Reminiscence

 

The stars that twinkle on a moonless night

Longing for its serene radiance

Yet flickering bright

 

Drops of rain that trickle down a leafy stem

Long after the rains have gone

Yet reminiscing them

 

The waves that crash, kissing the shore

Pulling away instantly

Yet returning evermore

 

A rose once ambrosial, full of fragrance

Tucked amongst pages

A distance recall of evanescence

 

A love long lost, but without regrets

The heart cherishes its memories

And its sweet secrets!

The yearning

 

The carpeted Earth

Oh, so beautiful

Lushness of viridity

A sight so bountiful

Drops of dew

Glistening in the morning light

Like pearls and diamonds

Shining bright

 

 

The vista calls on to me

Like a beloved beckons her beau

Oh, how I yearn for the verdant outdoors

Far, far away from the urbanized electric glow!

Everything in my stride

I cry, I crib

When faced with the unfavourable

Sometimes all I do is write it down and squib

 

When life throws a predicament

And demands an act

I put in all of my efforts for the best precipitant

Often times I pray

When life gets tougher

For all of the hitches to simply go away

 

But then I realize

That existence is no smooth ride

And with no anomalies it simply wouldn’t materialize

 

So, I take on everything in my stride

For what would a lifetime be

If all spiritless and over simplified!

Questioning what love is? Look at your mother!

Haven’t we all felt the feeling of being in love? Some of us have been fickle enough to think that they’ve felt the emotion over and over again. While, some of us have felt it only once, deeply and unrequitedly. Some of us have been lucky to have felt it and received it in return. But all through being in the emotion, haven’t we all questioned what exactly is love at some point of time or the other? Despite the question, how many of us have really been able to fathom what exactly is love? Very few of us, I guess. But I believe it’s plain and simple to see. Every time you land up asking yourself, “What is love?”, look at your mother or for that matter, look at yourself if you are a mother!

Mother’s throughout all living species, especially humans, easily set the best examples of lovers. How they, without any judgements and expectations, nurture, care and nourish!

Right from the time a woman becomes aware of her motherhood, she takes to making sacrifices, be it giving up on her caffeine intake or quitting a bad habit, like smoking or drinking. She tries to do her best in trying to understand what the little person coming into her life is going to be like; through reading up books, taking advise from doctors, family and friends or even talking to complete strangers. She gets to making arrangements to welcome the little stranger to the best of her knowledge and abilities; keeping herself healthy to be able to nourish the new born and setting up things around the house to make the tiny newcomer comfortable. It’s love even before first sight! And finally, when she holds her baby for the first time, no matter how intense a labour she might have been through, all of her exhaustion and pain disappears. All she feels is extreme euphoria and deep love. Thus, begins her journey of motherhood, the journey of pure and pious, forever love!

All throughout her life as a mother, all she expects is for her child to be happy. In their happiness lies hers. She goes to lengths to see a smile on her child’s face. But at the same time, her love is also correcting and nurturing. She sometimes, nags and sometimes punishes, but even at the core of her nagging and punishing, lies love, for she only wants her child to learn to fend and care for themselves for she shall not remain in their lives to do that forever. As her little one grows, her struggles and concerns only increase but she continues to love and nurture unwaveringly. Many a times, she suffers disappointments from her child but she continues loving nonetheless. She always forgives and never judges.

Never will you ever hear of a mother giving up on her child for having fallen out of love with them, because her love for her child is undying! Such is love in its purest of forms. But, of course, it’s impossible to love another so as a mother does. However, for those looking for inspiration on how to love and for those questioning what love is, a mother’s love is the best example for it is love at its pinnacle and it is love in all its glory!

Happy Loving and Happy Valentine’s!

Valentine’s day is just around the corner and love has definitely been the topic of discussion since the past few weeks. While, I don’t really celebrate this day with expensive gifts or special outings with my loved one, I am not really anti Valentine’s Day either. Nothing wrong with keeping a day to celebrate love. We are supposed to love and profess it every day; adversaries might say. But then, if we are supposed to do it every day why not do it on this day as well instead of going all anti against it? So, here’s wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day and here are five pointers on how we can actually celebrate this day without all the stress and hullabaloo around it.

