Take two... my second attempt at writing this post. First draft lacked structure and sounded random. Writing television news has changed the way I write. My sentences are shorter, English is simpler and I am almost always writing for some imaginary audience. No more, not here... no sir.

Writer’s block had yet again jammed the grey artilleries in my brain. The juices aren’t flowing like they once used to and the mind requires some literary exercise. I haven’t written for this space in a while and I feel lost. Lost in the crowd and lost in the flurry of action & activity that defines my life right now. Little time to smell the roses and even lesser time to replenish the essentials that wholly constituted my life before the madness began. But I vowed to myself to not get lost in the maddening crowd... and I am back at my favourite place to reflect some more on life and times. Blogging helps me channelize my thoughts in a crystal-clear way...

Life has simplified a bit. There are fewer things that demand attention. Friends have become busy and the pressures of maintaining an active social life have soothed. Not that I didn’t enjoy mingling with my favourite people. But everybody is hooked now, as am I. And luckily, the bonds have remained... only to be rekindled on stolen trips back home or wherever these hidden treasures reside.

But while things have simplified in some respects... a greater investment of my time is needed elsewhere. The quality versus quantity debate seems to have crept into the picture and I know I have grown up. The last year or so had been fast and energetic. My endurance, patience and comfort levels have been tested like never before. On the personal front, things have evolved too. I have become more content and satisfied as a person. Existing bonds have solidified. Temperaments and rationales have passed the test of time...

Life has come a half-circle, as opposed to a full one, and I feel ready to experience more. Christmas and New Years are just around the corner and Santa has also popped out, buzzing with jingling bells in my head. Emotions have passed through the prism of time and split into a rainbow of jubilation and exhilaration.

Random, erratic thoughts are the essence of this post... but I shall be back to write and share more. Stay tuned ;)

This election season stands out from the previous elections in many ways. For one, we are seeing a shift from ideology based alliances to convenience based associations. Second, the hype generated by shifting the IPL to South Africa to ensure security is putting the spotlight back on a supposed incident-free exercise of our democracy. Third, blame it on soaring ambitions, the number of contenders for the Prime Minister’s post seem unprecedented in the history of Indian elections. Fourth, political back-stabbing is at its all-time best. Fifth, the tectonic forces changing political equations are so strong that it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict the outcome when the results are declared the 16th of May this year. What is even more peculiar is the common knowledge that the jig-saw reshuffle will continue for much longer than the month of May and the new government will still stumble hard and fast to make way for re-elections.

Other less significant reasons that make these elections noticeable include a former UN diplomat Shashi Tharoor (former under-secretary general) contesting for Congress from Thiruvananthapuram, a certain Varun Gandhi making communal speeches in Pilibhit and landing up in jail, the subsequent Gandhi-family feud, the context of Mumbai’s 26/11, NREGS, global recession and economic crisis, post-sixth pay commission era, reservation debates, 123-nuclear agreement, the election of Barack Obama as the new US president (and his Afpak policy that directly impacts India), the upcoming Commonwealth Games in 2010, the showcase of wads of currency on the floor of the Parliament last year, the incessant terror strikes, the Talibanisation of Pakistan (Swat, now maybe Peshawar), soaring-to-sublevel inflation, attack on women in a Mangalore pub called Amnesia, the upsurge of outfits like MNS and Sri Ram Sene, pink-chaddi campaigns, Rahul Gandhi, etc. Public awareness is scaling high and the need of the hour is more accountable leaders. With the junta giving a green chit to a ‘none of the above’ voting option, the leaders are sitting up straight and taking action.

BJP’s dipping graph
Until as early as a few weeks back, another Congress-led coalition seemed to be the fore-runner in the race to the Parliament. After winning the crucial state of Rajasthan and even Delhi in the assembly elections, this belief was only strengthened for most of us. When a crucial ally like the BJD stranded the BJP mid-way, the sentiment was high that it was the end of road for the saffron brigade. Images of iron-man LK Advani pumping muscle by lifting dumbbells were serving no purpose. The right-wing allegiances proved to be the party’s nemesis. Talks of rebuilding the Ram Mandir were being dismissed as airy-fairy nonsense.

Crutch-less Congress
Just when the Congress was gloating at the steady demise of its opposition, the bee of bad luck came and stung the party too. The Left, after being dropped as an ally in the trust vote last year, under the leadership of AB Bardan and Sitaram Yechury formally inaugurated a Third Front. The non-Congress, non-BJP front was projected as a platform to host all parties with disturbed equations with the two biggies. The front found support from many former allies of the two parties. Then more recently a Fourth Front took shape after RJD, LJP and SP (under Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Pawan and Mulayam Singh) decided to take charge of the states of UP and Bihar. Mayawati’s BSP decided to go solo too. Congress was left out of the calculations. The biggest blow came in the form of PMK withdrawing its support and joining Jayalalitha’s AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. (Read more on alliances here).

Present Scenario
We all like to back the winning horse. When fortunes seemed to be turning against the UPA, media ire (for once) shifted towards the party. The otherwise calm Congress felt the jolts and straightened its back. With regained confidence, the BJP had a lot many things to say. It was interesting to watch Congress articulates like Kapil Sibal and Jayanthi Natarajan toning down the smirks and giving straighter answers. Others like Abhishek Manu Singhvi had slipped into rhetoric about the party’s dwindling fortunes. A nastier Manmohan Singh was seen dropping the façade of a subdued minister (on directives flowing from 10 Janpath of course) and lashing out at BJP’s PM-in-waiting Mr. LK Advani. Last I checked, things were as uncertain as ever.

My View
For a party that is trying to learn from past mistakes, the BJP ought to be treated with a little more respect that what we otherwise bestow on it. When the Hindutva plank failed to translate into votes, the party revised its strategy to developmental politics and addressing corruption. With strategists like Arun Jaitley and Sudheendra Kulkarni, the party still has a future reserved for itself. When Varun Gandhi first sprang up to spread communal hatred, the first reaction of the BJP was to distance itself from his beliefs. What subsequently followed was simply crisis management. (As noted earlier, alliances in modern India are a result of convenience and hence the divide that arose within the party over the issue was not unusual).

Then if one were to talk about the NCP, the track record isn’t exactly flawless. The biggest mistake that will hurt the Congress dearly in the elections is the inability of its ruled states to provide security for the next season of IPL matches. It is clear that Lalit Modi’s known intimacy to Vasundhara Raje cost him his presidency at RCA. It also sadly led to the repudiation of his brainchild, the Indian Premier League. Uncannily all Congress ruled states namely Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi communicated their inability to provide security for the event. A party that doesn’t think twice before mixing almost-sanctified sports with complicated politics at least needs a rethink.

