My Life As I See It

It's been a while since I sat down at 8 in the morning to write. There have been a handful of instances across time when I have done this and it seems to me that that is what makes it so special. It also usually means that I'm supposed to actually do something else but I've just indulged myself and let loose. Today, however was different. I woke up about 20 minutes ago with a fully formed thought in my head that I wanted to write. I didn't know what about and it didn't bother me because somehow once I found my laptop open in front of me, I was sure that I would find my fingers racing across the keyboard and indeed that is what happened.

Well I've settled on what I want to write about. I want to write about writing and the strange fascination I've always had for it. I have always unequivocally loved reading, there has been no doubt in my mind about that. I may be picky about what I read sometimes but I'm quite convinced that I could read anything in world out there (provided I knew the language of course!). Writing however has been more elusive. Like a houseguest who you aren't sure how long they would stay. Or when they would be back again. But the way I feel about it has always remained steady like a gnawing pain that won't go away. I didn't have words to describe this feeling for a long time and then I heard it in the movie The Hours. It describes it perfectly:

"I wanted to be a writer, that's all. I wanted to write about it all. Everything that happens in a moment. The way the flowers looked when you carried them in your arms. This towel, how it smells, how it feels, this thread. All our feelings, yours and mine. The history of it, who we once were. Everything in the world. Everything all mixed up, like it's all mixed up now. And I failed. I failed. No matter what you start with it ends up being so much less. Sheer fucking pride and stupidity."

That's how I've always felt. Like I want to write everything but somehow every time I take pen to paper, it always feels so much less than what it was in my head. The colours in the scenery just lack that lustre and it cripples me then to think that everything I will ever write will be that way and I will never be able to say everything that I want to. But I've slowly realised over time that its ok. It doesn't matter that I couldn't get it out perfectly or that I never will. It only matters that I felt happy about it. When I don't expect to do something great I've managed to write some things that I am exceedingly proud of. I go back to these from time to time and wonder how I wrote them. But there is no secret, its just practice and discipline and habits being formed and most importantly being happy with what you are writing. Its about not assuming that you can or cannot write in a certain style. Its about never limiting yourself. Its about just writing down whatever comes to mind without second guessing yourself. And most importantly it is about getting over the fear of that nagging disappointment that comes when you've finished writing something that then looks nothing like what you imagined it would be. Its about celebrating every word for what it is and coming back to write more and more and more. No matter how agonizing it is. No matter how much your palm sweats from the effort or your head hurts or your eyes just want to close because its the end of a long day and you just don't want to write anymore.

I don't suppose anyone in the world can ever write it all. But when we all write our own little parts, these stories come together and become so much more than just the sum of the parts. Its the richest and most complete story ever spun because each and every thread is unique not matter how much they seem similar. Like pieces of music that are made up of the same notes but each different from the next. Our words are what stay and tell our story long after we have uttered them. So put it all out there in the universe, your voice, your story. There are enough things in this world to inspire. The cup of tea I had this morning with the steam gently rising from the surface made me think about time passing slowly by. The patch of sunlight on the floor right now makes me think about strength and solidity. The dance steps I was attempting to learn last night (unsuccessfully) was proof of how much I love my friends to even think of attempting something like that. Watching the sun set over the sea yesterday evening just gave me an assurance that it would keep happening again and again till time itself stopped. The clear blue sky that I can see outside my window right now is humbling, makes me acknowledge how really small and insignificant we are in this universe. It all matters, it all counts, so never ever hesitate to write it down.

Cheers!

My Life As I See It

It's been a while since I sat down at 8 in the morning to write. There have been a handful of instances across time when I have done this and it seems to me that that is what makes it so special. It also usually means that I'm supposed to actually do something else but I've just indulged myself and let loose. Today, however was different. I woke up about 20 minutes ago with a fully formed thought in my head that I wanted to write. I didn't know what about and it didn't bother me because somehow once I found my laptop open in front of me, I was sure that I would find my fingers racing across the keyboard and indeed that is what happened.

