Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Celebrities for a moment


The irony of life is that when we really want to live, destiny plans something else for us. Each individual here is different - each one of us have a different definition of love, wealth, sex, happiness, perfection, success etc. What I mean is that these words are relative – but I believe that it eventually boils down to being content and at ease with oneself – in one word, I would call it being at peace.

Recently I had been to a Trust which works for street children welfare, its called the Salam Balak Trust, in Mumbai. We (a couple of friends from office) along with my little brother, Rishabh (he was luckily here to visit me – and I took him with me for I wanted him to develop compassion towards the less fortunate. – I know that these feelings are inborn, but many a times people realize this when a spark is lighted.), anyway, back to where I was, so, there were these few (8) of us, we packed up some snacks for the party, some gifts to give away and got into those typical Mumbai cabs and set off for that place at Sandars Road. It took us almost 2 hrs to reach – damn this Mumbai traffic, then we finally reached around 4pm to that place. We went into the hall where we saw the group of girls sitting on the floor with their teacher standing in front and teaching those lessons of good living. The moment we entered there was an air of unfamiliarity – I had never been to such a place before – never really lived how it felt to be there. With my own doubts, we found places on the floor mat to sit. Then we had a quick round of introduction, in the intro part we just called out our own names – that’s all. The first name – that was each one of ours introduction, everything else was immaterial – for we had gone there to share some good times and gather some special moments – and not to explore the background of the people we were meeting. There was one person, among my colleagues, who when got to know about this activity, inquisitively asked me of how those people feel, do they behave like normal children, what kind of expectations they have and blah blah.. I kind of did not like the questions; I tried explaining that we had gone to bring a change in the otherwise mundane lives of ours and theirs. And of course they were normal – I mean for heavens sake, they are like regular kids – being less fortunate doesn’t mean that the children have different desires, the difference may be in the level of their wishes, maybe a rich mans child would want to own expensive toys where as the less fortunate would perhaps desire of simple ones. The desires are same – it all boils down to love, care, importance and affection. That’s exactly what we went there to share. To cut the event explanation short, we indulged in playing games, danced with them sang with them, hugged them laughed with them, ate with them, cracked jokes, laughed at their jokes, encouraged them – did everything we would do at a regular get together. What was most heart warming was the readiness with which they allowed us into their space, their paradigm, it didn’t take us long to gel with them and be one amongst them – this openness is in fact is not a very common trait among the fortunate lot. The kids were as innocent as every other child – in one word, they were beautiful. I shall tell you of a cute thing, a young girl came to me, held me by my waist, raised her feet so that she could reach my ears, and slowly whispered, “Didi, pata hai aap Sania Mirza ki terha dekhti ho” .. I was all smiles :), not because she said i looked like Sania Mirza (because I personally have no fascination towards her – not that I don’t respect her ability) but because the way she said it was so damn sweet. I instinctively wanted to give her something – so I just dug my bag and offered her a chocolate and gave her a little peck on her cheek. Honestly, she blushed like a maiden in love :D. You know, at the end of the party when we were leaving, there were a couple of girls who ran to us with a notebook – just to take our autographs!! I mean, can you beat that!! They treated us like celebrities. I owe all my smiles of that day to those children. Shall cherish this day always. We are planning to go to an old age home on Monday, 1st Jan 2007, perhaps I would have more to share.

Friday, December 22, 2006

The practiced party season

Okay, so its close to Christmas, am wondering if we really need a reason – a reason to feel good? I personally feel nothing for any particular festival – just that it means a holiday – and perhaps an extra chance to relax/enjoy an extra day – courtesy - the religion, govt and our companies. I mean tell me honestly would you not really want each day of your life to be special and nice. I have learned that we should just not settle with what life offers us. We must try to buy what we want. There are no rules, only desires. The desires could seem insane to others – at least it happens with me :”). But I know what I want, the only problem is that I don’t know how to get there :D.. I guess all of us have the same problem :) I keep echoing a dialogue from my favorite animation flick “Fining Nemo”, will say that again “Keep swimming. Just keep swimming!!” -- P.S. I wish mumbai was just a lillte colder - doesnt feel like december at all :( .. Dont want to much of it, just a lill colder, or shall i say, alot less hotter :D .. Santa, are you listening .. BTW, is there any santa ??

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Ghalib ne kaha hai..

Hazaroon Khwahishien aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle
Bohot nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle.
Nikalna khuldse adam ka sunte aaye hai lekin
Bohot be aabru hokar tere kuunche se hum nikle.

