About Love and everything else!

As we move on in life, we celebrate different “Days”. We have days for mothers, fathers, children, environment, lovers, pets; you name it and there is a day dedicated to any specimen who exist in this beautiful planet. Now that it’s Valentine’s Day, I couldn’t help but think about this very powerful emotion that surfaces (according to me on any given day but 14^th Feb – technically) in the minds of millions of people. It is definitely a fact that if there is one emotion, that is ever so powerful, that it can cure the sickest of minds within no time it has to be - LOVE! The very pure and divine form of this emotion can create wonders!!

I happened to meet this young couple, the lady had delivered a baby girl less than a month ago and those cherished moments of seeing the mother-daughter bonding made me realize how powerful an emotion Love can be. It is amazing how our parents learn to love us right from the moment they know that they are about to welcome a little bundle of joy to this world. They don’t know you, you have no name, no face, no identity; but you are an integral part of their life and they love you for that! Now isn’t that amazing??More than the concept of romance, it is this thought that intrigues my mind on this day.

If I had to define love, difficult though it is, I will try. Love for me is moments, which can only be experienced!

Seeing a mother hold her new born child in her arms

A sacred bonding between a father and his daughter which no one else can ever understand

Walking in the rain with a loved one

To do something, purely to see the smile on someone’s face

To lie down in your mother’s lap

To gaze at the stars with no thoughts

To get a bear hug from a close friend when you are low

To laugh with someone so much that tears come out from your eyes

To watch the sunset

To surprise your parents, siblings, friends with something they never expected.

To fight with your sibling and patch up the next minute as if the war never existed!

To listen to your grandmother’s stories (even though you would have heard them over 100 times)

To dance as if no one is watching and love the energy that gets created in those moments!

The list could be endless though this is all that came to my mind at this moment. It is so important to be loved and somewhere that is all what our minds crave for, isn’t it??!!

My Travel - Saga!!

There are times when I feel a sudden urge to write but I do not know what! So this is one such post where the mind is blank, the heart craves for a good write-up and the brain (poor fellow) is probably frantically trying to come up with something – anything!!

I am (at this point) reminded about my travel zone for the last 2 years,I call it "My Travel Saga"! I have been residing in Andheri since a long time now and believe it to be a very good place, no matter what others say or feel about it. And my college which is located at New Bombay (re-named Navi Mumbai, however I prefer the earlier version) is a good 2 hour travel. And I can proudly claim to use all modes of transport to reach my destination. It goes like this: Rick-Bus-Train-Rick. If there was a bullock cart, am sure I would have used that as well!!

Kurla was my station in these 2 years time, and will be so for a couple of months more. For all those, who do not know about this happening place, it is this superbly crowded area; Even a time as early as 8 in the morning, you will see throngs of people and will have to keep saying “Excuse-me” with a supreme effort to move ahead! Not to mention, the place also has a not-so-good reputation of pick-pockets and chain-snatchers. My mother dearest was really worried about my safety; however I have so far successfully managed this gruesome task with care. (Minus an incident where once my bag was pulled so badly and I lost my Tupperware lunch-box with yummy food while getting into this train!!)

So I manage to reach my college after a battle! It starts in the bus, god-forbid if it is a crowded one, I stand for quite some distance. The 8 min walk from the bus-stop to the platform is not that good either with cheap looking men leering or ogling at you. Though many a times I have had the urge to slap someone, I have so-far controlled myself. No, am no contender for Nobel Peace Prize though!! Once, I travelled in the second class when my first class pass was being made – I was beautifully sandwiched between 2 huge fisher-women! Needless to say, all I wanted to do after that was take a shower, and the only thing that came to my rescue was my deo (how I love it). Its even worse on my return route – with crowd 10 times than what it is in the mornings!! And then the train……It is really strange that when am on the bridge I miss a train, the one I want and then wait for a good 10-15 mins for the next one. By the time I reach college - I am obviously late. I have reached a point of saturation by trying to explain to the professor my plight. :( 

I have been at home now, as college is not very regular and though I do not miss the travel, I do have some memories about the station by now. Like the picture of this old blind woman, in an orange saree and green blouse would always wait at the bridge asking for alms. Then there are those familiar faces you see in the train, the cat-fights between women (not uncommon), this young girl who walks with a limp again begging for alms, the mehandi shops outside the station, the conductors who by now know my schedule, it is a long list!

I guess I will have these memories in my head for a long time though secretly I am glad I do not have to travel more than 4 hours a day on a regular basis!!

And we wait......... :)

It’s the chill in the weather that makes me write,

It is the morning dew that makes me smile,

 A long walk with a loved one is what I want

A cup of hot coffee to stir my soul

It is that time of the year again

Year after year the surprises again

How I wish to play in the snow

How I wish to be a child again

With a hope in my heart I await

The guardian angel to bless me again

With a few more days for another year

I wait in anticipation in my heart

A smile on my face and hope in my heart

With courage in my mind and prayer on my lips!!!

Clear the Cobwebs!!

Oh yes!! This post is all about clearing the cobwebs and moving on; which brings me to the thought of those poor hard- working spiders. I remember the time when I used to actually watch these species make their webs till my mother darling would come with a broom! One Swash! And there it was gone with a clear tone admonishing me for merely staring at them! “You have to clear this and keep the house clean”. Oh well, all the hard work down the drains!! Believe it or not, I used to actually feel bad for these eight legged species whose dedicated work was turned into nothing within a span of few minutes!!