Well I've settled on what I want to write about. I want to write about writing and the strange fascination I've always had for it. I have always unequivocally loved reading, there has been no doubt in my mind about that. I may be picky about what I read sometimes but I'm quite convinced that I could read anything in world out there (provided I knew the language of course!). Writing however has been more elusive. Like a houseguest who you aren't sure how long they would stay. Or when they would be back again. But the way I feel about it has always remained steady like a gnawing pain that won't go away. I didn't have words to describe this feeling for a long time and then I heard it in the movie The Hours. It describes it perfectly:

"I wanted to be a writer, that's all. I wanted to write about it all. Everything that happens in a moment. The way the flowers looked when you carried them in your arms. This towel, how it smells, how it feels, this thread. All our feelings, yours and mine. The history of it, who we once were. Everything in the world. Everything all mixed up, like it's all mixed up now. And I failed. I failed. No matter what you start with it ends up being so much less. Sheer fucking pride and stupidity."

That's how I've always felt. Like I want to write everything but somehow every time I take pen to paper, it always feels so much less than what it was in my head. The colours in the scenery just lack that lustre and it cripples me then to think that everything I will ever write will be that way and I will never be able to say everything that I want to. But I've slowly realised over time that its ok. It doesn't matter that I couldn't get it out perfectly or that I never will. It only matters that I felt happy about it. When I don't expect to do something great I've managed to write some things that I am exceedingly proud of. I go back to these from time to time and wonder how I wrote them. But there is no secret, its just practice and discipline and habits being formed and most importantly being happy with what you are writing. Its about not assuming that you can or cannot write in a certain style. Its about never limiting yourself. Its about just writing down whatever comes to mind without second guessing yourself. And most importantly it is about getting over the fear of that nagging disappointment that comes when you've finished writing something that then looks nothing like what you imagined it would be. Its about celebrating every word for what it is and coming back to write more and more and more. No matter how agonizing it is. No matter how much your palm sweats from the effort or your head hurts or your eyes just want to close because its the end of a long day and you just don't want to write anymore.

I don't suppose anyone in the world can ever write it all. But when we all write our own little parts, these stories come together and become so much more than just the sum of the parts. Its the richest and most complete story ever spun because each and every thread is unique not matter how much they seem similar. Like pieces of music that are made up of the same notes but each different from the next. Our words are what stay and tell our story long after we have uttered them. So put it all out there in the universe, your voice, your story. There are enough things in this world to inspire. The cup of tea I had this morning with the steam gently rising from the surface made me think about time passing slowly by. The patch of sunlight on the floor right now makes me think about strength and solidity. The dance steps I was attempting to learn last night (unsuccessfully) was proof of how much I love my friends to even think of attempting something like that. Watching the sun set over the sea yesterday evening just gave me an assurance that it would keep happening again and again till time itself stopped. The clear blue sky that I can see outside my window right now is humbling, makes me acknowledge how really small and insignificant we are in this universe. It all matters, it all counts, so never ever hesitate to write it down.

Cheers!

On Being Immortal

There is a deep seated need in each one of us to be remembered. We may not acknowledge it, we may even laugh at someone who boldly states it but it is there, in the centre of our hearts.We seek it all the time, desperate to leave a piece of ourselves in the form of a memory in someone else's life; a photograph immortalized by the internet; a song we sang off key; a family video of us just goofing around; a blog we used to write which will be preserved for eternity no matter how long it has lain dusty. This is the reason we suffer anguish, when the computer crashes and leaves us a wreckage of our beloved collection of photographs and videos; when the internet goes off and you realise that the draft you were writing was not saved. We have become hardened by the time we have spent on this earth, developing into a civilization. We no longer trust the human memory, how much can it take anyway? There are too many of us, we reason, not everyone will be remembered. We doubt our own memories too when we suddenly find that we can't remember the dates of important events in our lives or even the most important moments themselves.

So you see we are not really to blame to take advantage of the advancements of our race to try and preserve a piece of ourselves, the best and the brightest ones so that when we are gone, they will live on. We are scared to imagine the lives of our ancestors who we know nothing about. We wonder if we are making the same mistakes they once made, because we have no way to know their stories. Sure we have a history, that can teach us the futility of war and the importance of being human but its never personal enough to make us sit up and take notice. We can think of people from history in third person but we can't imagine ourselves in their place because we can't really feel it. It is important therefore to be remembered for exactly who we were so that our future generations can look back and really know us.

Of course I may just be romanticizing it all and giving it more weight than it deserves. But I have to believe that the whole world has not just taken leave of its senses to spend such time and effort to make themselves immortal. Maybe it is actually the most important thing we are ever going to do and therefore worth the effort and the time we spend.

Or maybe I'm just rambling as usual...