The Commonwealth Games are another issue that needs to be analyzed. The third-term Congress in Delhi is finding it difficult to get ready in time to host the event in 2010. If our worst fears were to come true, the games would be transferred to another country due to the UPA’s inept disability, widespread corruption and disrespect for deadlines.

Next, the incidents of terror that this 5-year term of the government saw are aberrant. Never before had it taken so many jihadi attacks to make the government realize that its security measures were inadequate and its citizens unsafe. Border infiltration is peaking and it took a 26/11 for the Congress to dismiss its wardrobe-friendly home minister Shivraj Patil and reinstall P Chidambaram to take care of home affairs.

Criminals like Shibu Soren were offered Chief Ministership in return for trust votes. Morals were up for sale. As was proved by a CD unearthed after the shameful wads-of-money-in-parliament incident, money was offered in return for votes. Others accused in 1984 anti-Sikh riots like Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar and Kamal Nath have been made nominees for different LS seats in the coming elections. And these are just the cases that have been bought to book. The number of skeletons hidden away in the closet is anybody’s guess.

When Mangalore happened, Congress CM Gehlot from Rajasthan came forward and revolted against the ‘mall-culture’ (whatever that means). He brandished his intolerance towards two people holding hands in public and even increased the duties on liquor in the state to ‘discourage the culture of pubs and bars’. That aside, Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit (instead of admitting a lapse in security and stepping up measures) labeled all working women who came home late from work as ‘adventurous’ after the infamous Soumya Vishwanathan murder case. Now she has pitched her son Sandeep Dikshit to contest from East Delhi in the LS polls.

UPA, the same party that blames the NDA of being communal and polarizing the voter base, is guilty of recommending and implementing the infamous OBC quotas in institutes of higher education under Arjun Singh. The uproar and dissent that the move generated is still fresh in the minds. It is because of this inducement that the Gujjars in Rajasthan came forward and demanded a status change for themselves as well (read about how the author faced the wrath here and here). The incompetent handling of the issue cost the incumbent BJP heavily in the assembly polls. Meanwhile, the Congress was busy proposing (and in some cases implementing) quotas for Muslims in education and jobs too. So much for blaming the NDA of ‘dividing the society’.

Rationale for this post
I pen all of this down because I get slightly perturbed when I observe how people are completely writing off the BJP this season. Sure the party has had its share of gaffes and wrong alliances during the process. But who doesn’t? And sure it projects itself the wrong the way when it endlessly elaborates on the Congress’s mistakes instead of telling the people what it can do for them. But we need to accord the party some patience in terms of hearing and understanding what they mean to tell us. Advani’s challenge to Manmohan Singh for a presidential-style debate needs to be heeded too. Only a party that is sure of its agenda can come forward and dare to debate in public. I see people ridiculing the ‘Advani for PM’ ads on the internet as being rampant. Say I ask them if is it bad to be tech-savvy in the 21st century? At least he’s getting us to notice that he’s contesting through the most frequently used medium. Our attention captured is mission accomplished. Now assuming that it would irk some people was, admit it, unforeseeable for the old chap. My only appeal to the readers of this blog is to patiently hear the BJP out and not base their opinions on the old stereotypes. The changing face of the BJP, and more importantly the Congress, needs to be looked at carefully before we make up our minds.

Post script
Don’t get the author wrong, she’s not a blatant supporter of the BJP. She only believes that casting our votes on the biased images that we might have of our leaders would be unfair to people trying to usher in change. The Congress has been the mai-baap of Indian politics for a long time… but we need to be aware and educated about other party options that we might have. I know the Left wing and other independents would agree with my view. Although if you don’t, feel free to vandalize my comment section with your opinions. Bouquets and brickbats invited alike.

So the day was Valentines Day and I was on my way to Khan Market for lunch. Like most times, I was traveling by the delhi metro. Due to a recent expansion, the metro was full when I boarded. As a result I had to stand by a glass separator that disjoins the seat from the door. While I stood by the door on one side of the glass… a funny looking, 30 year old-something, fidgety man sat at the other side. He seemed deeply engrossed in his cellphone and through the glass separator I saw that he was playing a mobile game. At Kashmere Gate station (a major stop where a lot of shuffling of crowd happens), he suddenly got up and offered me his seat to sit. In my mind, I thought ‘what a sweet guy to vacate his seat for a lady!’ and sat down. Two more women came in to fill the adjacent seats that had just been vacated by people getting down at the stop.

All was well until I noticed that the 30-something old man’s phone camera was conspicuously pointed in my direction while he stood there in front of me. Although the thought that he might be clicking a picture did strike me once, I quickly dismissed it assuming he must still be playing his game. And there is indeed little room for maneuvering in a crowded train. So I decided to let it be.

After a while he turned, went and stood at another spot a few feet away from me. It was then that a 20-something year old college student, wearing a red sweatshirt, came to me and whispered gently in my ear “He just clicked your picture”. I was baffled and asked him to repeat. “He just clicked your picture. I was standing behind him and I saw”, he said. A little shaken, I poked the 30-something old man who was now standing with his back to me. He obviously didn’t respond and I had to call out to him and poke him a little harder to make him turn. I asked him if he had clicked any picture and he blatantly said he hadn’t. The 20-something guy was still standing there and affirmed that he had seen him click it. The 30-something man offered me his phone and said I could go through his gallery if I had any doubts. I looked at him a little apprehensively trying to see the truth in his face, and reluctantly declined saying I’ll take his word for it. But the 20-something boy insisted that I go through his phone because he was positive a picture had been clicked. On my refusal, he grabbed the phone himself from the 30-something’s outstretched hand and started sifting through his gallery.

Correctly indeed, there it was a picture of me saved at the top of his archives. The 20-something red sweatshirt guy looked at me and said “See! I told you he clicked it!” Wow. I was shocked at the pervert-mindedness and reached for the intercom that would’ve connected me to the metro driver. Before I could press the button, the 30-something guy immediately said sorry and promised that he would delete it. While he was talking, I saw that the 20-something samaritan had already deleted the picture and was checking the gallery for more shots. On finding none, he handed him back his phone with a disapproving look on his face. Both of them got down at the next station. The 30-something guy got down because everybody was looking at him and murmuring, and the 20-something collegian because I assume his station had come. I slipped him a quick ‘Thank You’ before he disembarked.

