The Man in the Mirror

It happens many a times when you are you are filled yet longing for ideas, when you are quiet yet longing for peace, when you are silent yet turbulent, when you aware yet ignorant. It's the time when you are struggling with the contrasting facets of yourself. It's when your heart and brain run asunder. It's when you learn what the heart conceals what thoughts reveal and what you would like to appeal. And all this when you have been through an ordeal. It's when you want this deluge to abate, that you ruminate. When you are at your least, that you agnise what you had, how valuable it was but more than the sense of decline, deprivation and diminution it's the provides a sense of direction for where to retrace, how to efface and what to embrace.

It's when you fall behind others, fall through your ambitions that you fall for consolation, there is an angel who can en-kindle, exalt and enliven you. This fellow knows all about you, has assured to accompany you for life. He can give to the tenacity to sustain and cast off your fears. He can hold your hand when in trouble, and is never busy to help you. He is the noble, the altruist, the magnanimous. He can fill all voids, diminish all desolation. He has persistently been with you, adamant when you try to avoid, obstinate when you try to overlook, willful when you wink at it and resolute when you reject it. He is an ally in every battle, a buddy in every jubilation, a well wisher in every endeavor, your counselor and your advocate.
For all those who want to meet this angel, that's all I have got to say

"When you feel that hope is gone
Look inside you and be strong
You'll finally see the truth
that the angel lies in you
So when you are heavyhearted
all your hopes have departed
When all you long is cheer
he's the man you see in the mirror"

The Cursory Connection

It's a world of ephemeral relationships. It's a virtual world, where your reputation, your competence is commensurate to the intensity of likes on your facebook account, the length of your friend list, the mobile phone you possess and your popularity among peers.

Social Networking is a chiaroscuro of the good and the bad. It charms everyone in the beginning. The level of addiction is such that no day passes when you don't login. The people in your vicinity lose their importance. You have time to chat for hours in the virtual but not the real world. A few years ago, we used to meet people, spend time with them but not in front of our screens. It might have annealed the world the together, but it has created a dearth, a vacuum which no chat engine can fill, a vacuum that is palpable as time progresses. Wishing people on phone has been replaced by wishing them on their walls. You have time to enter the walls of your friends, your family, but no time to enter the four walls of their homes.

The meaning of the six letter word 'friend' has changed. Half the people in your so called 'friend' list are just your acquaintances, most of them you haven't even met. You click photographs, not to treasure them in your memories but to flaunt them among your peers. People in your life crave to see you giggle, but your walls are lucky enough to see your smile, your gusto. One develops transient relationships in this virtual world. These walls are fortunate to know 'What's on your mind?'. They share your happiness, your pains, your sorrows, every small occurrence in your life.

I am not against facebooking.There was a time it fascinated me. But the irony is that it has distanced but not connected me. But the fascination was evanescent as well. I would rather smile and giggle with people and spend time with them, and don't make the nagging excuse of  'I am busy'. I still long for those days when connecting with people didn't allude to online chats, didn't allude to facebook, didn't allude to social networking.
It's not that you'll miss something if you aren't a part of this rat race. Rather, you'll not be a rat.           

Friendship- Not a 'big' thing but a million little things

Friends are your greatest possession and I am blessed to have one. This blog post is earmarked to one such friend

Dear Sanju,

When I sit in retrospection reminiscing about my school days, there is a deluge of memories whenever I think about you. Many a times my eyes fill with tears and yet I beam and smile. That's how the beauty of our friendship is. Never knew how time ran and those five years seemed very sparse a time. Seemingly so different, we turned out to be the best of companions. Yeah, not only did we share the same desk, but we shared our moods interests, emotions, dreams and aspirations. I still remember the day before Diwali vacations when I filled with gloom because the teacher made us sit apart. Those endless discussions about Pokemon, Animax, the fanaticism to collect those Pokemon goodies, Harry Potter (not to forget Malfoy), and our very 'cynic' opinions about others were enough to keep us chattering and blabbering on phones for hours. We started knowing each other way too well, with the connection being termed 'telepathy' by DB (our very own nickname, who can forget your talent of giving these!) I can recall myself saying," Yaar, yeh kyon ladte hain? Hamari toh kabhi ladai nahi hui".  Years passed and I thoroughly relished every bit of it.