Time After Time

Its nice to take a step back in time sometimes. That is exactly the feeling I got in the one month that I spent in Kolkata. Life has still managed to remain slow here and food miraculously cheap! The very concept of a cycle rickshaw gives you the blissful feeling that you have all the time in the world. While roads may be just as bad in other cities, here they have the effect of making you feel like you are moving in slow motion. Even the very nature of the people will make it hard for you to rush things along. Add to that the long hours of daylight and the present humid weather, well I atleast was thrown back. It is not an altogether unpleasant feeling. Sometimes it is nice to slow things down, but unfortunately it is all just an illusion and time ultimately does fly by and likewise my time in Kolkata also came to an end. It served as a reminder that life always moves along and there is nothing you can do to change that. All we can do is navigate, change the direction in which we want to move and most importantly enjoy every step of the journey. I read a quote that said: "Life may not be fair but its still a gift". I thought it was so true. Through all the trials and tribulations that we go through, it will only matter later if we were happy. And that is our choice, to be happy with our lives, with ourselves, to look for the good and bright and positive and disregard all else. If we can channelize all this energy within us and focus on setting a direction for our lives, there is nothing in the world we cannot achieve. Its seems really strange to me that this is what I took away from this trip but I did. I came away with a lot of conviction; faith in myself and a resolve to make things happen in my life. I brought back some amazing and unforgettable memories from this trip which I will always cherish. And it was symbolic that as my flight was taking off from Kolkata, the heavens opened up to let loose a flood of rain. I was greeted by the same pouring rain on landing in Mumbai with the only difference being the cool breezes that followed the rain instead of the humidity of Kolkata. For a moment I was nostalgic, wishing myself back. But alas you can only move forward, not backwards, and so I prepare myself to turn the page and start a new chapter in my life. It is a little scary but that is only natural. Life is always a test of our character and our strength but we are the only ones who get to decide whether we lived up to our expectations or not. In the end, we have only ourselves to face...

And with that I end this very random rambling.. Until next time, Cheers!

Suddenly

Well as suddenly as it began, the summer seems to be over. I say seems because the rain doesn't seem to have dispelled any of the heat. As I sit here with a beer mug full of mango milkshake (sheer heaven!), I want to take a moment to look back. A lot has happened this summer starting with me taking the GMAT. I figured that taking the test would be the hardest part but apparently that isn't entirely accurate. Ever since I got my test results, all I've done is think about my application essays. They somehow make you think long and hard about your life. After struggling with where to begin for more than a month, I decided to start at the unlikeliest place, my email inbox. It needed some cleaning and organizing anyway and somehow reading old emails helped me see a lot of things about myself very clearly. It was also a beautiful walk down memory lane, and made me feel grateful for everything I have had in my life: friends who have stood by me through thick and thin, the places that I have been to and the experiences that I have had. In the mad rush of the world today, where everyone always seems one step ahead of you and there is always something left to catch up on, its nice to feel grounded and know that you wouldn't trade your life for anyone else's. I am a product of everything I have been through and for better or for worse that is who I am and I'm proud of it. There is nothing I would change because what I am today will help me get to where I want to be (this destination is unknown at the moment). I truly believe that everything always falls into place at the right time and all you have to do is keep working towards that goal of yours.

Cheers!

Some Nights

At this moment, this is what my life is about: a delightful diary, a concise planner, an interesting book, a pair of much cherished earphones and a very childish pencil pouch. And together they are contribute to making me very happy :)

