Life seems to be talking.

"Life always waits for some crisis to occur before revealing itself at its most brilliant."

And that is the best part about life! It throws curveballs and boomerangs at you! And you never know where your next step will lead you to, what the next day will bring for you, who the next person in your life will be...

Destiny, karma, tarot, fortune - these cannot decide what will happen. They cannot predict your future, no matter the tall claims they make.

It is all in your hands. The clay is ready to be moulded any way you want.

As I sit by my window, the sun playing peekaboo with the morning clouds, the spring breeze keeping the mood lazy, the sun rays reflecting on the glass paneled building in front of me, I feel good about my life.

My life is in my hands. And so is yours.

Is it me, or is the world losing it?

The world is indeed a strange place to live in...

We Indians believe in God, a lot, mostly out of fear. We believe in dedicating each day to a God. And we believe in celebrating every festival possible. All good till here? Well, mostly. Unless like me, you find this undaunted staunchness in religion weird. Now comes the stranger part.
To honour the Gods and Goddesses, we don't play hymns or bhajans at the make shift pandals in Calcutta. We play the most raunchy Bollywood songs available! From Sheila to Fevicol to Munni.. You just have to name it!

News came in today that there's been a meteorite shower in Russia. All these years whenever the papers carried news of prospective showers, they never were actually visible. And look today what hit the unprepared Russians! Way to go NASA and similar organizations!

Oh and the main traffic signals of Calcutta have songs of Rabindra Nath Tagore being played all day long. Like the honking wasn't enough! But that is the change our Honorable Chief Minister believes in bringing about. Are we obliged or what?!

Oh! The Gods have a new song to listen to... Hookah Bar is being played now!

Fiddling with the pen!

With the crazy schedules I seem to be having, and for sheer and shocking lack of any ideas to write on, I'm sharing a few of my doodles here. Here you go!

Wonder why?

I waited for days,
For you to come up.
But you never cared
Enough to realize.
I heard you,
when you wanted.
But you never cared
Enough to ask.
I was there
When you were at your worst.
But you couldn't care lesser
Even when I was at my best.
I wonder why
I even bothered.
Because the only good you ever did to me,
Was to go away with her.

The change I want to be.

It is that time of the year again! Time to make resolutions!
Another year has begun.

This year I am not keeping any resolutions. Not because I don't complete them (which most often I don't!), but because I promise to make every day a new day, because I promise to live in the present, because I will treat one day at a time, because I will be the change I want to see in others.

On the morning of the first day of the year, on the way to office all I could crib about was the fact that I had to work today also. When I finally emerged out of my self-obsession, I noticed a poor lady sitting in the same bus, with her three children. On the cold wintry morning, they barely had enough clothes to cover themselves. Their feet were bare. They looked fatigued. Yet they were smiling and talking to one another. I looked around me. There were others who would have to work much more than me. Not just today, everyday. The bus drivers, conductors, police personnel, domestic helps, the shopkeepers, their staff. And a lot of other people. I realized I am not the only person who works. There are several others in situations worse than me. I have several choices when it comes to my life. Several of them don't.

I felt, if nothing else, blessed.

And I decided that I will no longer complain. And this isn't a resolution. I don't want to forget this halfway into January 2013.

This is the change I want to be.

Happy New Year!

To sin by silence when we must protest makes cowards of men.

Is the world ending today?

Metaphorically it's nearing the end.

Because a girl doesn't feel safe of venturing out anymore. Because getting on a wrong bus can have as dangerous results as getting raped. Because the world doesn't stop to help you reach a hospital. Because you are treated like a rag doll by not just the ones who raped you but also by others who blame you for the rape. Because the police still hasn't caught the absconding cowards. And to top it all, this happened in the streets of the capital of India. I have no remorse in saying that humanity has ended.

And I say I have no remorse because we get enough of it from our politicians, police, carriers of justice and the countless other people in society who simply express remorse on every incident of assault carried not on any man or woman in this country. We are done with your sympathies.

Oh! And sympathies? Let's not get into it.

Our police and politicians issue warnings to women.

Don't go out at night!
Don't travel alone!
Don't wear clothes which may even be slightly inappropriate!

Somehow it is always construed to be the woman's fault.

Instead of blaming us for it all, do you people mind taking any steps to improve the society we are living in, to implement our laws effectively so that not even one of these social menaces dare harm us.

And I'm not saying only the men of our society have lost all shame and empathy.

Just today, while our teacher was announcing a candlelight march as a mark of silent protest during our tuition hours, I overheard this conversation :

Girl 1 -  What is he talking about?
Girl 2 - A march for the Delhi rape victim.
Girl 1 - Was she a CA student?
Girl 2  - No.
Girl 1 - Then why is he bothering us?

I have no words to express what I felt then.

It is time we did something about it. Yes, we. We, as humans, and not as the public, politicians, police, army men, but we as humans need to revive the humanity we seem to have lost.

It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.

But literally, will the world end or not? More than that should it or shouldn't it?

Just when you lose hope...

It was a normal working day. Nothing special. Except that it was his birthday. His first birthday away from home. His first birthday when he couldn’t share the joy of spending one more year with his loved ones. Calls poured in all day long. Yet he felt all the more away, all the lonelier, and all the more alone. Time to go back home he thought as he started putting his papers back in place.

His cell beeped. His roommate would be back late. His meeting had been delayed which meant birthday celebrations at home stood canceled. Great!

“Hey Abhinav! All packed? Lets go. I’ll drop you home” Gaurav said.

Gaurav was more of a friend than colleague. “Sumedha’s waiting downstairs” he said referring to his wife.