Post-script: For the next twenty minutes until the train terminated, the women next to me couldn’t stop discussing what a weird place the world had become. They kept asking me if he had deleted the picture and what he would have possibly achieved by pulling off a sly act like that. As if in a response to their own question, they went on to mull how many inappropriate uses were possible of such shots. They also kept reminding me that the sincere looking, red sweatshirt guy had saved the day for me. I kept nodding in agreement and continued shaking my head in disbelief.

Epilogue: Just when you start thinking that the world is devoid of all good people, incidents like these remind you that we still have a few good men left. On giving it some thought, we deduce that the college guy wasn’t going to get anything out of the whole incident. But he still stepped up to raise his voice against something that he felt was morally incorrect. I still think I hadn’t thanked him enough. If by some dumb stroke of luck he happens to read this some day, I would like to tell him that it is because of men like him (and a few others) that women nurture the hope of having a equal, safe society for them one day. A big Thank you once again.

A million buried emotions,
Rhapsodic moments stashed away in the past.
Irredeemable, irreplaceable…
Now just eternal imprints on the heart.

Reminiscences recollections,
Stories scribbled on the sands of time.
A gush of waves and all washes away…
Echoes in corridors of mind, still make the heart chime.

‘Writer’s block’--- that’s what was keeping me from updating my blog for so long. Faithful readers noticed the absence and here I am trying to shake off the cobwebs. It was more like a mental block, a state where one is so preoccupied with other stuff that writing is forced to take a backseat. Even with my exams now over, things are still quite hectic but I’m taking out time for what I love doing the most… writing.


First a quick update on what has been keeping me busy. First I went through a series of non-ending exams, then a special someone was in town and later I was home for vacations. Now college is open again and the schedule is brimming with stuff that requires attention. Cat classes, college lectures, NIIT training, CS studies, extra-curriculars… my hands are more than full right now. The MBA form-filling season has also kicked in and days are spent contemplating about which institute to pick and which to ditch. Neha, a close buddy, is going to the US for her engineering and we’re busy planning this little surprise for her before she leaves. Then I’m also making room for other essentials like orkutting(indispensable!), returning e-mails, catching up with friends, going places and basically keeping myself entertained. The quest of staying abreast with current-affairs is teaching me new things. A lot has been happening at home as well and thank god for that cause it helps me keep my senses alive.


Harry Potter--- the book and the movie--- was something I had been waiting for for so long. Saw the movie on the first day of the release and would have written a review too… but loads of those are available everywhere. Decided to save redundancy. The Deathly Hallows--- well, words can never do justice to the brilliance that Rowling is blessed with. Fans must have read it by now, so a review seems quite unessential.

Experienced pure bliss in the most unusual of things- morning walks! With excellent company and pre-monsoon sprinklers… there could have been no better way to start my day. A 5.30 a.m. attendance and a 2 hour-long jog did wonders to my body and mind alike. Location? Central Park in Jaipur---- located in the midst of the most expensive range of flats, Royal Ensign, on one side; the famous Statue Circle on the other; and our very own Vidhan Sabha and Rajpath on yet another end; this place was a joggers paradise. Roughly 4-5 kilometres in radius, half of it also doubles up as a golf course. Polo and golf--- two things the city is famous for. Legend has it that the late Maharaja Sawai Man Singh had won his wife, the uber famous Rajmata Gayatri Devi, in a game of polo. But lets not delve into history books now. Lets keep talking about other more random and erratic things in life…

College is different this year. First because I know its my last year here. Second, ragging. It is being seen as a punishable offence and cctvs’ have been installed in most north campus colleges. Posters and banners scream out and warn seniors against ragging the fuchchas but I doubt that’s making much difference. The freshies want to be ragged and show more prudence than the police authorities by reasoning out that the whole ‘college experience’ concept is incomplete and inadequate without a little friendly ragging. It builds rapport and increases the comfort level between two otherwise unknown classes. Atleast it worked for my immediate juniors and me last year. God knows where things are headed this year with so little ragging. All would agree that no ragging means lesser stories to tell your grand-children when you grow old! (The Bombay junta… no indirect reference to your side of the picture, whatsoever.)

Now a little something about teeny-tiny pieces of advice that I’ve folded up and saved deep inside me in the box of golden words for future reference. These helped me sail out of a maelstrom of emotions.

-One includes “Don’t crucify a human being for acting like a human being.” Noteworthy (thanks Ankush).

-Another goes like “Nothing is as important as it initially seems.” Makes sense (Arunabh, you asked me to spread the word).

-Yet another goes like “Your absence should be long enough so that someone misses you, but it should not be so long that someone learns to live without you.” Wow (Jans, this one from you).

-One more “Hold on to the people who are slipping away.” Is quite common (But was recently highlighted by Bodhisattva).

-Last one "If my mind can concieve it & my heart can believe it, i know i can achieve it." (Gaurav read the post and asked me to include this here).

Am putting these up here for common good. If you like some of these… keep them with you.

Ok this will just keep getting long lest I stop. Will put a full stop here with a promise to return again with another post. I’ve successfully beaten the infamous block and man, am I proud of myself!

So long… Godspeed!

It’s easy for our vote-athirst politicians to trigger off rows regarding reservations. Following in their footsteps, it’s even easier for a certain segment of civilians to get together and create a havoc to attract media attention and to get their baseless demands fulfilled. Now I’m not here to bash the changing role of the media in today’s India, cause that topic deserves a different post altogether. I’m here to ‘throw light’ on the physical and mental traumas that we, the aam-admi, are made to go through during these times of crisis.

Anyone with a speck of alertness is aware of the whole ordeal that Rajasthan was made to go through recently. Now it so happened that I was in Jaipur around that time and was planning to return to Delhi on 30th may for my exams that kicked off from the 2nd of june. A day before the 30th, I had booked a Volvo ticket and was all packed to leave for ‘the city of djinns’ the next day. When I switched on the t.v. at night, first stir of the ensuing riots was hogging the headlines. Not anticipating it to blow up into a full-fledged revolt, I sat back comfortably and relished my dinner.

