Friends!!!!!! :)

It’s been a lot of time since my last blog! Practicals, Exams just took away all the time. (Read (only for students): Well, you guys are the only ones who will actually understand where my time went!) But it feels great writing after a lot of time.

Firstly, I would like to thank all the people who told me that they missed my blog! Now that means a lot to me! So a huge “Thank you” to all you guys!!! Your every feedback and like is deeply appreciated!

(P.S. For people who don’t particularly like my blog, ignore the above sentences! But, continue reading ahead.)

After hours of thinking about what to write, I decided to write about the newEST fever that has gripped me…. “FRIENDS”! I know I am extra-ordinary-ly late in catching up with the hit TV show, but I got hooked to it after watching a few episodes! Ross, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Rachel have all become special!!

Ross, a paleontologist, his expressions never fail to make me “LOL”! He’s smart yet stupid and sincere yet foolish! And the situations he runs into… I guess that inspired the makers of “ROFL”!!!

Monica, a chef… She’s a dynamite!! She can do anything in this planet! Overly organized, overly obsessive, overly compulsive, overly competitive, overly dominating, and in short overly Perfect!

Phoebe, a musician –cum-masseuse…. Her frank one-liners can make anyone’s jaw hurt laughing! Only one word clearly describes her…. “WEIRD”! Her self computated principles, her preposterous music and her blunt on-the-mouth sayings are severely hilarious!!!

Joey… “How you doin???” He’s a struggling Actor by profession, a foodie and a womanizer by choice! His tastes, his mannerisms, his antiques, his everything is drop-dead funny!! “Yeah?.... Yeah!”

Chandler, who has some job in statistics research or something, but he’s a copy-writer at heart! He’s the sarcasm propagator of the gang, who can’t do without making fun at other’s expense! More than the joke, his looks and tone make it highly amusing!!

(P.S. Thesaurus ran out of words to describe “superlatively humorous”!)

Rachel, a fashion enthusiast, is pampered and childish! She lives her own way, loves her own self and gets things to go according to her! She exists in her dreams without caring what her future has for her!

This show is way too funny and way too hilarious (WTH, Thesaurus)!! But, most importantly, it gives out a strong feeling of importance of friendship!!

All these characters are grossly different from each other… yet they gel along perfectly well! They have their share of fights, tiffs, arguments…. Everything. But they still remain rock steady with each other and are ready to go any length! Not because it’s a compulsion, but because, for those characters, friendship is a “life long bondage of happiness”! One still loves the other, even though the other got the one into trouble! That’s the essence of friendship!! Every character puts aside all their differences, only to sustain friendships….

As the title track says… “I’ll be there for you… coz your there for me too!”

Go catch up this show guys… I’m sure everyone will love it! And avid watchers of the show like me… Continue!! And don’t forget, make friends!! If you don’t continue to be one, your never gonna have one!

teenage......

25/10/2011… This day, I turned 20! It was a day, initially marred by boring submissions in college and then made fantastic with friends! Some people of my age become livid at this point, that they are no more teens and “serious” adulthood is dawning over them. Some people realize that their years in college are now numbered and very soon they would have to take up a job or study further, work like a dog and get engulfed by all the responsibilities cropping up.

It’s not like teenage is easy. C’mon, we go through testing times ourselves. It’s not easy sleeping with open eyes during lectures, completing every journal in a day’s time before submissions, politely smiling to your teacher when you actually crave to hit her for screwing up your viva, etc. Its tough guys… Pat yourself! It’s not easy getting up at 7 in the morning especially after late night movies are a ritual to you. It’s tough to convince your parents that sometimes traffic can make you an hour late in case of parties.

Friendships sometimes become your biggest energy to go on, while sometimes become your biggest headache. It becomes increasingly difficult to be in the good books of everyone. You eventually realize that the theory you were taught as a child that THIS is Right and THAT is Wrong is actually false and everything goes according to THIS being My perspective and THAT being Yours!

Then teenage also involves everyone’s perception about love! Point one-If it’s present, it’s a problem. Your life suddenly changes. Your bill and monthly expenses increase. Lies to parents increase. Your sleep hours decrease. And after all this, you still stand a chance of getting dumped! You try to show everything’s superb but in the inside…. Petty fights hurt!

