Tribute

This is to all those special people whom I have had the chance to getting acquainted only for a few days....but have carried with me a lifetime of memories.....

God bless you all....
May you spread happiness wherever you go.

Raving Lunatic…..

Self doubt is such a self indulgent and self destructing thing. Be done with it. No more of it. Thank God.

You know there are loads and loads of people I love. Many of whom, I have had acquaintance for less than a day. There is something in them that strikes a chord in us and resonates throughout our life. Positively.

A million thanks to the Almighty for this blessing.

Religion. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Parsees, Jains, Buddhists,Pagans. A million such classifications. And yet what each of them want is a higher power to guide them. So long as it remains in the realm of our private lives, it is a potent strength. The moment we try bringing it out, it is a weapon of mass destruction. It is for this reason Gibran said…. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them .

Selfishness – we say it is the most shameful thing. But what exactly is selfishness? While you want to care for others, so that you can feel good about yourself, I want to feel good about myself so that I am in a position to care for others. How far across the spectrum is our thought? If our spectrum is a line, we are miles apart. But I believe the spectrum just like our life to be one full circle. Hence if we turn back we can actually shake our hands together. So indeed there is no difference in our philosophies.

Love – unconditional love brings bliss. Anything else is a mixed bag. All of us understand it, but take time to imbibe it in our bloodstream. This world has made merchants out of us. We give something to take something. And when we don’t get what we expect, we feel bad. Now who is selfish? The one who expects love out of others because he loves?

Happiness – It is so much in our own hands, and yet we search the world for it. What makes us happy? What indeed is happiness? Is it absence of ‘X’ or is it presence of ‘Y’? Do we need to define it at all? Or do we need to pursue it? Or is all that is required is to BE?

God made men. Men made slaves. Not just out of others but out of our own selves too. Break the bondage. Be free. Be happy. We have learnt from our childhood – there is God in each of us. If so, is it not a cause for celebration? Let’s revel in our divinity.

Siri Siri

Laughter is the best medicine? Well I truly believe in it to the point of lunacy.

Let me take a moment to bless all the souls in the world who laugh without any inhibition, who just cant stop laughing, who provide warmth to all of us....Amen....