Next morning, when I switched on the t.v., reports of a blocked NH-8 caught my eye and I quickly called up the roadways office to confirm if my bus was still going. It wasn’t. Infact all the buses from jaipur to delhi had been cancelled… the highways were blocked with the protestors. The magnitude of the protests soon sunk in and I frantically left home to get myself rail or air tickets for the same day in a hope to still make it on time for my exams. Turned out that all trains had been cancelled as well and I was left with only one option to make it back on time- air. The scene at the airport betrayed the hopelessness of commuters who were virtually stuck in the city because of a ‘transportation-breakdown’. Because I’m very frugal with money, I first checked with the low-cost carriers to know if their flights were still going. Some flights had already left early in the morning and the rest were all booked to the brim. Soon it became very clear that I wasn’t reaching the capital today in any case. A call to my travel agent didn’t help much either. Reluctantly, I asked if tickets for the 31st were still available and fortunately got a reply in the affirmative. Timings for Go-Air were very convenient and I decided to opt for the same. My eyes literally popped out when the guy at the counter told me the prices (withheld to condense public outrage)! I asked him to wait for two minutes while I made up my mind. I started scanning all my options--- there was no way I was reaching delhi today by road, so there was no point fretting over that fact any longer. I figured if it essentially has to be tomorrow, then I might as well just pay some extra bucks rather than swing in the air of uncertainty and wait for the roads and rails to clear up (the riots had gathered steam by then and all fingers pointed in the direction of a political deadlock). While I was scrutinizing all my options, a now-familiar voice from the counter pulled me out of my musings and announced- “Only two seats left on tomorrow’s flight, ma’am, and their prices just went up from rs.x to rs.x + 300. You should make up your mind fast.” Shucks! Zap… I asked him to give me a ticket immediately before the prices shot up any further. With the ticket clutched tightly in my hands, I strolled my way back to the car.

Now to explain how much agony the whole episode caused is out of question. There’s no way I can explain how it feels to see days melt away so fruitlessly just 2 days before your exams and absolutely no way to tell how much it hurts to pay 8 times more than what you usually would to get from one place to another. Seeing airlines cash in on our helplessness didn’t make it any easier. The hole in my pockets just got deeper the next day when I was charged another grand at the check-in counter on account of my bag being ‘20 kgs heavier than the prescribed limit’ (dont blame me, I was carrying my exam books and there was no way I was leaving them behind). On reaching delhi, I had to pay another couple of hundreds to get from IGI airport to my place in a pre-paid taxi. And not just me, I saw a host of people going through the similar not-so-obvious torture. All of this… simply because this one class of people were defying laws somewhere and enforcing a bandh on a matter as trivial as shifting from one backward category, already reserved under the tainted reservations, to another…

Hail the politicians.

Hail the ‘intelligentsia’ who prompt such riots.

And most of all, hail us civilians who actually manage to live through the whole ordeal with no apparent fault of ours! Life cant get any ‘fairer’ than this x-(

A fresh new post… a clean new slate to put forth my views (yet again!).

Note of caution: To the die-hard Valentine’s Day supporters/fans/fanatics--- this piece is not for you. I advice you to bid adieu asap and not turn back even once.

All said… if you’re still hanging around… I fathom you have the patience and willingness to hear me out. The last thing I want to do is to sound sermonizing, so I’ll break this post into tiny interesting fragments… and spruce it up with real pictures (all taken first-hand by yours truly!).

Ridiculous tactics: Picture #1



Ridiculous tactics: Picture #2



PART I
I’m-no-agony-aunt
7th Feb:
I’m working out in a gym and the radio is on to keep us entertained. Running on a treadmill… huff puff… beads of sweat rolling down my forehead. What am I listening to? The RJ goes like “Call 64646… say ‘I love radio mirchi’ and win a candle-lit dinner in orient express with your loved one on valentine’s day!” Hmmm… tempting. For the uninitiated, Orient Express in one of the 50 finest restaurants in the world.
Standard reaction 1--- I’m flabbergasted… has it already begun??

8th Feb:
The v-day fever is catching up thick and fast with the other radio stations as well… offers and prizes are getting dearer (and better!) each passing minute. Switch on the tv and all channels are busy show-casing commercials related to the obvious. Not even the news channels are spared. My good old CNN-IBN also shows a ‘deliver flowers to your valentine’s doorstep (with no extra shipping charges)… call xxx-xxxx-xxx… toll free!’ commercial while I let out a loud groan.
Standard reaction 2--- The denial mode is over… time to start sighing! It’s that time of the year again.

9th Feb:
Things are getting worse. Hoardings in the campus have been changed to the ones that scream out and educate the naïve junta about the attractive v-day offers up for grabs (see picture #1… it’s a classic!). RJs are still going berserk with the prizes and proposals.
Standard reaction 3--- Aaarghh… for how much longer am I supposed to take this?

10th Feb:
A little birdie comes and coos into my ear that SaReGaMa has launched a new album… something by the name of ‘love rocks’ Even amazon.com has suddenly gone crimson!
Standard reaction 4--- I am trying to masquerade my disgust in the garb of a wry smile and slight smirk.

11th Feb:
D-day is drawing closer and I am happy. Why?? Cause I see an end to the gibberish just close by. Although the constant ranting of RJs and the print media advertising still irks me no end.
Standard reaction 5--- Waiting with bated breath for the 14th to come… and go!

12th Feb:
Things are uncontrollable… the dam has broken to make way for what may be called a sea of red hearts and pink kisses!
Standard reaction 6: I try and turn a deaf ear n blind eye to everything but fail miserably at it :(

13th Feb:
D/V-Day eve! I’m out in kamla nagar for some mobile related work and what I see leaves me all the more cantankerous and even disgusted to some extent (refer to picture #2 for explanation). Even the once faithful comrades have dumped me this time… ahem…. I mean even the shiv-sainiks have softened their stand on the ‘issue’. It was only this morning that I saw a news report telling that the sena run Kirti College in dadra is not averse to the idea of joining in the celebrations anymore. Depressing stuff. Heard a sena adyaksh say something you’d be surprised to hear… something about lesser dharnas n processions this year. RJs continue to be on a roll, still doling out prizes with undying fervor… gym time has suddenly lost all charm.
Standard reaction 7: (Un)comfortably numb…

14th Feb:
Need I tell how it’s like?!?!?