  
1.       Keep it simple

Do simple little acts of love. A special day doesn’t have to be expensive or an extravagant affair. A few extra hugs when you wake up in the morning, a few love notes through the day, a home cooked meal with items your partner loves or that one task they have been asking you to take up but you’ve been procrastinating forever; I’m sure all of us have a few of them piled up.  

 

2.       Don’t expect anything in return

 

After you’ve done all that you want to for your partner, simply, don’t expect anything in return. After all, isn’t true love all about giving? Most of the problems in all of our relationships would come to an end, the day we stopped expecting and although it seems difficult to do that, if you truly loved someone, you’d know that it isn’t as hard either.

 

3.       Cherish the sacrifices you’ve made for each other

Valentine’s Day, if you actually go to see is celebrated to honour the life - sacrifice of St. Valentine of Rome during the second century. As legend goes, he was imprisoned for conducting marriage rites of Christian soldiers who were persecuted and forbidden from getting married, thus making him the patron saint for those in love. So, to commemorate his sacrifice, you could remind yourself of all the sacrifices your partner and you have made for each other. Prize them, for they are the acts that have kept you together and going.

 

4.       Don’t forget the others in your life

While Valentine’s Day is only associated with romantic love, there’s always enough love in our hearts to spread more. So, spread the love, spread it to your parents, siblings, children, friends, colleagues, students and everyone else in your life, whose presence you value. Wish them and remind them that you care for and treasure them. While, we should be expressing such feelings often, we hardly ever do. So, take the time out and convey it to them on this day. Last but not the least remind yourself that you love you and will always do!

 

5.       Continue loving and showing love on the 15^th, 16^th, 17^th and every day thereafter

Once the day is gone, don’t stop expressing love. Do it every single day and get yourself, your partner and everyone around you used to it. Love deeply and truly, every day, every hour and every minute for love doesn’t need just one day for expression, it needs to be cherished and nurtured every day!

 

The inappropriately positioned clock: Habits die hard!

 

One of the clocks at our home was not very strategically positioned. It hung above the couch in the living room. Needing us to turn all the way around and crane our necks up while we sat on the couch or walk all the way out of the kitchen to have a look at the time, the position of the clock was quite inappropriate. We were however accustomed to looking at the clock that way, since it had been hung there from the time we had moved in a few years ago; until one day a visiting carpenter pointed out to us that the clock could be positioned at a more convenient location. He suggested that the adjoining wall would host the clock perfectly as it would be visible from the kitchen as well as the couch easily. We agreed with his idea and willingly got him to change the position of the clock. And, that was when we realized how strongly we get used to our habits. Every time we needed to look at the clock, we’d turn all the way around looking up at the original place only to realize that the clock wasn’t there anymore. Walking out of the kitchen and looking at the bare wall to look at the time, I’d often laugh at my foolishness realizing that the clock was easily visible from the kitchen. It took us almost a whole month to get used to the new location of the clock and change our habit, although the new actions required to be done by us were easier than what we did earlier.

It got me wondering as to how many such habits we must be used to, getting driven by them to perform the way we do all through our lives; simple mundane things like waking up at a particular time, drinking tea or coffee, reading the newspaper and many such more habits so ingrained in our routines. I got to reading about the topic and I found out that, it is these habits that eliminate the brain’s need to process and strategize each and every step in carrying out many of our repetitive activities over the day. Most of the time daily habits become so deep-seated in our systems that we carry them out even subconsciously. Some habits are so entrenched in our schemes that making even slight changes to them brings discomfort. Addictive habits are even more notoriously difficult to break and worse still, extremely easy to resume despite having broken them. Getting to know this was an eye opener and I thought I could definitely list down some habits of mine if not many that were unnecessary, time-consuming or simply bad or unhealthy. I managed to list down quite a few and while I’m still struggling to change some of them, a few I’ve managed to get rid off and for the better.

Kites: Oh, what an inspiration!

