For you a thousand times over.

Don't bother reading further if you don't know the origin of this line because you may not share the same sentiment as I do.

Last weekend I revisited the streets of Kabul and met Amir & Hassan once again. I cried just like the last time. It surely is not easy when life faces its own irony. I wondered yet again what made the give & take in their relation so intense. Why do we come across so many Hassans & Amirs in life, wherein one is constantly at the giving end & the other is constantly at the receiving end?

Why does 'courage' come so effortlessly to Hassan? Why are there more Amirs in the world? When was the last time you had stood up for what you felt was right without caring a damn about anyone/anything? Courage is not just rare these days but also comes with a heavy price. No this doesn't burn a hole in your pocket, it burns the whole of U.

Sixty-six years of Independence and we are still only talking about 'courage', telling tales of the courage showed by those golden people whose debt we can never repay. Its time we say this to our motherland - for you a thousand times over!

I wish and pray to the Almighty to bless each one of us with the virtue to fly high like the kite and also the courage to 'run that kite'

       J Stay Tuned In To Life J

                          Kahani ghar ghar ki....

Parents often complain that their opinions/suggestions/advices fall on deaf ears of their kids. It turns sour when their kids are convinced about the same thing when it comes from a third person.

I can’t comment on how far this holds true for me, I don’t know...I mean...I may have done it unknowingly.  But don’t you feel parents do the same?

Here are few instances. 

I have been behind my parents to take a world tour and they keep telling me ‘yes, we will, once you are married and settled.’ Okay. I understand their stance. 

But I argue that, ‘You both have always put me first and lived you life through me, finding happiness in what I do, it has always been about me. It’s time you folks look beyond me and do something for yourself.’ All they do is give me looks with an underlying meaning, ‘Yaa...you may be right but we know better.’

Yesterday Mamma gave me few chocolates which her office-friend had got from Europe (so-called-world tour) Her friend suggested over and over again that, ‘Europe is a must-visit place…and don’t put away the plan until retirement…enjoy while you are fit and fine.’ The following evening my folks were discussing about the Europe trip.

While Mamma was narrating all this to me, all I did was, give her looks which said, ‘I told you so.’

Last week, I was explaining Dad what this ‘whatsapp fever’ is all about and how convenient it is to stay in touch with everyone. And he was like, ‘I don’t need all that, you youngsters over-communicate these days’. I said, ‘Whatever’ and left the topic there. 

The following Sunday few relatives had come over for lunch. Later that evening, Daddy came up to me and said, ‘Help me download this whatspp thing.’ Needless to say where it came from! 

I gave him my patented look, ‘I told you so.’

      J Stay Tuned In To Life J

     

                    In love with the rains .....!

For a girl who is in love with the rains, a scooty-ride in the rains was more than a treat! This has made my Friday…well…Friday! 

It was my first scooty-ride in the rains and also the first ‘getting drenched’ in the season. For the past couple of days, it would get cloudy in the evening, I would hope it would rain on my way back home and it finally did today. It’s so amazing, the way, rains beautify everything around it. 

It’s equally amazing to watch people respond to these showers – few dodging the puddles, few covering their heads with their hands/bags and running for cover, few arguing with rickshawwalas, few enjoying cutting-chai, few just taking in the beauty, little kids flaunting their new rain-coats/umbrellas, couples stealing glances at each other while waiting at the bus-stop and few grumpy faces!

Sitting on the bike behind my guy is romantic but riding on your own freedom is exciting. The wind splashing the fat droplets on my face, my scooty beeping through the pits, I was soaked in happiness. 

Just yesterday I had made a shopping list to be rain-ready but unpreparedness has its own…umm…don’t know what to say…own thrill, own josh! As in one is never ready for the first showers and we still enjoy it more than being rain-ready. One is never really ready when that special one asks you out and it is one of the most treasured moments in life. One is never really ready for an exam/interview and when one still performs decently, that happiness is more than being fully prepared.

I want to elaborate more but somehow I am lost for words, maybe that is what pure unadulterated happiness is. Love you Rains. Love you Nature.

       J Stay Tuned In To Life J

                          Yaari Dosti...

There is a thin line between being moody and egoistic. I wonder what makes people change for no reason as such. I mean I know, one can’t be in constant touch with our friends and at times a simple text reconnects the bond. But being around and still being unavailable kind of hurts, doesn’t it?

It’s like you have shared so many things from tiffin to gossip to girl-talk, you have complained, teased, cried, laughed and made promises to be friends forever, you are able to gauge each other’s moods, you have exchanged looks, the meaning of which only you know, you have understood each other’s silences, kept code names and laughed your hearts out; you have come to the conclusion that, that phase of life, that place, that time of life, that experience  would not have been the same without the presence of those people.

Once I reach this peak for any person, I start depending on the person and that’s where I make a mistake. Few days after the ‘it would not have been the same’ phase, when these people behave indifferently, it hurts. You try finding out and after few tries, you feel all is back to normal. But the story repeats, and then you feel – why should I be the first to talk, why can’t he/she do it. 

You dismiss the feeling as being moody or having a lot on the plate, but the feeling keeps coming back until you become egoistic. Maybe you have assumed too much, maybe you have read too much between the lines, maybe it’s nothing at all or maybe it’s time to let go, for the better.