PART II
Trying-very-hard-not-to-sound-sermonizing
When I was a kid, the scale of celebrations was much smaller. People felt no need to hire limousines or buy diamond rings to woo their dates/spouses. Ways of expressing love were more personal, less flashy and way cheaper! No… I’m not 60 or over-conservative or a wet blanket, for that matter. I’m young, ultra-modern and extremely liberal. I have nothing against Valentine’s Day in particular… nothing so long as the celebrations are confined to one day and one day only. Agreed that true love needs expression and allocating a particular day to do so is not a sin. So far so good. What irks me is the lack of consideration on part of the moneymaking scoundrels who know nothing better than throwing offers and reaping benefits out of the whole situation. Why load people with v-day talks everywhere, every second of the day, for one whole week before the big day?? It gets a little over-whelming and seems kind of ridiculous at times. And if it’s all about love… what about mother and father’s days that often go unnoticed? In all respect… not fair. I don’t mean to demean the whole concept of celebrating Valentine’s Day… infact far from that… all I want to state is that the whole hype and hoopla makes little sense to me. Hold hands, kiss and get cozy, rock each others worlds… alright… but pleaseeee tone down on the celebrations front a little! The amount of moolah spent is not always proportional to how much you love your companion. Things that really mean a lot don’t always come in boxes…

All my arguments aside… I do believe that the expression of love is the headiest feeling on the whole planet. Go ahead, enjoy the day… but go easy with the festivities before/after the day is over. We have a whole assortment of other festivals to look forward to!

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A few good things:
YES, a few things have been keeping my mood really light of late… take a look:

1) The government IS making a serious effort towards polio eradication… a polio drops table at the entrance of the patel chowk metro station. Strategically placed… very impressive!

2) An airtel scheme especially for d.u. students… the tariff plan is really economical!

3) The rains! Potholes (hallmark of the place where I live!), wet roads, dark clouds, biting cold, thunderstorms, heavy showers… all the makings of a place called ‘heaven’. A welcome respite for the rain starved Delhi.

4) This amazing t-shirt that I saw at out university centers ‘peoples tree’ outlet.

Ad nauseam! Long post… but still got a lot more to write about. If time permits… the mill will churn out another post very soon.

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After-thought: If you’ve read this far… I deduce you don’t have the attention span of a three year old and are capable of putting up with stuff that you might not necessarily agree with or that which can be loosely categorized as ‘purely random, arbit and unorganized’. All I want to say to you guys is… keep visiting :)

The most complex of all emotions, the most prevalent of all feelings… this is an attempt at demystifying the most convoluted inscrutability surrounding mankind… this is love, simplified…

Oxford English Dictionary defines love as “an intense feeling of deep affection.” Look around you and you see a major portion of the people snowed under what I call ‘the crowning glory of our short expedition on planet earth’. To reduce the ambit of love to lover’s or spouse’s love would be like doing injustice to its wide and varied scope and coverage. A quick glance and we see love all around--- lover’s love, spouse’s love, parent’s love, friend’s love, family’s love, love in the nature of narcissism, love with a pet, love commercialized on TV and in movies, love with books or one’s job or basically things/places/professions in general, love at first sight, et al. The possibilities are inexhaustible and the list is endless.

Cupid can strike at any time and what’s worse… one loses all control as soon as love comes calling. They say all emotions can be modulated, all except love. When falling in love for the first time, one feels things he’s never felt before. When falling in love all over again, one learns to appreciate things in a different way. Love is all about feeling affection and passion for someone/something, getting a feeling of acceptance… and it almost always involves a lot of thinking and some serious contemplation.

Now we unknowingly use the term ‘falling in love’(I just did!) without giving much thought to what it actually means- ‘falling’ in love. True… some ‘fall’ in love and later pay the price for doing so. Whom are we talking about here? Jilted lovers, divorced couples, wasted individuals, etcetera. BUT lets change the term a little, and I take the liberty of modifying it to ‘rising in love’. Yes, this sounds more positive and is surely more apt. History is redundant with examples of people achieving big because of possessing what we crave for the most- love. It bestows on us a feeling of completeness, sanguinity, and complacence. Sometimes it takes us to a different plane altogether. Often used as a synonym of obsession, attachment, infatuation and even crushes… we can be flexible enough and let it be confused with all these things because life is not always about watertight compartments. Take a bird’s eye view and we see everything is intermingled and interconnected.

Come Valentine’s Day and we see tiny red hearts and roses ALL around… in shops, on TV, on cards, in the newspapers and on the roads as well. The celebrations are notched up a tad higher each year and V day is now a million dollar industry for the people who were sane and sensible enough to cash in on this growing ‘trend’ at the right time (read: archies). Infact new runners in this rat race are also catching up fast and easy by offering more innovative ways of expressing love. Now, I am no shiv saini or anything… but sometimes the whole hoopla makes you wonder how much bigger will this get? I mean all the money spent on going out, messaging and buying cards and gifts can be put to better use. For the people who say it is the day to celebrate love--- why just confine the celebrations to one day?? Isn’t it an ongoing process?

Probably the only pitfall of the whole phenomena is the amount of effort that goes into falling ‘out’ of love. It takes immeasurable amounts of resistance, restrain, anger and frustration to get over that one object of affection. Love in its worst form takes the form of obsession. Sometimes life’s get ruined, people lose their ability to fall in love again, get wasted, need a counselor, eat themselves silly and shop like a maniac… while in other more solemn cases, they fail miserably at the ‘falling out’ bit altogether. But they say there is always a silver lining to every cloud. This cloud is no different. Agreed that some times it all seems very ugly… but at other times, falling out of love proves to be a bittersweet journey to redemption and self-realization. Love is capable of teaching a thousand lessons at one go… imparting the knowledge of a million books all at once… quite capable of transforming a crazy and impractical lover into a sagacious saint.

The movie industry is probably the one domain that has capitalized the most on the widespread predominance of this emotion. Since times immemorial, the moviemakers have cashed in by showcasing the different facets of love on the silver screen. Almost every movie ever made has got love to flaunt somewhere or the other. In most Indian movies, love is often the underlying base of the whole plot… the whole story is centered on the meeting/non-meeting of the two lovers. Garnish this with some running around the trees, a few songs, some foreign locales, extravagant clothing and jewellery, a few thrills… and you have all the makings of a big box-office blockbuster. This is the formula that big movie directors like Karan Johar and Yash Chopra have exploited and earned millions on. Now I’m deviating from course and will stop talking about the cinema, mainly because the ‘movie-matra’ deserves a separate post altogether.