Point two-If it’s not present, then also there’s problem. The statistics of people around you getting committed are rapidly increasing. Suddenly it becomes a question of your prestige (read ego). Suddenly you feel alone in the valley. And you have no one to listen to you when you’re troubled! You try to show “Being Single” rocks but in the inside…. Can I see anyone interesting?

Point three- And if it’s present and still not present, then also problem! Your life suddenly becomes the fodder for Love Guru’s and Agony Aunt’s! Everyday rehearsals of what to say, what not to say, how much to smile, how much not to smile! Encoding and decoding of signals! Desperate watching of every romantic movie just to check your story matches whom! You try to show you don’t actually care but in the inside…… what is going on in his/her mind?

So, with this, I tried bidding my adieu to “teenage”! I’m sorry if I forgot some oh-so-important points! But in the end, Life is just life! It goes on and we learn to move on with it. Whatever happens, go on with a smile. And listen to what your mind really tells you….. It’s always correct!

Take me back......

With every passing second, I struggle and I strive,

Take me back to the days of a child, carefree-like!

With every passing minute, i deal with problems, more and few,

Take me back to days, where problem meant 1+1 equals 2!

With every passing hour, to attain success, I run behind,

Take me back to days, where demands were pencil and eraser, easy to find!

With every passing day, I make friends, less true, many fake,

Take me to days, where my lone enemy was Mom's hot milk-shake!

With every passing week, several sleepless nights I shed,

Take me to times, where I slept in Dads' arms and got up in bed!

With every passing fortnight, I hope for situations to change,

Take me to times, where I didn't know how to spell anxiety and strange!

With every passing month, I try to keep myself sound and happy,

Take me to days, hell broke loose only when I wetted my nappy!

With every passing quarter, I long for love and to make bonds,

Take me back to days, where everyone, of me, were fond!

With every passing year, new responsibilties, my shoulders, fill,

Take me back to moments, I lay in my Mom's womb, numb and still!

living without regrets.....

A gentleman of thirty saw himself getting inside a huge hall. He walked and walked to find something meaningful within the hall. His eyes went to a huge shelf of books in front of him. Made of four racks, there were about a hundred books in total. He gazed over the books to find something interesting to read. He checked the second rack from the top and went through the titles.

He found a book called ‘The Girls I liked’. He opened the book in haste and kept strolling through the pages. He found the faces familiar. He found the girls familiar. They were the girls he had liked in his own life. He closed the book in shock and moved to the other books in that rack. ‘The Friends I made’ brought back lost memories. The special moments with friends, he had forgotten in the course of life, all carved their way back in his mind. He was amazed to see the slightest of details mentioned in the book. The exact feeling and camaraderie he shared with the person was specified. He went through almost every book in that rack and felt a sense of nostalgia after rediscovering all the sentiments. Every book was his. These were the pages he had experienced in his life but didn’t recollect penning them down.

He moved to the third rack. The thickest book in that shelf was titled ‘The People I hurt’. The thickness made his stomach wobble. He opened the book and, in the initial pages, saw the smiling faces of his parents. He read through the paragraphs each representing an incident where his parents were hurt because of him; the times when he said something unpleasant to them, the occasions he had let them down and the situations when he acted selfish and didn’t think about them. He went ahead to see the faces of his friends. Every line compelled him to remember the friends he had betrayed, the trusts he had broken, the fights he had fought and the tears he had caused. He saw his fiancé later. Every sentence forced him to recollect the times he joked about her in public, the moments he left her alone to sulk and days when he wasn’t present for her. He slammed the book shut and threw it back. A book fell down from the same rack. ‘The Times I lied’ was the title. It was as thick as the previous book. He opened a random page in between. The top mentioned the date of incident. The extract showcased an incident when he was fifteen and he had lied to his father that the reason for his late arrival was project whereas the actual reason was alcohol. He scanned through the book feeling a new sense of shame. He wondered who was behind this. Had anyone gone through this? Who had written this?

