The child in us! September 21, 2009

Growing up is inevitable. As we grow we see a new life, meet new people, form new relationships while old relationships change. Our circle of life expands to include people who we sometimes conciously and sometimes unconciously select to take with us in our journey.

As grown ups we don’t jump in joy over a water bubble, as grown ups we don’t trail behind the toy train, as grown ups we don’t hit and get hit back by the Hit-me that’s double our size, as grown ups we don’t dance around the clapping joker.

 

While we add more and more people to our life we leave behind a very important person who was a part our very being. The one who made us laugh out loud without hesitation, the one who made us climb trees without fear, the one who made us cry without embarrassment. We grow apart from the one who shaped us into what we are today…the child in us.

 

But a chance encounter with this child can bring back so many memories, moist, bitter sweet memories that you never want to let go of that child again. I saw the child in my husband today.  

 

As he selected toys for our 1.5 year old son, I saw the child in him select all the toys that he wanted to buy so many years ago in that old toy store back in his home town. I could see the wonder in his eyes as he gazed with wonder at the dancing elephant, the colourful car, the giant Hit-Me and all the new toys. I could see his need to buy a train set that his dad had bought for him when he was just a child himself, and I could still see that joy on his face when he told me all about how the penguins ran up and down the tracks on a Penguin Race game.

 

I know he wants to give all that his dad gave him and much much more. I know he will be the best dad any child could ever have because I know he is still in touch with the child within.

 

What is love? August 7, 2009

Today I ask the eternal question

Please don’t answer without reflection

For it is different for each I know

Though cupid uses same arrow ‘n bow

Some say it is giving, or letting go

Love has only friends, knows no foe

To some it is forever a mystery

For some it is related to chemistry

What makes it happen no one knows

When hearts grow fonder, the feeling grows

 

When I found love, or when love found me

It consumed me, pampered me, tricked n cajoled me

Took me to heights I’d never known before

Excited me, challenged me, thrilled me to the core

I had no choice but to surrender

To a feeling so beautiful n so tender

I know I’m lucky to be blessed

Coz for some it’s a forever quest

 

But never give up on love, I’d say

Coz it will find you, on a bright, beautiful day

Your world will never be the same again

Love has no place for sorrow or pain

It’ll touch you when you’re least aware

Fill you with a warmth, oh! so rare

Just follow its lead, go with the flow

The secret is in giving control, letting go

Blogger’s Block August 6, 2009

This is a weird phase for me

I had just started basking with glee

In the glory of kind words of praise

Thought my quality of writing it will raise

People appreciated my posts on this blog

Like birds of same feather together they began to flock

Everyday I found some new inspiration

Topics of love, friend, importance to the nation

I was on a roll of some sort

Coz everyday I wrote a lot

But then came a sudden slump

My mind just went numb

Issues and topics came to me

But words, they just left me

I could not write beyond a single line

For a new post I began to pine

Could this be happening this soon

My keyboard wouldn’t dance to my tune

I’m lost for words to express

This is what they call a block, I guess

But I have wowed to bounce back

And make up for the past slack

So hang in there my dear readers

I am about to shift gears

Very soon my pen will begin to flow

And this time I will not let it slow

I may be down but I am not out

I will be back with a bang – clear and loud!

Hi-Tide, Bye-Tide July 23, 2009

This year in Mumbai
We have the alert from monsoon-bhai
Stay indoor or get washed away
The weather-man warns almost everyday
Schools are shut to avoid a calamity
We all shiver under floods enormity
But as we gaze at the sky
It’s covered with black clouds that act sly
Light drizzles and showers in the name of rain
Even the ground water levels have nothing to gain
The city is reeling with water-shortage
While water logging is all over TV footage
The monsoon’s taken us all for a ride
This year it is Hi(gh)-tide, bye-tide!

Insignificance of a cold! July 23, 2009

I am very prone to catch a cold

My eyes n nose run like i’m 1 yr old

I catch it atleast 4 times a year

When seasons change I begin to fear

Coz the change of every fresh season

Is always the reason

For me to catch this deadly viral

Which people feel is very casual

But little do they know how I suffer

Under the brutal attack of this bugger

My eyes get swollen, my head begins to hurt

My nose runs non-stop, I’m also allergic to dirt

If I plead to be let off work to recover

My boss says, ‘its just cold, not fever’

So I work with occasional breaks to blow

My nose that is about to overflow

I stare at the screen till my eyes go blur

And take calls till my speech begins to slur

I pray the scientists find some deadly disease

That starts as just a cold with ease

So I can get some sympathy by

People thinking that I might die

Maybe then I’ll get my rest

Which is prescribed to work best

Until then it is goodbye to you

Aa..aa..aakchuuuuuu!!!

Is it really a bad Omen? July 22, 2009

I was born on a solar eclipse day. It was considered to be one of the major ones. My mother shares her memories of the day when she was in the hospital with me and my father was at home with my two elder sisters to make sure they don’t venture out.

 

People have a lot of theories, some scientific and some religious/traditional of how a solar eclipse can effect babies that are in the womb and even new born babies. Some talk about physical abnormalities and some talk about mental abnormalities. Since I was born on a solar eclipse day i have found the perfect excuse for all my essectricities

 

On a serious note, one wonders what people in the stone ages thought and felt during a solar eclipse. For people who thought that thunder and rain were punishments from god, one can only imagine what a solar eclipse could mean. To some it was a bad omen. That was then, when there no science to prove the process and reasons for it. What is surprising is how even today educated people believe in the old norms and beliefs and consider this scientific marvel to be a bad omen.