But keeping in tune with the topic, I recently watched the movie ‘shall we dance’ and made a mental note of Susan Sarandon’s immortal lines that go like---
“We all need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on this planet. What does anyone’s life really means? But in love, you are promising to care about everything… the good things, the bad things, the terrible things and the mundane things. All of it, all the time, everyday. You’re saying ‘your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it… your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.’ You can call me a nut if you like!”
--- That pretty much sums up the essence of what we call love. Although here, she’s being specific about lover’s/spouse’s love. But in reality, as I’ve pointed out earlier, love encompasses a lot more than just that... though the degree of intensity might differ greatly. People fall in love with a plethora of other things. Some are in love with themselves (narcissists); some fall in love with physical and tangible things- their cars, books, material possessions; some love their jobs, or their lives; some feel deeply attached to their parents, siblings and family. Love can assume different forms but the whole discussion boils down to one simple conclusion--- love it or hate it… sooner or later, it is bound to happen to everybody. And when the time comes, I suggest you sit back and enjoy the ‘heady’ ride (with a pinch of salt every now and then!) :)

First things first, and this is for the regulars, I have been keeping a little busy people… hence the dearth of posts in the past few weeks. The next 2-3 weeks are going to be no different with my exams coming and all, but I’ll try to stay as regular as possible.

Now for the actual post:

25th December 2006:
* Scene 1- My cozy bedroom *
12:00am: I’m enjoying a still night when suddenly…* buzz * --- my phone buzzes to break the silence. It’s a message from a friend wishing me merry Christmas. In the festive spirit, I reply back with a cherry message and good wishes. Things are calm again and now I’m trying to concentrate on work, when I’m shook up by another * buzz * --- one more friend wishing me Christmas. I reply back to this one as well. Concentrate… concentrate… but * buzzes ** rings * --- I’m startled many times over… more good wishes and season greetings are exchanged… and this goes on for one whole hour.

* Scene shift – Connaught Place market, Central Delhi *
3:00pm: The winter vacations have just started and I’m out catching up with a dear one in cp. An awesome music show and a brief session of sifting through Oxford Bookstore later, we are out on the streets looking for a present for my younger brother. He suggests a swiss army knife and we find ourselves looking for a shop that would sell one. One quick glance and you realize that the market scene is quite interesting here: shop windows painted by/covered in oodles of red and white, christmas sale everywhere, fake santas out on the streets giving away sweets to kids, crowds supposedly ‘enjoying the festival’, christmas decorations coupled with small vendors selling red and white balloons. “Marketing gimmick”, is what he calls it all. I’m having second thoughts. I bump into classmates and upon asking what they were doing there… I get a “celebrating christmas!” out of them. I smirk and walk on.

*Scene shift – Today *
So what makes me blog about the whole thing?? Nothing major… this post is just a result of serious distaste, grave revulsion and grim disgust. Whoa! Why all these things?? Well for one, and I want to make it very clear that I have nothing against christmas whatsoever, when did the majority of our population turn catholic?? Second, if the statistics do support my argument, why are we celebrating the festival with such gaudy pomp?? Why the midnight wishes and christmas sale on the streets? In hope of reaching a satisfying answer, I make a few observations. Maybe the western culture/influence is fast catching up with us and is here to stay. Or maybe we are just a bunch of jovial, enthusiastic people looking for a reason to celebrate. Maybe a drop of the hat is a big enough reason for us to get together and commemorate.

PS. I had to go out the same day cause I was leaving town the next morning.
PPS. No, my intention is NOT to hurt the sentiments of any section/strata of the society. These are just my independent views and may be supported or neglected by some.
PPPS. I’m prissy and I know it.
PPPPS. My astonishment notwithstanding, I had a great day… all thanks to a highly ‘receptive’ company :)

VIGNETTE: Description of an awfully tragic morning: Being late for college and taking an auto in an attempt to make it on time. Riding in what proves out to be a ‘death-auto’ for 13 long minutes. Frantically running all the way to the class only to enter a half-empty space and finding out that all the classes have been called off. Thinking of still utilizing the time by getting some pending work done at the other end of Delhi. Going to the metro station in hope of speeding things up and finding out that the damned metro services from the university station have been curtailed for the day due to some dharnas. Realizing that there is no other way to get to ‘the other end’. Returning home dejected. Thinking of digging your teeth into your favorite cookie, awesome stress-buster, but finding your neighborhood grocer's shop closed.

* Curtains drawn *

Yeah, that was a brief prelude to the kind of morning I had today. Though I woke up at 6 a.m., I still managed to get late for college (a feat only I can achieve!) and decided to squander a few bucks on an auto (which spells ‘luxury’ in student’s circles here) in a desperate attempt to reach the class on time. I had an economics class and the teacher was pretty strict when it came to giving out attendance to ‘late-comers’. So I asked the auto-wallah to speed up… and big surprise: he turned out to be a maverick brave-heart! Maybe he saw this as an opportunity to display ALL his stocked up driving skills (and stunts!) and rode REAL fast…so fast that I had to hold on to my seat to stay in place! Thankfully a few narrow escapes and missed accidents later… I finally reached the college in time (with white knuckles, ofcourse!). I rushed to the class only to find out that all the classes had been called off (yes, including the eco class) cause most of the teachers hadn’t been able to make it to college due to traffic-jams that had become commonplace today. Frustrated and dejected, I decided to utilize the day anyway and thought of getting some work done at ICSI, prasad nagar. So I strolled to the university metro station, patting myself on the back, but what I saw there was no less than adding insult to injury. I saw reporters from NDTV, and other blah blah blah channels, interviewing people; asking them how the ‘closed’ metro line had “affected/hit their schedule”. Taken aback, I eventually gathered that the Delhi University-Kashmere Gate, 4 kms underground metro stretch, had been closed as a precautionary measure (because the traders had decided to gherao the delhi assembly which fell midway on the route) till further notice. For a brief moment I actually contemplated going and whacking the NDTV reporter on the head (I don’t know why though, it wasn’t her fault!) who was interviewing a univ mate as to how he felt about the whole ‘metro line abruptly closing down’ thing. Instead, I walked away from the scene and cribbed in quite murmurs to myself and cursed lady luck for having abandoned me on the very first day of the week-Monday (which is quite unpopular anyway… cause of its ‘inherent quality/ability/trait’ of yanking people out of weekends and throwing them into the tiring hustle-bustle of daily life).

So seeing all my hopes of making some good of the day falling flat on their face, I started back home. Saw truckloads of people being ferried to the assembly… they shouted slogans against the MCD sealing drive… resolute anger and determination marked their faces. All this; while me, dejected beyond measure, tried thinking about the good things in life… but all that plagued my mind were sad thoughts and gloomy tales.