On Writing

The world today is full of way too many options! I just wish sometimes that there were fewer. Don't believe me? Just think for a second about how many apps you have in your phone and the how many of them do pretty much the same or similar things. Or even better, how many different sites are open in your web browser right now? Chances are that the number is atleast 3 or 4. I know I have 4 different sites running right now - I'm checking my email, downloading the Evernote desktop application, reading an online magazine and streaming an episode of The Big Bang Theory. What is wrong with that? Nothing really but something I saw today just reminded me of how much we miss out by just rushing along from one option to the other. It was a beautiful but so simple 'recipe box'. Just a little wooden box with a colourful hinged lid which opened to reveal a stack of pretty cards meant for jotting down recipes and storing them safely for future reference. While my stationery loving heart fell in love with it, the very second thought to follow was that I can probably find an app to do the same thing for free. This led to some introspection. Most of the time I am not a big fan of technology, in fact it's a running joke among my friends, but over time I have learnt to acknowledge that they can be pretty useful and have even become quite adept at using them. I even bought a smartphone and have been very very happy with it but I realised that I haven't even once posted a blog from my phone! This in spite of having the blogger app installed in my phone. My previous phone was a blackberry and I have posted from it numerous times straight from my email which believe me was painful but then that was when the blackberry was good for little else so all was well in the world. But ever since I have got my Samsung Galaxy Grand with all it's endless possibilities, I have not done the one thing I love the most: WRITE. I have chatted, emailed, browsed, read, made lists even, jotted the ocassional notes, checked a million other apps for their latest but I have not written. The reason this hits me so hard is because there was a time when I would write endlessly when good old paper was the only means available. Now with blogger and wordpress and evernote and one note and google drive and sky drive and what not I just don't get around to writing that much anymore. There are too many things distracting me, all very deceptively packed under the guise of things that will make our lives better. But actually they're 'just noise' as someone so rightly put it recently. The whole internet is full of it. Think for a moment and you'll know it's true. It's up to us to filter out the things that do nothing to help us and let in only those which actually make our lives better. On that note, I thought I'd make myself an early new years' resolution and vow to get more writing done in 2014. Hope you decide that too! Cheers :)

Nonsense

Sometimes for no reason whatsoever, the urge to write something comes over you. You may not even have anything to write about but you decide to start writing something anyway. With me invariably, these attacks happen on days when I am quite exhausted and ready to drop but despite that somehow I find my fingers racing over the keyboard just to satisfy that urge. Well, for those of you who have been patient enough so far, here's hoping you like what my tired mind has concocted today!

The little boy was hardly three years old but to see him stride across the sandy beach you would think he owned the place. Armed with a bucket and a spade, he purposefully marched towards the sea and it almost seemed like it would part for him. Fortunately at this point, the parents of the young adventurer managed to catch up with him and he was firmly lifted off his feet and carried off a safe distance. The kid would not go without a fight so it was quite an amusing sight to behold. But children being as they are, the trip into the sea was soon forgotten and the next thing begun: building a sandcastle. This went on for a while and before you knew it, he was bored again; and wanted to head towards the sea again. This time his wish was granted and perched on his daddy's shoulders, he witnessed the swirling seas and pounding waves with delight written all over his face. Of course the next thing he wanted was to play around in the water himself and had to be restrained with great difficulty...

This could go on for a while and I don't think would get any more interesting so I will bid goodnight now.

Cheers!

Being Lost

Just yesterday a bunch of us were discussing how we view things differently at different points in our lives, in this case we were specifically talking about movies we have watched and loved at one point of time only to be disappointed by them in later years. Everyone agreed that there would always be those evergreen classics but for the most part the things we relate to at a certain time would most likely change with time. I decided to check the theory for myself today. There was a time in my life that I was addicted to the TV series aptly titled ‘Lost’. If you haven’t had a chance to see a bit of it, trust me you need to try it. I was so enthralled by this show that I have actually once watched 15 hours worth of episodes non-stop (yup, I can be crazy like that). After that even though the passion remained I wasn’t very religious about following the subsequent seasons as they came along. I kept up with the developments of the plot by reading about it on Wikepedia but that just wasn’t the same. At one point of time in college I had a brief reunion with the show and couldn’t believe I had stayed away for so long but once again fate did not permit us to stay with each other. Cutting to the present, a while back I managed to acquire all six seasons worth of episodes and I said to myself that I would shortly relive the joy of a Lost marathon but what do you know months have passed by with me hardly glancing at the folder or maybe having a look but choosing to go for something lighter instead (it’s a very intense show and you have to watch it in sequence else you’re lost quite literally). So today I dusted off the cobwebs and decided to give it a shot and see what my present self thought of Lost. After blankly staring at the screen for a few minutes I decided to randomly pick out an episode from the last season hoping I wouldn’t regret it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that from the first minute I was hooked on as if it was just yesterday! But I did discover that I was no longer eagerly sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for every next scene. Moreover I did not have the urge to keep watching one episode after the other. I did end up watching three random episodes but the curiosity was much diminished (I could blame it on Wikepedia but I have long forgotten what I had read on it so it wouldn’t be fair). I still wanted to watch the show and discover new things about the characters but it wasn’t an obsession anymore. I fact I think I’d be quite content to watch an episode every other day and be quite satisfied. So in conclusion, yes the time and place in our lives do effect our perception to things and how we react to them but I also believe that sometimes the new perceptions we build can be pretty great too. Until next time, cheers!