Years passed, and so did a lot many these incidents which today play no significant role in my memory. But today I write this with a very different thought. I couldn’t help but wonder that just as we clear the cobwebs in our houses, isn’t it important to clear the cobwebs of our mind??!!

I know this sounds like a very random thought – and I admit it to be so. It so happens that certain incidents at certain times do make me go paranoid…and am sure it happens to most of us. We are so consumed by a typical line of thought/ behavior/ expectation/ action that anything that may not fall in-tune with our thinking tends to affect us. I was sitting and deeply contemplating on the “hows” and the “whys” and the “only-ifs”; needless to say with no definite answers. No amount of small talk was helping and I was at a total loss. It was then the miraculous spider-web came into my mind!!

Just as we know that its important to clear the cobwebs of our homes, isn’t it equally (if not more) important to clear the ones in our mind?? Whoever said “Our mind is a great slave but a horrible master” could not be more right. We need to clear our minds from those very happening and typical negative thoughts so that we are able to focus on the present and accept each day (with or without a smile!!). Rest assured that as we move on, there will be plenty of spiders and cobwebs. Please clear them but see that you don’t hurt the spiders!! Live and let live!

A little more freedom!!

Disclaimer: Before you begin reading this, rest assured that by no means is the writer a poet!! Just musings of a wandering mind!!




As I stand and watch the world move by,

I cannot help but wonder where am I.

A question lingers somewhere deep inside,

Do I know where I am going or what I am passing by?

With this mundane thought, I started to write,

A small little poem, to soothe my dazzled mind.

With my heart so hazy but yet determined,

I cannot help but wonder what the future holds.

A little more freedom is what I crave,

A little more assurance is what I seek,

I wish I had wings to fly..............

So that I may fulfill my heart's desire!!!

Me and my world of books!!!

It’s the 15th of August and though ideally, I would have written something for my country land, that is not what this post is about. I feel it’s about time I write something about my exceptional love for books. I have always been fascinated with the world of books and was introduced to reading at a very early age. I remember making strong efforts to read Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle when I was just 6 yrs old. I would pester my mom to read out stories from these books and while she was too busy, read it by myself, underlying words I didn’t understand. Mom was super supportive, not to mention very patient with my million doubts!!! To make life easier for me, my dad introduced me to the dictionary. Within a few years I moved on to Enid Blyton, Famous Five and then there was Sweet Valley, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and lot many others which was classified under the ‘Classics’ section of my school library. I cannot but help laughing at the bizarre things I have done just to read a book; to reading from a torch light late into the night to avoid my mother’s wrath to using my journal as a cover to finish yet another interesting read right in middle of the physics class!! Now I know why my physics went down the drain!!

I love the fact that books could so easily transport me to a different unreal world; it would just allow my imagination to go wild and so effortlessly make me smile. Even today, I love the smell of books, especially old ones when they haven’t been touched for years. And I had found a few such books in one of my trips to Kerala. I was in my paternal grandparents place at Allepy enjoying every moment running around the white soft sand, playing mindless games with all my cousins!! To my utter bewilderment, I discovered a huge rectangular trunk which had a lot of old stuffs, things I could not comprehend. But what amazed me was; I found 2 copies of Reader’s Digest printed in the year 1982 and 1989. It belonged to my grandfather, a voracious reader himself. That was how, while still in school my annual subscription to RD started!! And over the years, many more subscriptions for other magazines followed.

Over the period of time, my vacations would be incomplete without a few books. They just became a part of me, like a limb attached to my body. I can even today not describe the euphoric feeling of reading a much awaited novel; be it tragedy, romance, classic, mystery, drama, management books, or anything else under the sun. Am one of those kinds, who not only love reading but love collecting books as well. If nothing I am sure, I will pass on a legacy of books to my grand children, just like how my grandfather did!!!

As am typing this, in my bedroom, I can see the rain drizzling down and all I wish to do is cuddle up with a hot cup of coffee, some chips and a nice book to read!! My greatest fantasy is to own a small house, with a small little library of my collection of books! In fact I have already made a list of my favourite ones :P :P Weird though it may sound to lot of people, it is one of those things in life that immediately puts a smile on my face or in some cases even tears!! Either of which I don't mind!! :) :) :)

Life and Expectations!!

It is one of those moments for me....where I feel a funny feel and I don’t know why I feel the way I do!!? It suddenly seems like am looking at life from a 3rd person's perspective - where nothing seems to affect me but nevertheless, I am happy and content with all that life is offering at this moment :)
It so happened that I have been playing the role of "agony aunt" to a couple of my very dear friends and somehow coming up with innovative, cheerful, sensible answers to their 'why-me' questions. And it struck me that (this may not be a revelation to many) that most of our problems are primarily due to : High Expectation. For some reasons, the heart is never satisfied with what it gets......there is an unquenchable desire for more......it is this desire that leads to unhappiness.

Why is it so difficult to do your best and then let-go? Why can’t one just love all that one does unconditionally....Imagine having "minimum expectations" from all those around you.....half of the world's problems would have been resolved.

Though I really wish to be fair here - I do know that it is not easy. And I also admit that it is easier said than done. But it is POSSIBLE – that’s the magic word. If we continue living our lives to the fullest enjoying every moment, not thinking whether it will last, and what if it doesn't etc.....just LIVE!!! It is simple.....Acts of kindness I would call it. Just be kind to the world, and the goodness will return to you :) And, yes, don’t expect much - then you will be super happy with whatever life offers you!!

I call this 'Minimum Expectations Theory'. It works for me! And I would rate this higher than Stephen Robbins any day (that fat, huge OB book)!!. I wonder if my O.B Prof would agree :P