Cherry Blossoms

I have always been fascinated by cherry blossoms, or sakura as they are called in Japanese. Maybe it’s because of the insane amount of anime I used to watch on television when I was a kid. The first anime I saw was Cardcaptor Sakura, in which there were scenes with cherry blossom trees in the background. I suppose it’s because the tree has a calming effect when it’s just swaying slowly in the wind, a few flowers being carried away by the wind, against the background of a bright blue sky (the GIF I've put up here is from Pinterest: https://in.pinterest.com/pin/378443174912860079/). Instantly I would feel a sweet scent of a flower—not that I have any idea how a cherry blossom smells.

Here is an old sketch of a cherry blossom I made.

What are we searching for?

Life is messy.
Too real.
We want to drift away,
to a place,
a nest of one's own,
a tune on the lips,
spring in every step.
But this too is not real.
The love we need,
We yearn for,
is within us.
The years pass by,
we, never knowing this,
Constantly searching, chasing
Only to find it in us.

The Sea

Feel the wind in your hair,
the sound of waves clashing against the rocks.
Take a moment,
and breathe.
Breathe and realise,
that beneath this turbulence
is an assuring calmness.

Found my heart atlast :)

All these years, not knowing what love is,

What affection is.

I know now.

For now, I feel my heart beat.

All alone, was I.

Lanes, bylanes, I wandered;

Seeking, waiting.

Till the last wisp of hope

died, with me. 

Review: Tomb Raider (2013)

 

   

Initially, I felt Lara Croft was a scantily clad woman who killed monkeys. This was when I played the demo version Tomb Raider III. She wore tight shorts and already knew how to use a gun! Which was strange, I did not know historians even had a knack for this sort of thing. I did not like it all that much back then. I only liked the environments. Even when the movie came out, I felt people only concentrated on how sexy Angelina Jolie looked. No one really cared about the story or the history. They just wanted to see some action.  Of course, this was more than ten years back and Tomb Raider III came out in ’98.

However, the 2013 game recreates the character. This is not the Lara Croft we knew or we thought we knew. This is just a girl, daughter of a historian, on a trip to find more about a tribe and their Sun Goddess. She has an endless thirst for solving mysteries and respects the values or morals held by the earlier civilizations. 

Her emotions are wonderful; the first time she shot a guy, she saw her friends die, Grimm (who died to save Lara), Roth (her mentor, friend, guide), and even Alex (the guy who had a crush on her). Her voice adds to this, and we feel the trauma she actually goes through. Movements are even more wonderful! They are much more fluid than before. We don’t have to crouch while moving through tunnels, she slips through cracks in the wall, and she even readies herself for combat! She feels cold and shudders when she is in dark caves. Her breathing is different at night, especially in foggy areas. Impressive work, Crystal Dynamics!!!

The sound effects are simply awesome! The wolves and shouts of the people, sounds of the arrows and guns; simply superb.

I’ve finished only 67 % of the game and I already find this game exhilarating, thrilling, and even scary at times! There are puzzles to solve, various items to collect, and yes! She has proved herself to be the actual Tomb Raider! Collectible items, I must say, are too many. But the salvages and achievements are helpful.

There is never a moment where we feel like skipping through levels. Cut scenes are short and concise. Action scenes are not too long or too difficult. Two scenarios where I found them difficult were: the Summit Forest and the boss fight on endurance. One of my friends suggested that I play the Summit Forest at night, and that is exactly what I did! And it was scary! The wolves, their howling, the fog. Like I said, the sound effects are too good and shooting through the fog was quite a challenge. The boss fight, was a bit scary, he keeps shouting and even though I was scared of him, Lara wasn’t! She shouts out: “"I'll show you what this little rat can do!" Man, this girl is fearless!

The props, weapons, environments, characters, everything is well designed. I have always loved the environments in the Tomb Raider games, and the details given to each tomb and the statues, the beach, mountains are just marvelous. Each level was well thought of and the hints are appropriately given. The game is not made too easy for the player either. For game design and art, I did give a 10 out of 10.

This game is superbly interactive, there is never a dull moment, and you just crave for more and more.I give it a 9.5/10.

A New Life

Well, it has been a while since I wrote something. I hardly get any time to myself. And my thoughts, of course, being such an introvert, I keep them all to myself. My life has been going on well. New job, a relocation, that too, to Mumbai. I rather call the city Bombay. I work like a clockwork. Get up at 6, leave by 8. One and half hours of journey gets me to my office. Eight hours of office. Two,sometimes two and half hours to get back home. this is for five days a week. The weekends, I try to draw, at times I paint, sometimes I just do some chores. I've never had weekends all to myself in a while. That just feels weird.

And of course, new people. Its always nice to meet new people - irrespective of their nature. Some turn out to be good, some are bad, some are real ugly on the inside. But experiences let us learn. Even if we take time to understand why people react or behave in a certain way, one must consider it an experience, as a stepping stone. But the  fact is, how many such stones will I trip over??

Future:

Of confidence I lack

At times I doubt,

Doubt upon doubt, of myself

Am I ready for a bigger world?

Over the years readying myself, but when the time came

I asked myself, an unnecessary doubt,

That put all my confidence away,

All these years of yearning aside

And a fear instead

A hesitation lingered into me.