On the way home they stopped at a newly opened restraint.

“Happy birthday!” Sumedha wished him from behind the wheel, while Gaurav handed Abhinav a gift.

“What’s this guys?”

“Just to make you feel all the more special”

“Come we’re having dinner together, the treat’s on us.”

From the next hour Abhinav felt like he was almost home.

Yet when they dropped him off, he couldn’t help feeling lonely again. To ward off going to an empty home, he decided to take a small walk.

He called up his mother.

“Hi mom, what are you doing?”

“Happy birthday! We were just done with dinner.”

“No cake for dinner this year?” he asked, forlorn.

“We’ll definitely have some when we meet! I’ll bake your favorite chocolate cake. Where are you by the way? You haven’t reached home yet? Still working?”

“No mom! I’m done with dinner. Went out with Gaurav & Sumedha. Just out for a walk right now. I’m missing…”

“Abhi, I’ll call you back, wait” and the line disconnected

“I love you mom. I miss you all a lot.” he said, staring at the phone.

With heavy legs and a heavier heart, he walked back to his place. Climbing up the stairs, he saw one of his fellow residents being greeted by his children, the warmth and love of a family pouring out of their place. Waving towards the father, he trudged along the stairs and put his key into the lock. Opening the door, he switched on the lights of his place and was greeted by shrieks of “Happy Birthday!”

Shocked, he banged the door shut! He couldn’t believe his eyes! His eyes welled up with tears as he stood looking at his family. His girlfriend stood nearby holding out the chocolate cake for him.

He had never been happier!

Necessity may not be the mother of inventions!

The world is in serious need of some more inventions! We need something more. Something which will blow your minds off.

- Firstly and most urgently I, sorry we, we all need such a pair of spectacles which glow in the dark. How else do I see where I’ve kept my specs! Oh and once you manage glow in the dark, please go for glow in the light! C'mon I need to find them in the day also!

- Ok then I’ll need an invention which can help me alter the storyline of the daily soaps we see. So then I can make Meredith Grey marry Derek before having to wait for another season. Then I can give Castle more punch lines and bickering and lesser heartbreaks! And yes I’ll make those lead females in Hindi soaps cry lesser!

- And can you scientists or believers of magic, to whoever this applies, can you please make the flying car real? Not because we want to catch up on missed trains, though JKR's idea was brilliant, as always! But because, the roads in Calcutta seem to be narrowing and the volume of cars expanding. And the absence of too many skyscrapers will also be easy on the flying machines.

- Lastly, and on a less serious note (oh ya, I'm dead serious about the above requisitions!) can we, just if it's possible have moving pictures in our newspapers? Yes, this is inspired from JKR. I'm simply putting in a request for her idea! Big fan of the Harry Potter and the Daily Prophet, you see.

Do you want any inventions? Put it up! You never know, someone somewhere might just start working on it! Cuz someone once told me, 'You just have to believe that it's possible.'

Oh, and I'd like to thank two of my special friends, Shradha and Radhika, for missing my blog posts and inspiring me to write more often. I'll try harder girls! Promise! 

Does it bring closure?

Arnab Goswami asked on Times Now, does Kasab's hanging bring closure to the ones affected by 26/11?

Does it really?

I don't think so.

When Osama Bin Laden was killed, it brought closure to the whole of America. Obama was hailed worldwide and his forces saluted. A victory was celebrated.

When news of Ajmal Kasab being hanged gained momentum, there was a flurry of reactions ranging from 'Finally?', 'Are you sure?' to 'Sure it was not a natural death?'. Perhaps we'd gotten so used to seeing our Government spend crores on him, we couldn't imagine him dead.

For the past four years, the families of the victims had to live with the horror of seeing the Indian Goverment protecting Kasab, reading out human rights to him, lawyering him up and treating him more humanely than he ever treated any person on that fateful day.

Hats off to our Government for treating Kasab as an equal finally and sentencing him as per the law. But it hurts to see that the same Indian Goverment curbs on our basic human rights of speech and expression.
(Case in point - recent arrests of cartoonists for drawing the flak of politicians.)
(Further case in point -  arrest of two girls for having criticised the mass upheaval in Mumbai on Bal Thackeray's death.)

How can a country which has been seeing injustice happening for four years achieve sudden closure at a death which should have and could have happened long ago?

No, Arnab. The hanging does not bring closure.

The real closure will come when we as citizens of India can instill faith in the ones who lead us, not rule us.

Think differently post-Diwali!

Between Diwali and Durga Puja, the essence of festivities nearly died for me, what with me slogging in the office for nearly 12 hours a day!  But with Diwali here and gone there are so many small things which we do only once a year, which define Diwali for me, at least. Of course, bursting crackers defines Diwali for many, the Puja matters the most to others, but think differently and you'll realize the small things matter too!

• Making the rangoli! At first taking the lead because you want to make a bright and beautiful one. And then with the evening of the D-Day approaching, requesting all family members to put in a hand so that it just gets over!

 

 

• Painting the diyas! Many of us have stopped doing that, but trust me, that one day always allows you to be creative and splash colours the way you want! It just has to look good always. And it does look good always. Unless you have the penchant to really screw things up!

 

 

• Wax candles! Not all of us make those at home, but if you did, you'd realize that in those moments when you're required to sit absolutely still, holding the wick in the molten wax, you will recall the silliest jokes and even a simple line can seem double-meaning and will make you shake with silent laughter!

• And lastly, spring cleaning in autumn! I love those days when you can spend hours cleaning your room when in reality you're poring over old pictures and reliving your school days when life was less complicated!

What defines your Diwali?!