He checked into the last rack, hoping to find something which would make him feel good. He held the first book in that rack. ‘The Bad Thoughts I had’. He opened the book and started reading the extracts randomly. His jaw went loose in shock and horror. This book had it all; the unspoken selfish motive he had for helping many of his friends, the lustful fantasies he got scanning young females and all the those nasty thoughts that came in his mind even for a flash of a second. All recorded. He looked around him, petrified, to check if someone was present. Various thoughts started circulating around his head. He bent over to collect another book named ‘My Dark Activities’. Frantically, he juggled through the pages and read whatever his eyes showed. The book reported everything; the various times he stole money from his parents, the cheating he did during exams, improperly framing a friend in a crime, betraying his fiancé for another girl and passing tenders at work depending upon the money that was stashed in his pants.

His legs suddenly felt weak obliging his body to gravity. Tears started coming down his cheeks. A feeling of remorse gripped him. He was badly caught in his acts. He wondered if he was dead and this was Doom’s day for him. His head accelerated with unclear thoughts. Is this a nightmare? Why am I here? What am I doing here? Who’s behind this?

Suddenly a door opened allowing him to see a figure. The figure proceeded towards him. It reached to sit in front of him.

“Who are you?” The gentleman asked.

“You are the one who called me.” The figure answered.

“So you are behind this! What is this supposed to mean?”

“I was entrusted this duty.”

“Why? I don’t seem to like it.”

“You don’t seem to like it because you are caught now. You don’t seem to like it because you know you would be punished for it. You feel guilty now!”

“Yes, I am guilty.” The gentleman cries. “And this guilt makes me hate me!”

“Well, this was not organized to make you hate yourself.”

“You wrote all this! Anyone who reads this would hate me!”

“I don’t hate you!” And the figure reached to wipe the tears in the gentleman’s face. “And, besides, this book is not for the others to read.”

There was silence for some minutes.

“Have you gone through the first rack?” And the figure pulled him to his feet.

The first rack had many books. The figure picked up one and held it out to the gentleman. The book was ‘From my Parents’. The paragraphs inside seemed to be like letters from his parents in heaven. Every page mentioned an incident where he made them proud; the distinctions he got as a student, the gifts and cards he gave them on special days, the times he took care of them when they were ill and all the other duties he fulfilled as their son. He reached to read another book called ‘From my Friends’. Every page seemed like a scrap book meant for him. His friends had thanked him for a variety of things. One thanked him for comforting him when he was going through failure. The other thanked him for the financial help in his time of need. One thanked him for his help in studies. While one thanked him for his help in making his love story. This book made him smile. He moved ahead to read ‘The Good Thoughts I had’. He scanned through the book to find the thoughts he had for the minutest time, the feeling of true friendship and true love he had for so many people in his life. Suddenly, he felt strong. He reached to collect the last book in the rack-‘My Good Activities’. He turned pages after pages and felt something nice. The extracts mentioned about everything; the lift he gave to an unknown man in trouble, the bags he held for an old woman, the toll he paid for a person who forgot his wallet and the articles he bought from the little poor girl at the traffic signal. He felt a sense of pride.

“Are you satisfied now? I told you earlier that I don’t hate you!” The figure said.

“What is this supposed to mean? These books?” The gentleman asked.

The figure took a deep breath and then answered.

“I am the angel that God entrusted to you. My duties are to be with you every moment, listen to your every word, jot down your every activity and above all, stay with you every second.” Pause. “Feel your every feeling, hear your every prayer and do everything that would help you in the long run.”

“Is this a joke?”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because all this seems so unreal! This angel, these duties, these books, all can’t be true!”

“But it is!” The figure stressed.

“If this is real, why am I here now?” The gentleman quizzed.

“Because this was meant to be. God wished for this to happen to you.” The figure answered.

“I can’t seem to understand anything. Could you please elaborate? This angel, this God, I can’t understand!”

“Child, there is God. God is the reason why you and I are here. He is the reason why you and I have met. Don’t disbelieve his existence. Trust him. He made me for you. So that you would never be alone, so that you always feel strong, so that you always keep on walking to reach the destination, He wants you to. It’s his voice you hear when you don’t know what to do. It’s his comfort you feel after every fall. He shows the path when your confused. He wipes every tear off your cheek. He gave every human being an angel. So that everyone feels His presence in their life. He loves you in spite of every book in the last rack. At least love him in return!”

“Am I dead? Why did God wish this to happen?”

“You’re not dead! This is a special screening for you!”

“Why?”

“Let’s say this is your good luck!” And the figure stopped talking.