Of Books and Newspapers

In my family, we have a practical habit which has now become a tradition, which is that of covering all our books with old newspaper. Well the newspapers to begin with are all quite new and glossy but time soon does its magic and they take on that yellowish tinge that we are so familiar with. A glance at the bookshelves is always a pleasing array of bits of colours and text which is just so homey. My favourite part is the ability to glance at the books with their titles hidden behind their covers but still know exactly which book it is just by looking at it! Infact every time I pick up a book to read, I also inevitably glance through the newspaper cover to read the articles on them. We invariably use the Sunday Times Life edition as covers so there is always something quite interesting to read and a glance at the date also brings back back some nostalgia. However, as nothing lasts forever, eventually after some years have passed, we are forced to take off the faded and ragged covers and replace with new ones and then the cycle begins again. It is quite a herculean task this, replacing every book cover and I'm quite glad that I have given up numbering and labeling them as I did when I was a child. So as the dreaded task approaches me, I decided to take a moment to celebrate it, and reflect on the eternal temporariness of life, how everything always does come to an end (a sentiment expressed in the Sunday Times Life today :P). Until next time, Cheers!

 

Sleep!

I just discovered that it is just as hard to try to fall asleep when you are wide awake as it is to try to wake up when you are fast asleep! I never in my life imagined that this would be the case, being as fond of sleeping as I am. But its true nevertheless, I woke up at 3 am today and spent an hour trying to go back to sleep and I could not. So having thus woken, I have spent a delightful hour reading about 'How To Measure My Life' and other such interesting articles. Not a bad start to the day after all!

New Things

I have searched all day for inspiration for this post but have only drawn blanks everywhere I have looked. So I thought I'd write about some of the new things I have read this week.

I discovered this site which gives a pretty good overview of our tax laws as well as a site that lets you download the entire union budget (needless to say I have not completely finished going through either :P)
http://finance.indiamart.com/taxation/

A friend of mine introduced me to the world of 'vlogs' or video logs. Apparently there are people around the world who make their living out of it! Not surprising actually, its just the next stage of evolution after writing about stuff. There is one that I really liked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKOkB4Sigk

There are sites that generate word clouds! Its damn cool.

http://www.dontwasteyourtime.co.uk/elearning/alternative-word-cloud-generator-tagul/

That's all for today. Cheers!

Reality Bites...

I have often begun writing stories only to realise about halfway through that I am unconsciously basing my story on people I know or situations I have been in instead of inventing something completely new. There is some creative liberty that I take but essentially the story remains true to reality. It just helps prove that art does imitate life and maybe there is nothing wrong in that, but I just can't help feeling that it's wrong. I have deleted countless such stories only because I have felt all too strongly how I would feel being in another person's position and seeing my life out there for all to see, but maybe that's just me. Moreover, I think it really matters to me what people think and while we are always preached that 'it should never matter what someone else thinks', I think there is nothing wrong with that. Man is a social animal and needs to survive by getting along with people; sure, there might be a few outliers who genuinely do not care about what people think of them or their actions but even they value the opinion of those few people who matter to them. For the rest of us, things might not be so easy, we may even heed the opinion of a new acquaintance. While I wouldn't recommend that, I really think there is nothing wrong with going along with the crowd, or wanting approval from those around us, its all a part of life. But I digress, my point here was about being unable to write about things that are too close to reality. But ironically, some of best pieces of writing have been I have broken that mold and written true (but well disguised) stories. I guess this is why I am such a big fan of metaphors. I am so much more comfortable relating feelings to abstract things or everyday incidents instead of putting it down as an actual story. I am also good at it, so I don't think I'm going to change anything. My 'stories' shall continue to be metaphorical with the occasional one of reality thrown in, it should keep things interesting and prevent me from becoming predictable, for I do think that I tend to get predictable sometimes. Here's to keeping those surprises coming. Cheers!