Blink! Hang on… it can’t be all that bad! I just needed to think like an optimist and try to find out the silver lining to this cloud. Hmmm… now what good can this bring? Oh, ofcourse! This was an awesome opportunity for me to snuggle up in my sheets at home, with a nice book in my hand (bought ‘memoirs of a geisha’ yesterday) and dig my teeth into my favorite cookie! Wow! Why hadn’t I thought of this before?!? So with a newfound spring in my steps, I hop along the way to my neighborhood grocer to get a packet of the heavenly cookies, with gleamy stars in my eyes leading the way. Could hardly wait to execute my brilliant plan for the afternoon! But then it happened… lady ‘bad luck’ couldn’t have been crueler… I see (and suddenly remember it was a ‘traders’ strike… and the grocer was no exception) that the shop’s shutter was down with two heavy locks securely holding it in place. And then one more realization, which can safely be called the ‘cherry on the cake’, dawned on me- the strike was going to go on for three days… till the 1st of November…

* Curtains fall *

EPILOGUE: Ok, now I officially put an end to all the cribbing and tell you what I finally did:

I went back home, switched on my computer, and typed the whole ordeal down as a blog entry ;)

P.S. 1: Blogosphere is an awesome place to vent out your anger.

P.S. 2: The above pics was taken first hand while returning back home.

P.S. 3: NO, I haven’t exaggerated anywhere in the post.

P.S. 4: Desperately hope that the coming two days of the bandh prove better.

P.S. 5: Delhi seems paralysed!

“God couldn’t be there with every child, so he created parents…”

Sitting alone in my room this late into the night leaves in reminiscing about the days gone by. Ma and dad, I can’t even begin to describe how much you mean to me.

My dad lost his mom, my grandma, when he was just 2 years old. So a childhood without a mom’s protective cocoon taught him what takes others no less than an entire lifetime to learn. Though his dad, grandpa, loved him more than any father could ever love his son… the lack of motherly affection (that only and only a mom can afford to give) left a never satiable longing for ‘mother’s love’. To worsen things, we lived in a joint family and dad spent his early days looking onto mothers who woke up their kids from slumber only to make them drink yet another glass of milk, while dad spent days without even tasting a single drop of the white liquid (grandpa was too busy with business… was the sole caretaker.). Now, an obvious aftermath of a tough childhood was that pa vowed to make the life of his children ultra-comfortable and full of love. Now as his offspring, I can proudly confer the title of the ‘World’s Best Dad’ on him (yeah, yeah. you must be thinking that every kid says that and it’s a quotidian notion, but really, my paterfamilias is different.). A few things that I miss about him after having shifted to Delhi are-

• Driving me all the way to the school before an exam, while I tried mugging a few more facts on the seat alongside his in the car.
• Comforting me after each of our quarrels, even when I was usually the one at fault.
• Our post-midnight discussions on anything ranging from my school problems, to debating, to business issues, to politics, to tuitions, to family, to friends… he was my best pal!
• His high b.p. when I used to drive his car while he sat nervously on the passenger seat, tightly clutching the dashboard with white knuckles!
• Our importunate phone-addiction… calling him at work for trifle matters. It might have irked it at times, but he never showed.
• His short-temper! Thanks to that, the world seems like a calm place, and people easy to handle! Cause handling him was the toughest! Also, he has unmistakably passed on his short fuse to me, in my genes ;)
• The sudden softening of his expressions during an argument when he saw the slightest hint of hurt in my eyes.
• His foregoing personal comforts to make sure we siblings had a comfortable childhood.
• His priceless advice on anything under the sun!
• His wisdom and grace and eloquence and erudition… do more men like him exist???
• The glint of tears in his eyes when I was leaving for the US of A / packing for my 3 year stay in Delhi.
• The pride in his eyes when I used to tell in that I topped in so and so subject / class.
• His constant encouragement and those pep talks…
• His fair and unbiased ways.
• Our lovely Sunday family evenings.
• His pats on my back.
• His half-hour long prayers at amer-fort, while I just stood there waiting for him to get over.
• His political acumen! From questions like ‘Dad, what’s the whole deal with Narendra Modi and the Gujarat riots?’ at lunch to ‘Which party do you think is better for India and why: BJP or Congress?’ over dinner… I miss those times!
• Our shared laughs over ‘The great Indian laughter challenge’!
• And most of all, I miss how ‘I’ felt around him… protected and special…

Truly a man blessed with a heart of gold. And interestingly, I’ve learnt one more fact about him in the past one year that I spent away from him- He can give VERY explicit instructions! Sample this-

Dad: Bitiya, independence day is inching closer. You try and stay indoors as much as possible.
Me: I know dad, I know. I’m not a small baby you see, I’m 19 now.
Dad: Beta no matter how old you get, you’ll always be my small daughter to me and I’ll keep guiding you, whether you like it or not.
Me: I know dad. But I can take care of myself now.
Dad: Listen, and this is an order, I want you to stay indoors till the 15th. No outings, no movies, no friends. If the need be, at the most you can go to your college. And then later straight back home. Avoid all public places like theatres, multiplexes, the metro station, etc……...yadda yadda yadda…

…………… you get the idea!
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So this is my dad… Now a little something about mom.

As a child I always thought that my mom was the prettiest lady on the face of this planet! With her white (nearly!) skin, perfectly arched eyebrows, hourglass figure, long lustrous hair and all. But soon I realized that she was much much much more than just being pulchritudinous (did I add sufficient number of ‘much’s??). The early memories of my life are sprinkled memories of her nursing me, cooking all sorts of cuisines for us so we never had to eat out, smiling warmly at my achievements, scolding me for my misdeeds (at times! not that I gave her much reason to complain!), waking me up in the morning for school (everyday for 12 long years!), teaching me social science and the dreaded math, etc etc etc.