“That doesn’t answer my question!”

The figure started leaving. The gentleman walked behind him.

“If you are my angel, answer me!” The gentleman asked.

The figure said, “No one is perfect. But still, in the walk of life, we all do something we shouldn’t, thinking that we won’t get caught, thinking that no one sees. We say we live without regrets but after reading the books in the last rack, would you say the same?” Pause. “Life is one, my Child, live it to the fullest! And keep your hand over your heart and truly try living without regrets!”

Wake up.......

“I love you too, Aish!”

“I love you, Sid!”

It’s heavily raining in Mumbai since the last 2-3 days. These rains reminded me the climax of the movie ‘Wake up Sid’. Fortunately, my cable operators also made me happy by showcasing the movie some days ago.

I don’t know why the movie is so special to me. Maybe, the fact that it was the first movie I watched with my best friends, shelling out Rs. 280 for the ticket. Or maybe, because the story-line, the characters, just struck the cord of my heart.

Sid! The lazy, ignorant and rich guy, with a tender heart! The opening shot where he’s preparing for his last exam always manages to make me grin. His frantic efforts to keep himself awake through the night all goes in vain as our Sid sleeps in his childish shorts and even childish socks! Eventually, he fails! The way he bargains with his father, CEO of ‘Flower Showers’, to spend a month in his office for a Lamborghini, is hilarious. He lands up in office in T-shirt and jeans and sleeps through his work hours. Confined to a chair with a group of people who are not ‘him’, he runs away later escaping the bathroom furnishers! But later, his destiny makes him leave his mansion to join Aisha in her one room sea-facing apartment.

Aisha! The talented, ambitious and determined girl, with big dreams! She comes to Mumbai (I corrected myself, RT) in search of a job, a home and even more important, Independence. Her goals are clear. Writer. Her interview for her dream job also turns out to be from her dream man. The way she manages to blurt out to him about his ‘hotness’ always makes me chuckle. Her love for independence and simplicity is undaunted.

Sid moves in with Aisha, celebrates her birthday with bread and jam with a match-stick in place of a candle. Sid turns her clean swanky room into a messy place, but experiences euphoria when he finds his egg under edible standards. His credit cards are cut, but his foe saves him by paying for his bill. His foe’s character represents one thing that money and influence can get someone to a high, but only hard work can get you to the top. Slowly and steadily the sleepy Sid understands his responsibilities; need to do something in life. He discovers his passion for photography. He joins Aisha in her firm as an intern.

Sid starts to grow. Or rather Sid re-invents himself. Sid starts working, experiencing the little aspects and moreover, living life newly! Unknowingly it’s Aisha who makes him realize all this. And Aisha starts to find her joy in the little childish things with Sid. Sid was exactly the opposite of her Mr. Right, but still he manages to reach her heart by unknowingly doing everything that makes her smile.

Sid gets his pay-check. The highlight of the movie is the scene with his father. The manner in which he convinces his father that he has found something to do in his life satiates you emotionally. And Sid returns home for both Sid and Aisha to realize that they are in love. Sid looks handsome in Aisha’s kurta. Sid posts Aisha’s photograph as his work and Aisha writes about Sid in her article. And like every Bollywood movie, they meet at Marine Drives, totally wet and confess their love.

Like I said, I don’t have a particular reason to love this movie. But I love Sid and even more I love Aisha. I feel every one of us have a little bit of Sid and Aisha within us. We all have our dreams like Aisha and we all go through a transition to make our lives like Sid. All of us fall in love. And when I say love, I don’t only mean the special him or her (or both nowadays). I mean every little thing, every little aspect in your life now; our parents, our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, everyone. All of us learn to love our lives irrespective of whatever it has, whoever it has and wherever it is going! Wake up to that….

Independence........

At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will rise to life and freedom……

15/08/2011. Today’s the sixty fifth independence day. I am sure everyone must have woken up with patriotic songs being played in their respective building terraces. Most of us must have witnessed the Indian flag being unfurled at every colony. But has India really achieved Independence? Does every citizen of this grossly populated country experience freedom?