24.02.2013

As this blog turns four years old,  the author is in a contemplative mood. So I do what I do best, stretch out on the couch, put on some soothing music, stare into the lamplight and contemplate. My thoughts are in a mood to wander today, and I am in no mood to organize them. Sometimes its good to let yourself wander. My mind goes back to random memories, both happy and sad: a sunny winter day spent in the park, a long walk at the end of a summer day, an amazing impromptu lunch and a roadside joint, a movie and dinner and all the laughs that come with it. I once read in someone's autobiography that when you look back on memories, if they are happy ones, you can actually re-live the joy of the moment by just thinking of it but if they are sad ones, you don't really feel it as acutely as it had been. I think this is so true and so wonderful, its like life telling us to go out there and do whatever pleases us best, for tomorrow all the bad stuff will feel just a little less bad. I have always tried to live my life that way with as little regrets as possible and I'm proud to say that I have managed quite well so far. When faced with life's toughest situations, just ask yourself if you could do it all over again, would you want to change anything? In most cases, no matter how bad, my guess is that your answer will be a 'no'. Likewise, when trying to make a difficult decision, always toss a coin: if you're disappointed with the result, then you've already made your decision. Take notice of all the little things around you and you will find yourself smiling even if you were in a foul mood seconds ago; and the best part is that the smile is something that shall make you smile when you remember it, where as the foul mood will just be a memory. So chalk up as many smiles as you possibly can for this is the most important scoreboard that you can have. Focus on all the positive stuff and accept the negative stuff too for what is life without them, just make sure when you look at your scoreboard, you have more smiles than frowns or tears. For there is nothing in this world that is greater than happiness and the pursuit of it.

Here's wishing it to be fruitful year ahead.

Cheers!

The Dreams We Dream...

Dreams are the most magical and beautiful things for the simple reason that they may never come true. We may spin as amazing stories as we want in our heads whilst never having a clue of what the future holds. We can create our own little world in our mind's eye, a place only for us, to visit when times are rough or simply when wanting some peace. It is so much fun to plan this place, 'the happy place' I call it, cram in every bit of joy that you can gather so that the place is overflowing with goodness. Banish all misery, pain and wrongdoing from here; keep at bay the darkness, fear and doubts that plague us in the real world and just be free to do anything you imagine. Imagine being an astronaut and shooting into space to explore infinity and beyond; or maybe you would prefer to be a mighty ruler of an empire; or a secret service agent a la James Bond; or just a world traveler flitting from place to place across the globe; or an author of best selling books; or a snake charmer; or a marine biologists discovering more and more of nature everyday; or a teacher addressing a roomful of earnest young beings; or an administrator par excellence; or an accountant, engineer, ballerina and the list simply goes on and on and on. Fate is such a cruel thing that one the one hand it offers us a world full of so many amazing things to do but such little time to do more than a few. So, I say again, even if it will never be a reality, it is wonderful to keep dreaming. Dream on..

Cheers!

I just discovered 2 things about myself today:

1. I really need to write tasks down on paper to be able to complete them
2. I really need to write something everyday

Coincidence? Or maybe my life is all about writing To Do Lists :P

Cheers! 

Through the camera lens…

When I look at the world around me today, I see a lot of amazing things happening. And yet there is something in me that yearns for times that are behind me. The simplest example I think of is cameras. There was a time when it was a cumbersome and extremely precious object, prized and jealously guarded by its owner. Film roll was so valuable that each shot was considered from every angle before actually capturing so as to have a masterpiece. The disappointment when the roll finished and then the breathless wait for it to be developed after which you vowed to carefully preserve them in albums but unfortunately time would cause it to get tarnished to show its age until they became almost unrecognizable. Now with the leaps and bounds of technology, one can see digital cameras small enough to fit in your pockets and what’s more, you don’t even need cameras if you happen to have the latest smartphone with built in cameras, flashlights and countless other features that are enough to make your head spin. There is no need to think twice before clicking a picture when you can always delete it if you think it isn’t good enough. There is no thrill in getting that perfect shot when you know you can try it endlessly till you get it right and there is no mystery left as you can view the picture immediately. We are careless with what we choose to capture and so it doesn’t really inspire us to print them and want to preserve them. We tell ourselves that this is good, in this way we don’t need to pick and choose and can have all the million photographs saved in the computer memory or web albums, look over them all anytime and save the paper that we would have used, to print them. But really think about it, when was the last time you went back and browsed old photo albums stored on your hard disk? Wheras we all still definitely peruse the old hardbound albums from time to time and think back fondly to the moments in each carefully shot photograph (and sometimes even the hilariously gone wrong ones as there was no delete button back then!). Not to say that there isn’t anything good about this new age digital revolution, I just miss the charm of the good old days and just wish we could sometimes go back a few decades and lose ourselves in the simple pleasures of life.

Parodies...