Now a few things I miss about her:

• Her waking me up in the morning! No matter how hard the alarms try, they never manage to wake me up! (courtesy: the snooze button! I keep pressing it without even realizing!)
• Her delicious food! All other food in this world sucks! Well, not all… but a great part of it!
• Her soothing words which never failed to ease my frayed nerves.
• Her calls for truces while dad and I fought away in the living room, screaming at the top of our lungs!
• Her constant efforts to make room for my umpteen books… space always fell short! Now my books are all piled up in a mould in my room here in Delhi!
• Our fun ‘Miss Universe / World Contest on t.v.’ evenings!
• Our melodramatic fights (if any! we rarely fought.).
• Her insights into anything and everything!
• Her incessant insistence that I consumed all 3 meals in a day, and that too with atleast two glasses of milk! Gluttony!
• Her hot coffee on exam days to keep me awake through the night.
• Her famous dal makhani, rajma and pasta! (I know I have talked about food earlier, but it’s just that these three items deserved a special mention!).
• Her helping me with my packing (and the unpacking bit too!)! Now a task that took me 15 minutes earlier, with her around, eats up 2 whole hours!
• Her advice on what would look good on me while buying clothes.
• Our girlie talks and the saloon trips!
• ‘Bad-people’ bashing! (confused? i intended so!)
• Her tantrums on seeing me on the phone for too long! (but now I see it was for my own good!)
• How she made sure that my brothers didn’t pester me with the loud idiot-box noises during my exams! (Bhais’! Nothing against you! I was childish and immature! Infact another post in the pipeline especially dedicated to you two!)
• Our twaddles in the kitchen, while she cooked & I sat and talked.
• Her supportive attitude.
• Her optimism!
• Her smiley demeanor and light moods.
• Her reassuring smile.
• Our evening walks to loose weight! (mom, please don’t kill me for putting this up here!)
• Her habit of spending all the money at hand buying things for us three, while she came home without even a single addition to her wardrobe or assets. Selflessness at its primary best!
• Her check-ins into my room on seeing my lights on late at night, to take the book from my hand and put it on the side table and cover me with a blanket.
• Her persistent ‘learn to cook!’ nagging.
• Her unconditional love.
• Her oiling my mane and braiding my pigtail till until a few years back.
• Our chole-dal-poori breakfasts.
• Her occasional fits of anger that instantly drove her point home.
• Dressing ‘up’ for family occasions.
• Her de-motivation tactics to keep me away from junk food, and then later showing up with two large take-away bags of McDonalds that exude delectable aromas!

And many other things that are implied for any mom! Just wanna say… mom you are special and beyond compare!

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Ahh…folks, I miss our times together! But hey, as always there is a brighter side to things, my missing you two made me write this post! Would have never said these things on your face! Also, I’m finally getting to face the world on my own… which makes me appreciate the fact even more that you guys have actually done A LOT for me. Now folks, sit back, relax and let your penumbra (read: daughter) prove herself to you!

P.S. My adorable brothers, I reiterate the fact that you two will also see a post dedicated to you soon.

Solitude, by far, is a more ‘positive’ term than loneliness. Having gone through both these spells, I think I can do a pretty accurate analysis of the expressions for the good of others.A sententious overview:

‘Solitude’ refers to the state of being alone and the capacity to still enjoy the (intentional) lack of company.

‘Loneliness’ refers to a sad state which is a byproduct of dearth of friends or company.

Solitude is locking yourself in your room just to get away from the world and spend some quality time with yourself; to contemplate; to think; to realize what needs to be realized; to reconsider; to rejuvenate; to heal oneself. It’s almost always a result of personal whims. When does one feel the need for some solitude? After a break-up; a failure; before making an important decision; after a traumatic experience; a loners world… the reasons are umpteen and the list is endless.

Loneliness, on the contrary, is something that’s forced down our throats. An importunate condition, a gall issue. We never decide to be lonely ourselves… circumstances make that decision for us. Loneliness, in its worst form, leads to drastic changes in a person’s life, attitude and outlook. But in milder forms, it can have temporary repercussions that are usually forgotten overtime. What leads to loneliness? A bad temperament, failure, bile, a calamity, or basically any other thing that repels people away from us. Temporary repercussions? Lower levels of self worth and self-esteem, excessive drinking and smoking. Simple remedies: A good jog, a new hobby, blind idiot box worship, shopping spree, internet surfing, sex, binge eating and a positive attitude. All this and presto! We’re back to normalcy in no time!

P.S. Smell fresh wounds? Dont get any ideas... this is just another addition in my already long list of spontaneous posts!

Hi all! Now this post comes almost a month after my previous post… so I presume you all must be wondering where I have been. So this ‘comeback’ post should be an answer to all your queries…

The past month was hectic… actually on second thoughts, ‘hectic’ would be an understatement (and I read somewhere that second thoughts usually make more sense than the first breeze of thoughts that cross our minds. But that’s a different story altogether and I’ll elaborate on that in my forthcoming posts!). Let me give you a sneak-peak into what I have been up to this past month: a rude reminder that holiday season is not eternal (sigh!), frantic packing, addition of crazy nomadic overtones to my persona, loads of traveling, I-miss-my-folks blues, crazy timings, sudden lifestyle changes, the inclusion of a morning walk into this lazy bum’s schedule and BAM, I open my eyes to a different life. How I miss those lazy mornings and worthless days (read: holidays)!

Now for the title of my post: creativity marred. This is a strange phenomena and I’m going to explain it with a series of questions (that would later suffice as the answer): Has a task ever intrigued you so immensely that you find yourself thinking about it quite often, infact so often that it would successfully give your lover a complex?!!? Have you ever experienced the sheer joy that’s derived every time you do this task? Have you ever felt that you’ve finally found something you love to do and would continue doing in the near future? And then have you are being suddenly pulled out of your normal course of life and forced to attune yourself to the changing times? And lastly, have you ever found yourself feeling like an amateur again when you finally sit down to do the task you were so proficient at doing earlier?

This is precisely what happened with me. I had fallen in love with blogging and was always brimming with ideas that would go on to make my next post… was always raring to pen down my views about everything under the sun and post it for the world to see. Then suddenly holiday season came to a halt and I had to take a detour to my crazy life. The metamorphosis took its toll on my zeal to write and I lost all interest in blogging. So yesterday when I sat down to write, my mind went blank and the incessant tick-tick-tick of my clock was the sole thought that clouded my brain. Kept mulling over what to write and finally after an hour, gave up on the idea. Then today I decided to give it another shot but again couldn’t think of anything concrete, so just decided to share what I have been going through. Now as I write this, I realize that I’ve finally managed to incorporate the changes well (that a life in the fast lane forces down your throat!) and am once again my organized self (an excellent time-manager FYI! Sorry if the immodesty irks!). Normalcy seems to be the perfect antidote to the damage done to my creativity! New ideas are already pouring into my mind, like a gush of water from a broken dam.

Take 1:
It’s a beautiful day,
The sun is on its way,
I feel the wind in my hair!
“Oh what a brilliant time to live life!”

Take 2:
It’s a beautiful day to soak up the sun!
Let’s get out there and have some fun!

These lines were inspired by t.v. commercials (let’s see if you can guess which ones!) and yeah, I know they doesn’t make much poetic sense, but I love them! So the dam is down, which means plenty of posts coming your way people… hold thy breath!