Mumbai Local

Let me site an incident which very recently was witnessed by me. I was traveling in a local train in Mumbai with my father, he had come from Delhi to visit me, when I came face to face with many harsh truths of life - Things that we know but still when we see it right in front of us, a chill runs down our spine. I and my dad got into a general compartment of a slow train which luckily was not too crowded, and we therefore managed to get a place to sit on the uncomfortable wooden benches. Just as I was scanning the people around me, my eyes met with one painfully old man who was seated on the bench next to mine. I would not want to describe the pain his body was going though by telling you about the visible discomforts, because it’s ridiculously scary, but all I would want to site is that death was definitely a better option. I was worried thinking how at all this man managed to board the train and for that matter how he would be able to get off. Finally his destination arrived and he stumbled out with a plastic bag in one hand, a stick on the other with his uncontrollably shaky head. Should this be the fate of any person I thought? Now, the second painful wonder did not take more than a few minutes to appear. This time it was a blind man trying to sell some cheap pens, writing pads, plastic covers etc., in spite of the physical impairment, he did not give up on life and tried making a living, perhaps for himself or maybe for his family. Though he looked dreadfully tired, he still managed to speak his practiced sales dialogues and sold a few things. I also admired and wonder, as well as felt bad at his state of helplessness, when I realized that he is trusting his customers with the money they were giving him to be the correct sum. Shall I say he is helplessly dependent! Can any one of us reading this note remotely imagine a life of permanent darkness? It definitely seems like this is not something that can happen to me. Now, there were a couple of more incidents that happened, all of them I would perhaps not want to put down, but let me just talk about one last scene. The rush in the train had risen a bit and me and my dad had to stand close of the exit gate just to be sure that we can make our way out when our stop comes, that when 2 middle-aged women boarded the train, one was carrying a huge plastic bag full of junk and the other had a small packet in her hand. Their looks suggested that they were rag pickers; anyway, coming back to what I wanted to say is that these 2 less fortunate ladies managed to make their way through the crowd and sat on the floor close to the exit doors - right in front of us. That’s when I was thinking how bad a situation it must be that they feel no uneasiness in sitting on the perpetually filthy floor. Just then, to add to my consciences misery, one of the women laid a packet there and opened up their lunch, it’s needless to talk of the kind of food they were having. Again, can any of us think of spending a day like this? We would perhaps prefer not to eat, than eating filthy grub at an equally filthy place. These were a few sights which I saw on my first, and hopefully the last local train journey in the city of 'lights and riches', Mumbai. Later in the day, I got engaged with the chores of life, but these thoughts somehow were running in the back of my mind. In evening, on our way back to the place we were staying, my dad said that, though uncomfortable, but there was fun and pleasure in traveling in public transports, that’s when I smiled and replied to him saying that, he thinks this way because he knows that the kind of life he lived that day will not be the kind he will live forever. He just looked back with agreeing eyes. Fortunate we are, don’t you think?

Resist Life?

There are innumerable types of people in this world, some are laid back and some are go getters, some work just as much as required while some are workaholics, some people are happy with what they have and some never stop craving for more…. But the saddest part of anyone’s life would be when he/she realizes that they have spent all their life just waiting for life to begin.

What is an ideal life? Well, who knows the right answer to this? It’s as easy or shall I say, as confusing as saying, what isn’t, is ; and what is, isn’t. Idealism is relative, as far as I understand it. Trying to know beyond what is possible is as harmful and vain as trying to work without breaks. It makes individuals less productive, frustrated, fatigued and they start falling into the category of people I talk about before – the kind who keep waiting for the right time for life to start. One really need to think if he wants to get into the mad rush and race for the unknown.

Remorse, death, loss, desperation, hopelessness are all eerie feelings. One should keep away from them. What is important in a relation - the love, the trust, the understanding, the knowledge of each others importance – I guess all of them and almost in that order; or is it about the visible chemistry of complimentary aspects like wealth, status, education, appearance, carrier and a promise of the future – something no one has seen, something one can only wish for and work towards? What constitutes to the goodness of a person, the genuineness, the honesty, the compassion, the attitude towards people less fortunate than oneself, the intelligence, the sense of treating the people who love him, flexibility for happier existence of oneself and for the people associated with him – all this, or is it all about tangible components like wealth, comfort, passion for perfection, lust, casualness, insensitivity, selfishness or ignorance. Why is it that people refuse to accept that time is running out, every minute they live in ignorance, they are losing 60 seconds of life. Time and tide waits for no man, this saying is true and every other person dead or alive knows about it, then why still ignore this? There is most often nothing like a right time, now is the time because you don’t know what the future will be like. The tragedy again, I repeat is that each one of us look at the apparently happier people and think that when I will have all that he has now, I shall be happy. This again is an act of darkness. And for people who say that they can live alone, that they don’t need people around them – they are people who are egoists and unconsciously cause as much harm to themselves as they do to the people who love them. This is an era of rush, everything is disposable, reusable, sellable and available at the throw of wealth, but who has been able to purchase the love of a person, the care of a parent, the smile of a baby, the breath of freedom, the selfless hug that is just is little tighter, the sweetest kiss that’s just lasts just a little longer, a specially cooked dinner, a blanket tuck when u r deep in sleep, the affection you get when u have no fancy things that you now proudly possess. What is it that people want? What is it that you want? The act of resisting life may prove that one is strong, but ask the deepest part of you, don’t you have any desires?

Friday, December 15, 2006