It’s better to let go before it gets bitter, it’s better that one text once in a while makes you smile instead of forceful conversations. This holds true not only for ‘ishq-wala’ love but also friendship.

In my case, I will try once again before letting it go because relation is more important than ego, but I will let go if need be because ego is better than a forced relation. 

        J Stay Tuned In To Life J

                                      Umm…I can’t name it!

Hello Fellas J

Normally my weekends are occupied with movies or hang out with friends or long drive with the special one and in the end dreading about the monstrous-monday! But this weekend was like a long vacation. Long lazy hours with family! Cousins had come over to spend their last days of holidays and it made me revisit my school days and the joys of a summer vacation.

Saturday being a bank holiday, my folks were at home. The day began with my mother’s overpowering obsession about cleaning every single corner of the house and me complaining about it. I chose to run a few errands rather than the messy cleaning.  

The lazy lamhe continued with a yummy lunch of aamraas puri and masale bhaat (rice) followed by an afternoon siesta. I woke up to the loud noises of the much awaited relatives. The house was suddenly alive with everyone occupying their favorite corner. With dominos for dinner and game of cards, rounds of charades, loads of chit-chat, none of us realized that it was almost 3 am.

Everything that was happening was so simple, so effortless and yet so pleasurable. We teased each other, laughed over the silliest of things and recollected all the stupid incidences, over which we had fought, argued and cried t – it all seemed as if it was yesterday.

It still seems like yesterday when the first signs of clouds (for me) only meant the beginning of a new year in school – with new books and their nostalgic smell, new uniform, new shoes, new things to share with friends, new teachers,  new promises of ‘studying this year’ etc etc. Life was a simple assortment, served on platter!

Seriously, we all were so naïve then. And we all dreamt of growing up, becoming this, doing that, achieving this-that, which we did and are still doing. But I am sure we all will readily trade a part of this ‘growing-up’ how-so-ever great it may be, to live one day into that yesterday, for one more time. That very yesterday which still seems like ‘just yesterday’ but was ideally the longest carefree phase of life.

Tomorrow one might feel the same about today, that’s the way it is. Simplicity still has a great value, cherish it thoroughly till it becomes a thing of ‘yesterday’ forever!

There’s actually so much to say about that beautiful thing called ‘childhood’, but I would like leave it unsaid, so that you can prolong your stay ‘in your childhood’ for a little longer. 

       J Stay Tuned In To Life J

                                      If not now, then when….?

Hello Fellas J

This country simply continues to amuse me! A nation where rape is only second most common to bomb blasts, with an average of more than ten rape-related news coming to light in newspapers every week (wonder how many go unnoticed under silent weeps); it’s amusing the way it is reacting to Shreesanth’s bookie stunt. I mean, come on even a KG kid knows that IPL is synonymous to ‘gamble’! I wonder whether the reaction is because he did that or because he got caught.

He was hungry for quick money so he put his values at stake. He is definitely less guilty as compared to the inhumane beings who rape and murder someone’s dignity. To top it, we have our leaders, who blame women for indecent dressing. Today’s Mumbai Mirror has an article reporting a ban on public display of female mannequins, as it appears ‘vulgur’. That article only mocks at the mentality of our leaders. Vulgarity is in your mind! When are they going to accept?

A couple holding hands and displaying affection in public (with each other’s mutual consent) is indecent but it’s absolutely descent to force someone not just inside closed walls but also moving buses. Our honorable leaders don’t just shed crocodile tears but insist that the victim pleads the rapist by referring to him as ‘brother’; they give speeches without clearly knowing the difference between wooing, stalking and raping, they play puppets with emotions and patience of every citizen – direct or indirect victim.

Today, democracy is like a slap on the cheek. It keeps slapping us; one cheek after the other! It’s high time we slap back!

           J Stay Tuned In To Life J

                             Dreams, endless dreams!

Hello Fellas J

What is the success mantra of those people whom you have always aspired to be? What is it that they always advise others to do? It is something that Rhonda Byrne, Steve Jobs, Robin Sharma and the likes say in common.

Common’ on guess, it’s not difficult! Okay, the clue words are – heart, follow, dream. Yes, bang on! They always say – ‘Follow your heart and your dream will come true’. But none of them has ever said anything about identifying ‘the dream’ from ‘many dreams’. Isn't it the first and the most crucial step? How does one really do it? I mean, I want to be so many things starting from astronaut, actor, dancer, doctor, environmentalist, painter etc etc.

I am in absolute awe of people who make these kinds of decisions early in life. I wonder how they narrow down on options at an early stage about what they would be doing their whole life! I have tried endless things, taken formal courses too but I found my calling in something else. After all, one needs to give some credit to ‘chance’ for important discoveries.

It’s so well said, that formal education ruins it all! The rat race is so blindly followed that we never give ourselves a chance to hear what the heart has to say. I would like to quote a line from Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel – Eat. Pray. Love. It’s so true and so aptly described!

                   “That’s the thing about human life – there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed.”

Hasn't the number of career switches gone up lately? And people are actually leading happier and more satisfying lives. So, it’s just a matter of time you identify ‘the dream’. Time needed for that may be in the hands of destiny but allowing yourself one chance to pursue it is totally in your hands.

                         J Stay Tuned In to Life J