Have you ever looked up into falling rain? Or noticed how raindrops bounce off surfaces before they finally come to a rest? Or how perfect it looks when you see rain caught in the beam of a car's headlights? So perfectly aligned every drop that even as we curse all the havoc the rains cause, we can't help but admire the beauty of it. For it really does test your patience when they is a lovely cool breeze playing around outside but you dare not open the window of the bus lest you get drenched from the rain. Instead, what do we do? We sit in a steaming bus stuck in never ending traffic jams on just another rainy day in this crazy city we call home. But I digress, I was talking about the sheer beauty of nature at its best. Nature taking care of its own, replenishing parched soils generously, never sparing a thought to what it might be doing to all creatures great and small. But to be fair, its not that rains are only about bad things. There is so much joy in splashing around in puddles and getting thoroughly drenched even though there is an umbrella in your bag. And who hasn't stuck out an arm through a window just to catch raindrops in their palm? Its all these enticing little things that keep you coming back for more, even when you know that at the end of the day, a drizzle will turn into a downpour and then a thunderstorm and alas flood you with all its might; but for now its just fun to play in the rain. Cheers!

Great Explorations...

When you search online for the greatest achievements in human history, you find under the category of greatest explorations, the following:

• Columbus's discovery of the New World (America)

• Lewis and Clark Expedition (They traversed the uninhabited territories of the USA from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast in the early 1800s)

• Marco Polo's journey to China

• Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe

• Amundsen's journey to the South Pole

Before these pioneers explored beyond the boundaries of conventional thought there were vast parts of the earth that was absolutely unknown to man. Seems inconceivable today doesn't it? The Atlas as we know it today has been there forever or so it would seem. Every child in school has been made to learn the names of countries, their capital cities, the principal mountains, the chief rivers and lakes, the distribution of forests and deserts and even the crops that grow in the different parts of the country depending on the climate! As children, we have all cursed the very existence of the book of maps and on more than one occasion even changed the face of maps when memory evaded us, but if we could travel back to a time when the maps were being created, we might see the beauty in it, the sheer joy of watching the shapes come alive for the first time. Of course it was not without its own problems with society being so firmly entrenched in their own notions about the world and further back in history, in the age of kingdoms when maps were regularly redrawn to reflect the might and power of the kings in question. These explorers in fact had their work cut out to convince the people in power that their journeys would reveal anything at all! So now when we may even a casual glance at the map of the world, it is with the secure knowledge that there is little else to discover. Every piece of land and water body is neatly demarcated by multicoloured lines; which goes to show just how far we've come. Of course we're far from being sure of what all goes on beneath the surface but even that, with today's technology is not that hard to project. What we're forgetting however is that no matter how advanced things are now and how easily and carelessly we can access information, we are still poorer than our ancestors in knowledge. This day and age is wasted on us. Once upon a time, people with much less information on their hands, were more hungry for more knowledge and they made sure they got it, the scarcity of it making it all the more precious so that every last drop had to squeezed out of it. People ‘read' languages different from their own instead of merely learning and forgetting them; people read books to know about places, things, people and cultures that they had never seen; society was a closely knit community where people looked to each other in times of joy and in times of need; there was time for work and there was time for play and last but not the least, there was an appreciation for all of these things that is missing in today's life. The word culture was originally coined to mean the cultivation of the soul and mind. How many of us can honestly claim to doing that? Or even attempting to? It isn't easy mind you, even if you did decide to wake up one morning and start enriching yourself. We are limited by our own passion for speed and anything that doesn't quite match our pace gets left behind. The internet, that wonderful platform that literally brings the world at our fingertips is rarely used to discover something new unless circumstances demand it. We have become a servant to the technology, blindly following glitter instead of gold, instead of technology serving us. We have the means to read about anything we wish to; visit almost any places that we may wish to and find entertainment in any number of ways but how often do we actually do take that crucial step towards the unknown. It gets easier every day to arrange for anything to be delivered straight to your doorstep but it gets harder and harder to break out of the comfort zone. Its like having an entire ocean at your disposal and being content to live in the bottom of a pond of stagnant water. For that is exactly what our lives have become: stagnant. Of course one may argue that we after all are not completely at liberty to always do as we please and that we have responsibilities to fulfill but unless you put some passion into it, nothing you ever do will feel like worth it. It is heartening to hear about people who have broken the mould of ordinary and ventured into the unknown; we follow their lives with breathlessness and wish we could be the same and yet at the end of the day, we scoff at their foolishness and lack of wisdom. I'd say that people had it much better when they knew little and thus wanted to know more. They would journey across the world by the only means available to them which took them months to reach their destination (such cruel waste of time I hear you say!) but they used their time to enrich themselves like we never have. Think back to the years spent in school, how often have you sat in class and strained to hear the bell ring that would signal the end of the lesson? Did we ever even then think about learning something new, get excited about knowing something more than you did yesterday? We didn't and reason for that is just that the world and our society has made us that way, looking out into the world and seeing only the present (and an exaggerated version of the future!) and nothing else. So, sometimes, we should take the time to cast our eyes back to the time when explorers set out to discover the world (in every sense of the word) and then drew the maps which in a sense was almost like creating the world all over again; and then when we come back to the present, find some way to bring into our own lives, a passion for discovering something new and extraordinary.