Thousands of colourful hues dotted the blue sky, dancing in the wind and soaring high. With Makar Sankranti just around the corner, people of all ages in Mumbai had taken to reaching for the highest points of access to them to enjoy the act of kite flying. I for myself had headed to our building terrace to enjoy the view. As I watched the kites waltzing rhythmically against the blue backdrop of the tranquil sky, soaring higher and higher, reaching for the clouds above, I stood enthralled by the vibrant and blithesome sight. Although flying against the wind, restrained by the cords that controlled them and despite the fear of being cut off by other kites’ strings always lingering; they flew gleefully, unruffled and free. I got to wondering, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could take inspiration from the flying kites and conduct ourselves in our day to day lives aiming high yet staying grounded while being joyful?”

In our daily conquests to achieve more and reach higher, often times we forget to enjoy the journey. We slog and suffer thinking that’s the only way we can prevail and the only way we can succeed. While hard work definitely is a must, why not do it with a gay demeanour? Why not dance our way gleefully to our goals just like the joyful kites stretching out for the clouds? And why not be free of the fear of falling despite it’s existence?

 

Why not go against the flow? Flying against the wind, the greater its resistance, the higher the kites soared. There will always be times when circumstances are against us. Instead of succumbing to them and giving up, why not live up to those challenges and strengthen our successes further?

Staying connected to the ground, yet soaring high is something so beautifully demonstrated by the kites. Likewise, why not stay connected to the people, to the values and the discipline that we have picked up in our journey through life, choosing wisely amongst them to carry with us the ones that bolster and encourage us to rise higher while keeping us strongly rooted too?  

Lastly and most importantly, as I watched a kite string being cut by another and the kite falling to the ground, slowly and nimbly swaying side to side while children below clamoured to reach for it, it reminded me that life poses such situations at us many times. There are times when we have to face defeat or take a back step, times when we have to fall back to our base. In such situations, the lesser the resistance we show and the more willingly we accept, the less unharmed and more gracefully we reach our ground. Besides, like the children reaching for the falling kite, the more graciously we conduct ourselves, especially during adverse situations, the more there are people to catch us and hold us when we fall!

Here wishing everyone a happy and inspired Bihu/Lohri/Makar Sankranti/ Pongal!

 

The Morning Moment

Sometimes, it is such simple things in life that make our day.

It was a cool winter morning in December. An early riser, I was up and busy grappling with some ideas I wanted to pen down. The sun had just risen, spreading its rays from atop some of the highest peaks in Mumbai that my East-facing suburban balcony gave a view of. When I took a minute to look around, I realized that the morning was unusually calm. I walked out to my 10^th floor balcony only to notice that the road down below had hardly any vehicles plying. I could even smell the freshness of the air. Instead of the usual sounds of automobiles speeding by, I could hear birds chirping. A slight chill in the air, the weather felt pleasant. I had to wake my better half up to share the moment. After all it was rare to experience such freshness in Mumbai. Slightly groggy and half asleep, he simply followed me to the balcony. When he felt the cool breeze upon him, he was instantly up too. Hearing the sound of birds instead of the roaring traffic cheered him. We stood chatting in the balcony for a while soaking in the freshness and the morning sun. We were just discussing of how undiluted the air smelled, when a waft of breeze brought with it the aroma of someone preparing breakfast. Someone was already up and doing the morning grind. We realized we had to get back to our busy schedules too. And that was the end of our morning moment.

But, although the moment was brief, it had made our day.  

 

Welcome 2017!

Nine days late, but better late than never. Here’s a warm welcome to the year 2017! Don’t know if it’s in the digits that add up to the number one or if it is simply in the air, but this year is definitely giving me positive feelings and affirmative vibes!

A new day and a new year; there couldn’t be a better excuse to start things anew and take on a new path. Have been tinkering on the idea of wanting to write more prolifically for long now but have done nothing to put myself up for people to see. Have been writing secretly to myself and wondering if it was good enough; but what the heck! How would I ever know unless I allowed people to read what I write and let me know?

So here it is….An online Journal of my Musings! I shall be sharing here everything that I have written and will be writing about. From my daily experiences, to new recipes I’ve tried, to travel escapades I’ve indulged in, to short stories or poems I’ve attempted to pen, to something preachy or opinionated….basically anything and everything under the sun.

Hopefully it makes an interested read for you all too!