Early last week, the Mumbai-Pune expressway was closed for a few days. But how many of us know the reason behind this? Police firing in the Maval region, located between Mumbai and Pune, resulted in the death of three protesters. Reason of protest? The government decided that all the water from the Pavana dam would get diverted to the industrial township of
Pimpri-Chinchwad instead of facilitating farming in the nearby villages like Maval. The government gave priority to the industrial development (which I doubt happens!) in the town of Pimpri-Chinchwad, thus, allowing the paddy and sugarcane fields in the nearby villages to turn barren. The government, to meet the extra needs of the urban areas, kicked into the only livelihood of the people in the rural areas nearby. These fields would be without any source of water till next monsoons. The government has not met up with any consolation for the farmers. They are left with no other alternative except selling their land and migrating to some other region. Three deaths. Three grieving families. These didn’t even have the freedom to protest.

Sadly, this aspect is very common with the farmers and other working class people. 95% of farmers in India have lost large parts of their lands to some project in the name of development, without any compensation. These farmers have no choice. Either to suffer and then commit suicide or fight and then get killed in the hands of people who misunderstand their authority!

Is this the Life and Freedom India was going to rise to?

Numerous people sacrificed their lives for Independent India. Numerous people still do. Several soldiers guard the boundaries of our country day and night to safeguard our independence. Many commandos stay on high alert to fight every terrorist activity so that people like you and me can experience freedom.

But think about this. Read the newspapers. Roam through streets. Have we really become INDEPENDENT? Has India reached the pinnacle where all the martyrs dreamt it to reach? Did Mahatma Gandhi march for miles only to see that India now is hoping on an Anna Hazare to break the handcuffs of corruption? Did Sardar Patel bring together an unified India just to see it again being tangled on the grounds of religion and race? Did Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru die to again see the death of every revolutionary who stood for his rights? Did Jhansi ki Rani Laxmibai exhibit unseen bravery only to see that even now, girls aren’t safe in her country?

There are numerous questions. What has so drastically changed in the last sixty five years of independence?

Still I would not belittle India. I am proud to be an Indian. Because this is my identity.

Our independence, our freedom is in our hands. Safeguard it well.

Feelings.......

Just a while ago, a friend of mine coaxed me to restart my blog. Writing has always been my passion, my ambition. So this is my effort, my bit in personifying all the sentiments I have for writing.

For several minutes, I wondered how and what topic to start, and many more WH-questions. It is rightly said “It’s the first step in any direction that matters!” In the end, I settled with the last incident that brought me, again, the feeling to “WRITE” and the source that further convinced me to restart my blog.

Yesterday I happened to go through my friend’s sister’s blog. Her writing, the feelings she shared through her blog reminded me of my own. Though she stays nautical miles away in the US, currently roaming in Philadelphia (according to my source. Read, my friend), I felt an abstract connect with her. Something which cannot be explained.

I am sure everyone must have had this “abstract” feeling at some point of time in life. God has created all of us diverse and unique from one another. But still, in the path of life, we feel a bond towards many individuals. A bond of ‘oneness’! Look at this. A girl whose only name I knew till yesterday became my inspiration to restart my blog. Who was just a stranger till yesterday; her writings made me know her a little better and feel a bond.

THAT’S LIFE!!! Full of aspects which makes you gasp in wonder and awe!

Life is so full of feelings you make towards people and towards things. After all, everyone feels!!! You share a feeling with every person or thing in your life.

There are some people you like or dislike for no particular reason. There are people who are close to you because they can read your mind aptly and whose frequency of thoughts matches up with yours. There are people who unknowingly made an impact in your life while some knowingly couldn’t produce any effect. There are also people you wish you could hate but couldn’t as also people you wish you could love but couldn’t. There are people who possess the same amount of stupidity/weirdness as yours. There are people who taught you hate when you wanted to love and also people who taught you love when you wanted to hate.

There are also times when a protagonist in a movie or serial convinced you to do something. A character you imagined your life to be modeled like. A song which can change the course of your mood. A book that taught you your life’s biggest lesson. A place which gave you a sentiment which was never arose. A hobby or an interest that provided you new solitude and a sense of independence.

Life is all about this… FEELINGS!!! These feelings mark your own destiny. If you open your eyes to notice it, these can even cause miracles.

Some choose to suppress these while some exaggerate these. Feelings are complicated. Never analyze them. But the best is to let it come and accept it the way it is. Go on with your life. Live your feelings!!!!!