PS # I am going to be practicing what I preach. When caught in the middle of a conversation about the Philippines and having only a very vague idea of where it was, I actually used the erstwhile internet to pinpoint the exact location and a very helpful website also enlightened me about the capital city, the principal mountains, the chief rivers and lakes, the distribution of forests and deserts and even the crops that grow in the different parts of the country depending on the climate (Not that I remember even one tenth of this, but it was good to know that I could know anytime I want). Cheers!

All Mixed Up...

Today morning was the most brilliant example of ironies. After an entire week of dark cloud cover over the city, suddenly there was dazzling sunshine everywhere. Pale blue skies, patches of white clouds with no hint of rain and miracle of miracles, pleasant breezes and no humidity! That in itself is an aberration in Mumbai. I'm told it didn't last all that long and eventually it did rain but the early morning impression stays with me, fresh and clean, like what I imagine spring would be, if we had one. The trees and grass, glistening with last night's rain and their colour shining because the showers have washed away all the dust from their surfaces; the swings in the children's playground looking like toys with their bright colours and of course the bright yellow sunshine everywhere. It was too lovely a morning to leave curtains shut and as I went around the house drawing them back and throwing open windows, I could hear the music and the singing in my heart. It was a beautiful feeling and all the useless worries just drained out of my head leaving me feeling peaceful and content. In a minute I would have begun to sing out loud and then the rest would have been history but having recognized the signs, I made an effort to come back to reality and hurried over the mundane tasks of everyday as I was by now running late. On the long journey to work, I finally gave in to impulse and began humming along with the music on my phone. Another thing that pleases me today is that I have finished reading the novel 'Gone With The Wind' for the seventh time. It has become a tradition really to read this book every summer since I was in the class 9 and I am yet to get tired of it. Every time I read it again, I see something with new eyes, which I hadn't seen before and thus the exciting mystery goes on. The vivid descriptions of the scenery, the way of life, the war and the characters that come alive over the course of the book all contribute to the pleasure of reading it yet again. Moreover, wound into the beautiful and intricate embroidery of the story are the home grown common sense observations that hold true even after a hundred and fifty years since those days. Society will always be averse to something that is different from the normalcy that they have defined for themselves; wars will continue to be fought because orators fill people's heads with foolish notions; there will always be people on the lookout for a quick buck by twisting circumstances in their favour; money at the end of the day will not buy you happiness and human beings will continue to be baffled to see changes around them that they never thought possible except for a handful who learn to see which way the wind is blowing. An interesting thing to note here is the place of women in society in those days, they were held in high esteem no doubt but it was inconceivable that they should think for themselves. Apparently sheltered from the harsh realities of life, these women were far more intelligent than they let on to their men folks but their greatest wisdom lay in the fact that they allowed their men to continue believing them the helpless creatures who needed protection from the world. It was this wisdom that ensured that the society was peaceful and life went on smoothly, never changing even in the face of utter destruction of their world. It just make me curious to think what it would be like if it had remained that way. The world today has seen women striving towards the same things that traditionally been strictly the domain of men and nobody would dare suggest that anything was beyond their reach but if we step back and think about it, things are not as pleasant as they seem, there has been a large price to pay for realizing our potential. Women now are faced with the prospect of managing the home (a full time job in itself!) and proving themselves at the workplace; which they do admirably but I can't help wondering if its worth. At the end of the day, wouldn't it be easier to just let men think we're fools and do all the work for us? :P

On that very twisted note, I think I'll end this post which has traveled light years from where it began and await the wrath of womankind. Cheers!