Shine in silence!

Things might not always seem bright,
You might feel the end of the tunnel has no light,
But do not lose your faith upon Her,
She considers you strong, Mon cher.

Life will always give you highs and lows,
Our attitude decides who's going to stay and who bows,
We have a long way to go,
And to the world we'll show,

No matter how much the world puts us out,
We will always get up and go about.

Cherish life!

All her life, she waited for the one,
Not glancing even once, at the ones who paused for her,
Around her, there was so much of joy and cheer,
Yet, she didn't care enough for the ones near.

Soon the crowds passed by her,
Soon she was left standing alone,
With none to ask her how she was,
She began wondering who she was.

While she waited for her one big moment,
She never noticed those small, little ones,
That fill up the pages of life,
And make you want to revisit the memory lanes.

Wise enough to realize her folly,
She began the task of trudging uphill,
Warning every person who was going down,
To cherish what you get, rather than crying for what you want.

Most of us pray for a list of things we want, but how many of us thank Him for what we have? Consider yourself lucky that you're still able to smile because there are many who've even lost that.

Life isn't about the one big moment. It's about the small, little moments which turn into your life story!

If only I could fly away!

I sat by the window,

Looking out at the sky,

The forlorn bird flying across

The expanse of blue

Touching the chords of my heart.

The small, brown wonder circled around,

And perched atop the neighboring window.

As it shushed and looked around,

It seemed to mirror my state of mind.

How I longed to fly away,

To soar higher than ever

But day upon day,

The burden increased,

Bogging me down forever.

Another sparrow came and sat near,

The two chirping away,

I glanced at my empty beside,

While the pair made its' way.

Alas! For me there was no escape,

The chains never seemed to unbind,

And so I sat there looking at the blue expanse,

Forlorn, more than ever.

Trying to locate the silver lining,

More hopeful than ever.

P.S.:  You may not know it, but you make a big difference in my life, my thoughts, my being. Thank you so much! This is dedicated solely to you! Thank you, Aayush!

Contrasting Worlds! (For better or for worse?)

Last morning in a deliberate (and desperate!) attempt to set ourselves free from the shackles of our hectic schedules, a few of us went out on an early Sunday morning drive to the not-so-well-frequented places of Calcutta.

Sincere advice --- Next time you're freewheeling around like me, just observe what's around you.

One of our stops was a road-side eatery in the city. (For Calcuttans, we were near the Calcutta Stock Exchange!). While we sat, waiting to greet steaming cups of tea and hot buttered toasts, under a gray clad morning sky, I looked around me. The waiters were rushing around with plates to be served, waiting on the incoming cars, greeting regular customers with smiles and 'How do you do?'s, the man at the stove cheerfully doling out order after order, other early risers sitting around in clumps sharing a laugh or two (rather loud ones at that!). It was a quiet, serene and fresh way to start a Sunday! The delicateness and intricacies of the surroundings made you forget all the worries and just wanted to make you sit there all day long, staring at happy faces. 

And then i happened to glance behind me. Just a meter away from where we were sitting, stood clusters of police patrol vans. Reason being that the local police headquarters and the State Government;s office was nearby. There were proper police sand bunkers laid out, with somber- faced, rifle-clad policemen in them. Noticing my gaze, my Dad simply pointed out, "They always have to be on the alert, lest an attack take place."

Enough to shatter my illusion of the peace and quiet.

Contrasting worlds, ain't it?!

P.S: To all the men on duty, I salute you for the dedication and devotion you display. At all times. We, civilians, tend to get away from work with small excuses like sickness, birthdays, anniversaries. But for you, life seems work and work seems life. Sans complaints! Immense respect for you!

To dream of love...

I got into my car. After a long day of work, all I wanted to do was sleep! I asked the driver to take me home.

I checked my cell for any messages or calls. Three calls from Mother! I called her and told her I'll be home in another 30 minutes. No messages from Nikhil. Wishful thinking.

I laid my head on the seat, stashed away the phone in my bag.

He held my hand in his. I looked to my right. Nikhil was sitting, reading something on his cell. I squeezed his hand lightly. Tearing his eyes from his cell, he looked at me and smiled. His eyes locked with mine.

Just the sight of him made my heart skip a beat! He didn't even know that my heart does that for him.

He set his cell aside.  I snuggled closer to him, resting my head on his shoulders. Being near him, somehow felt so reassuring. I just wanted to stay like that forever. The silence didn't hurt. The ache in my back did!

"Long day?" he asked.

"Hmmm. Very long. Very tiring!"

"Tell me about it."

"You don't wanna know."

"Of course I do."

"Then how come you never call. Or ask. Or spend some time alone. You know I'd like it."

"You never said so."

"Well, I just did! I like you, and I treat you special. I want to feel the same."

There was no reply.

I turned to look at him. Umm, there was no him!

I looked at my palm cupping the air, waiting for someone to slide a hand in.

Crap! I'd drifted off to sleep!

People say dreams come true! I wanted to make sure this one did.

I retrieved my cell from my handbag.

I dialed Nikhil.

"Hey!" said the voice at the other end.

"Hi!"

"Long day?" he asked.

My heart skipped a beat!

Exam? What the hell!

Hi!

I have an exam to write tomorrow!

And here I am writing to you guys!

And that's because I've done everything else I could to distract myself from pages and pages of the boring-ly theoretical audit paper I have tomorrow. My under-grad audit paper.

Sitting at home, with the Celsius chart soaring, I could feel the bout of laziness coming over me in the morning itself! After much deliberations with my boss, I'd managed to get an off today. And there I was studying for half an hour at a go and taking a one hour break thereafter!

I watched half of Gossip Girl, then returned to 'Is the auditor a watchdog or bloodhound?'. Later, I tuned into a sci-fi comedy Fantastic Four followed by how audit is different from investigation. So bored was I that I went on Facebook after really long and liked statuses and pics randomly, installed, tried, then uninstalled apps on my phone and even checked out my Pinterest profile! All the while studying in between, mind you!

I still have around 30 pages to read. I've just tried on a new shade of nail paint. Read two pages. Started writing this post on insistence of my friend Ritika, who by the way, is in a worse state than me! She has 50 pages left to read!

Now that I've updated you guys, I guess I'll have to start studying again.

But before that, sorry Boss but I really, really am studying! Just with a little too many breaks in between!

Cool or un- cool?!

Of late I've noticed a lot of things going around me - some appreciable; others rather disappointing!

The other day, I was travelling to an early morning tuition by bus, and to my surprise I saw the bus was being manned by a lady conductor! That was so damn cool, considering the fact that you see very few female passengers at that time of the day, and here was a lady managing a bus by herself. In view of the depressing state of affairs of west Bengal, when it comes to women, this was indeed a welcome sight.

Often in offices, you notice that a lot of the employees and in some cases (though not so rare), even employers are re-christened with names, names which may not be supposed to mean well. To a certain extent, the re-christening part is bearable, but at times when it gets too rough and rude, it becomes really, really, un-cool! It then looks like a clear cut expression of not wanting to work under or with someone, either out of ego or due to lack of compatibility and failure to adjust.

Singing for your girlfriend, and letting out a low whistle on seeing her --- romantically cheesy yet understandably cool.

Hooting at a girl on the road and passing comments or singing to her, either directly or indirectly --- so not cool!

An initiative named M.A.R.D - Men Against Rape and Discrimination by Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar, is so cool and hopefully will go on to be successful.

Keeping the name of your movie - Mard ko dard nai hota, is ... Do i really need to say it out loud?!

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!