Penitence

Divya was there lying in the bed. Eyes closed, brows crooked and with deliberate breathing, she was willing herself. To live.
Not that she feared death. Just that she didn’t feel complete. She wryly smiled as she remembered Bhishma who had the boon of choosing his time of death.
Divya was 42 and diagnosed with hell a lot of complications that we won’t go into their names. Suffice to say that the doctors had given up all hope and advised that it would be best that she spend her last days in home. She lived alone in her father’s house. She was being taken care of by a nurse. Last two weeks she had some of her relatives frequenting her place – some offering solace and some who felt that they have to atleast once show their head there.
Till she became indisposed, which was about two months back, she was working in a software company. 20 years back Divya got a job here. And she held on to it with all the sincerity and faithfulness. She respected the company for what it made of her. And the company recognized her too. More than anything, it helped her occupy her mind with something.
For her mind was in turmoil ever since……
Ravi came like a whiff of fresh air into her life. Divya was there sitting along with her father. It was the day of joining at the college. She had chosen Civil Engineering. Not out of any love for the subject. More out of circumstances. She was cursing herself and her fate that landed her in this god forsaken college which looked more like a breeding ground for thugs and rustics than the cradle of knowledge which it boasted itself to be. She saw him there at a distance, happily chirping away with a group of guys. He had a file in his hand. Probably he too was a new joinee. She wondered how he could interact so openly with strangers. She smiled to herself. Good for him, don’t dream of things you cant do.
*-*-*
There was a knock at the door. Divya groaned, for she could do little else. Her nurse woke up and opened the door. It was 3 in the afternoon. That time of the day when no one visited her. He came in. His stride was uncertain. His face looked aged. Hesitantly he sat beside her.
‘So you have come?’ asked Divya.
‘Hmmm’
‘Why?????’
He kept silent.
She could sense a lump in his throat and his eyes had a glistening look. She didn’t ask any further. She could feel the heat well up in her stomach and her air passage. All those years of torture and she couldn’t release her frustrations to anybody. And now he was here. If she hated anybody, it was him.
*-*-*
It started out with stolen glances. Then those giddy moments spent sitting next to each other in library. Soon they were talking with each other. Ravi came from Alwarpet in Chennai. She was from Avadi. Being Chennaiites was the common denominator. He liked her, she liked him. They were chalk and cheese combination. He was a chatter box. She preferred being quite. He was irrational and she had a mature and straight head. But when they were together, they shared a rapport which couldn’t be found anywhere. As they reached their final year, they started talking about their life ahead. Everything seemed picture perfect. Post college, they remained in touch over phone. She had landed a job in Chennai and himself in Trichy. They were earning good name in their companies. They met each other once a month. They got introduced to each other’s parents. If she loved anybody with all her heart, it was him.
*-*-*
‘You still believe in torturing. Don’t you?’ she mocked through her pain.
He hung his head down.
‘How did you get to know of me?’
‘News passes around’
‘So I am news now eh?’
He kept quiet.
‘You know….I have often prayed to God that I shouldn’t see you again. My life would definitely have been a lot better if I hadn’t seen you’
‘Hmm’
Her voice was becoming choked. Her breathing spoke of struggle.
‘Everyone who knew me, who loved me tried their best to make me forget you. But I couldn’t. I loved you. But more than that, my hatred towards you consumed so much of me and my efforts.’
‘Divya, I know whatever I say cannot undo all the wrongs I have done to you’
‘Then don’t’
He was stung by the viciousness in her voice. But kept quiet coz he knew that he was in the wrong.
‘Come here’, she said as she gestured him to draw closer. She tenderly laid her withering hand on his cheeks. ‘I forgive you’
Ravi clutched her hands and broke down. He cried unashamedly. No words could encapsulate what he felt. She didn’t tell anything further. When he calmed down, all she said was – “Get Lost”
He could see a triumphant smirk in her face. He accepted that, not wanting to snatch the one final moment of control she held over him. He went away. She died. With a burden removed from their hearts.

hazaaron khwahishen aisi

kahaan maikhane ka darwaaza Ghalib aur kahaan vaaiz
par itna jaantay hain kal voh jaata tha ke hum nikle

We preach a lot. The name given to our lot is that of an arm chair critic.
You profess peace, and they say you haven’t had your brother being killed or your wife being raped.
You profess revenge, and they say there has got to be some humanity in life.
You profess pragmatism, and they say that you are an opportunist.
You ask for truthfulness and they say that it is utopian.
But how many of us act out what we preach? Till we do that we haven’t earned the right to talk.
I haven’t earned my right yet.
And yet there are thousands out there who in their own small way have shown us the path. What we can learn from them is that it is not what you say, but what you do. May a million such people live a long life. And may their life give us the hope that even we can be nurture God in us.

Great Expectations……..

Is it possible to be without any expectation? You expect to do something, you are expected to do something and you expect others to do something.
Well….I don’t expect you to be anything. Just be yourself.
Isn’t that an expectation?
Aaaah…don’t give me that crap….
Hmmmm
Tell something you @%#@
Now what do you call this? You admonishing me to tell something?
Okay..okay….guess its more a matter of degree that plain existence or lack of….
Hmmm…. To each his own definition. What matters is how you work it out with the world.

What Shapes Us?

Its a common stance we take that how a person acts/behaves has got a lot to do with his exposure. This includes upbringing, education, peer group and the confidence instilled in them by others,especially their family and friends.
So far so good. The problem is when the person concerned starts citing these reasons as a justification for their act. That is when it starts itching.
As in, when you know what is the cause for your action and are not doing anything to correct it, but end up justifying it with your childhood, your family and all such stuffs - all you are doing is absolving yourself of the responsibility for your actions. Once you have been able to place the finger on the pulse, you are supposed to act on it.
Even I have been guilty of this. No hiding from this. But as I used to say, with realization comes redemption.