to breath it's last
Change now and be a better person, you have to carry on
when the one you depended on, will be no more
don't look for the next target, instead turn your back on the wrong
coz this life is huge, it must be lived with goodness and with hope
thank GOD for your success, and know that he is with you in trouble times to help you cope.

Soon just a memory, goodness I leave behind
remember it, and pass it to the people who you find
so that you realize that life is about giving
stop being selfish, and see how complete you will be as you help and not in receiving

So when life gives you an opportunity, take the good and carry on
yuo can stop being negative, you can smile and carry on
Carry On, just carry on

The Angel Of Birds

The morning bird brings you a new message from God
Reassurance that you are the chosen one, to be a part of HIS squad
So wake up and light up the world, celebrating all this creation
You are the angel, serve the Almighty and not Satan.

Brother in you I see myself, I can feel your every breath over this fence,
I love you, as you are the child I guide, as you teach me lessons so intense.
There is a connection, between you and I and this entire universal race,
Let me see the world in your eyes as you see the appreciation on my face.

In my prayer now, I am praying for every one. He hears my every word,
Coz every morning I know how special I am, thanks to that lovely bird,
That tells me that I am an angel, and I know the good I must do
Look out to the world, God has sent a bird to you too.

Note: We can make the difference. I know that. We have to realize this. God sends us reminders of this everyday. I take the liberty here in this poem to use the morning bird as the messenger. It could be anything, as long as we realize that every day, in every breath we have to be honest, loving and caring and be grateful for what we have. - Tagore Almeida -