 

Considering my personal example, my parents could have taken my birth to be a bad omen, as I was a third daughter after my two elde sisters. My mother could have suffered a lot for giving birth to a cursed daughter in the family. Thankfully, my family, though not very educated, was sensible enough to not torture her, and i think it helped that I turned out to be physically and mentally fit.  In fact, as I grew up my father called  me his ‘Lucky Daughter’ as he felt that our life took an upwards turn after my birth.

 

My mother and I may have been lucky these superstitions still exist. Why don’t people accept the change and understand that somethign happening thousands of miles away in the space cannot change the gender of a baby lying in a woman’s womb?

 

This year the solar eclipse was a major event across the world. Millions of people got up early to catch it, the net is flooded with images of the diamond ring and videos of the eclipse. However, this is still the scene in urban India. I hope that by the time it happens the next time the world has progressed enough to take it as another scientific occurance or even as another of god’s creations, rather than a bad omen.

 

Old newspaper cut-out of a solar eclipse some 3 decades ago

My Harry Potter 3D glasses July 21, 2009

Me in 3D glasses

 

 

 

Couldn’t wait to post these Look out for my review of the movie…the 3D effect was awesome!!!

Living in constant fear July 16, 2009

Today we have another bomb scare, this time its Vashi that’s been targeted. Some say they even found the bomb there and that it wasn’t just a rumour. The twitterati is buzzing with news about it, the net is flooded with images of Vashi people being evacuated from their offices and what not.

What strikes me in all this is that I find that people are talking about it in a very casual, okay manner. I don’t see any underlying thread of fear, anger or other emotion even close to outrage. It kind of gives a feeling that we have become accoustomed to it, we are so used to such incidents that it does not touch us anymore. The question here is – Should we let this happen? Shouldn’t there be an anger in us each time it happens, no matter how many times it happens?

I came to Mumbai just 3 years back. Before coming to Mumbai everytime we heard about such incidents in Mumbia we would sympathise and sometimes feel angry but only when we knew someone who had been directly been affected. I would see the news and images on TV for some days and then get on with life.Then when I moved to Mumbai I started taking the local trains.

One evening when I was standing in the train on my way back, holding on to the overhead support, looking out, my thoughts drifted to the local train bomb blasts that shook the city just a few years back. Images from the news coverage swam in front of my eyes and I was suddenly frozen, a shiver ran up my spine. An image of many hands hanging from the trains overhead supports froze in my mind and I thought to myself – they must have been standing here just as unaware as I am right now. I looked at the crowded compartment and wanted to run.

That was the first time I could feel what Mumbai had felt that day and since then. I felt angry, outraged, sad. I wanted to cry for the first time for all those who died, for all those who were waiting at home, for all those who could never complete their journey. I remember Mumbai had come alive with angry protests.I wonder if we still have it in ourselves.I wonder if the fire is still alive?

I am very much a mumbaikar now, coz I feel the pain, I feel the anger, I feel violated when tresspassers encroach into the lives of my fellow mumbaikars and make a joke out of it.

Main writer to nahi… July 15, 2009

These are good times. People can write as much as they want and there are people who read it too. You don’t really need to be a professional writer or have any expertise in writing to do so, all you need to do is write direct dil se! This is the age of Blogging!

Blogs have given us non-writers the freedom to let our thoughts flow…un-restricted. I am one such amature to whom the blogging era has been kind. It has given wings to my thougts, an outlet to my inner cravings. It’s somethign like writing a diary that we used to do in the good old days. It acts more like a friend with whom I share anything and everything that comes to my mind, anything that catches my fancy, anything that makes me angry. It need not be the best peice of literature.

I used to worry how my pieces would be taken, I mean, why should anyone be interested in reading anything that I write, I’m not a professional writer, afterall. But the blogging world took me by surprise. I was pleasantly surprised by the open and accepting attitude of most fellow bloggers and other readers. They took me in, laughed with me, shared with me and very soon made me one of them.  I made some new friends, who are now on my blogroll and who I exchange notes with.

Thanks for taking me in guys!

I want to ask God! July 14, 2009

I live in Mumbai and have been subject to continous rainfall since last evening…sometimes light, most of the time very heavy. Most things have come to a stop including some schools, traffic, etc. However, one thing that the even the pouring rainfall could not dampen was people’s devotion to God.

 

This morning, as I was on my way back from my son’s play school (which turned out to be closed today), I was amazed at the sight of a looooooooong serpentine queue outside a temple, extending way out of the shaded area, extending at someplaces into the traffic. People were standing in raincoats, with umrellas, but still standing, devoutly, patiently, waiting for their turn. It made me wonder, what could inspire such devotion in people? People were queued up to thank God, to priase God, to complain, to ask for forgiveness, to ask favours…their reasons can vary but the devotion was unmistakable.

 

I was jolted out of my revier by a sudden tug on my sleeve. “Madame 5 rupay do na…nahi nahi madame mujhe 2 chalega…isko mat dena, mujhe dona” I found myself face to face with two tiny kids, about a couple of years older than my own son, drenched to their skin, each trying to outdo the other in their earnestness. I was suddenly swept with a fierce rage. Then right on heels came another emotion, I felt sad. I was confused. I was angry with God, who chose to give this life to these children, and I was sad coz ife had dealt them such a foul hand.

 

I thought to myself that if God cannot see this from above, then I don’t see the point of queuing up outside temples. Some people say, God has his own way, but I want to now what could he be thinking when he granted such a life to so many millions of children across the world. I really want to know.

http://www.godlivesinthehimalayas.com/