With my life's biggest achievement, came a big shock as well. You left school and we both started a different journey. I was surrounded by friends, yet strangers. Many a times when I sat alone, I hoped that you'll come to sit with me. We lost all contacts for two years, but those memories kept on swaying time and again. I had resolved to renew contact and I still remember writing my heart out in a mail hoping that you'll read it once. I made it to an engineering college and that very day I got your call. The course of our lives had changed but still we talked as if it was just yesterday that we last met. That day, I was proud of myself, I was proud of you and yes, I was proud of the relation we shared. Then began the quest of our meeting. After 4 long years, our roads converged and we finally met. Nothing had changed and then I got sure that it never will.

Those endless talks are now via the keyboard (I thank fb). The physical distance might have increased, but the emotional void has vanished. When people in my college talk about Harry Potter, I enter a flashback. (Nothing about Harry Potter has changed, but it has stopped amusing me now, without you). 

My eyes still long for your company, my ears for those grins,giggles and gossips. And my heart wants a time machine. For now, I just want to say

"Though miles may lie between us,

we are never far apart

For friendship doesn't count miles

It's measured by the heart"

Tranquility trailing the Tempest

You may call it second birth or a week of suffering, reward or punishment, blessing or curse, normal or abnormal but yes,it changed the way i look at things and interpret life or perhaps I had a lot of time for introspection. When the sea is calm, quiet and placid for long, we start taking it for granted. I sensed that some turbulence was round the corner and was waiting for it to manifest. But what began as a series of small tides changed into a squall.The longing for rest and sleep changed into a necessity and the longing to be with my parents a compulsion. But yes, I learnt the biggest lesson(s) of my life.

No one loves you more than your parents-when you are in trouble, they are always the first to render you support and the first to wipe your tears. They love you whole heartedly and selflessly. It's just that we fail to realize this due to paucity of time. They leave no stone unturned just for your well being. You can never repay what they have done for you. Just keep them happy with a face free of frowns.After all they are messengers sent by god just for you. 

Nothing matters more than your health-Never ignore this gift given by god. It has the power to change your  life. Running after materialistic things, we fail to realize what we are missing on. Love yourself more than anyone or anything else. As far as you are okay, rest everything falls in place. Thank god for this asset and value it immensely.

Not everyone is your true friend. Some escalate the trouble, some alleviate it and some are not bothered. Everyone salutes the rising sun. You are immensely lucky if you have someone to give you ears when you need to speak. It's only when you are fading, you realize who's worthy of your support. 

Have a guru in life. He will guide you when you are lost. Just have faith in him. All pains and troubles will subside. And last but not the least, have immense faith in god. The belief that there is someone powerful who is ready to catch you when you fall makes you forget the trouble. Whatever he does is for your good in the long race of life.

Love yourself, love our life. Feel gratitude for what you have.You are very lucky indeed.      

Ways of the world

I sometimes really wonder, why didn't god create a loner. But then this fact I had learnt in school reminds me," Man is a social Animal". For all those who think why I'm blabbering about this, I recently had a realization (an eye opener, you may call it).No wonder, the course of our life, your actions depends a lot on the people around us, who influence us in 'not so few ways'. Right from the day when we venture in this world, we inherit the influence of our parents as your legacy. Then come our friends. From a piece of clay, we gradually get shaped into a sculpture, a lot similar to our existence today. But then are we really what we were made for??

The childlike innocence changes to hypocrisy, the sense of belonging changes to possessiveness, appreciation to envy, love to selfishness. Many a times, I sit and muse about the attitudes of people around me. And the people who are always there for you from womb to tomb are our 'parents'. It's perhaps the only relationship I can define as artless. But there is much more to life, beyond the vista of our home. No matter how much you do for others, 99% of them don't value it. But err a little, I ensure you, criticism will be round the corner. We are always taught, ours is a competitive world where only a few emerge as winners. 'Crush others to succeed' is a belief adhered by many. By such means, we may end up being successful in the eyes of others, but we fall in our own eyes, that too by leaps and bounds.

But then those, who don't follow this are termed weak and vulnerable, too innocent for the ways of the world. And then comes the transformation. (We always detest dissidents). So, we end up getting more people in the viscous circle, with an entry but no exit. It's 'kalyug' after all.

Certainly, all this is not the way to live life.Our universe is abundant, there is something great in store for everyone. Everything in nature is an epitome of abundance, magnificence and above all selflessness.And that's the reason for the perfect harmony it ushers. But we are always taught, there are limited resources, rush and toil if you want to succeed. Success doesn't mean winning at the cost of others, ruining your relationships for materialistic desires, faking many a things to achieve. It's not the destination but the journey that matters at the end. It's never wrong to aim high, but not at the cost of others. May be even we all can live in harmony, may be.....??

Stranded in the Seas

Imagine yourself in a boat. The squall is on with no hope for survival. You stand dejected amidst the sea waiting for a miracle, hoping in hindsight that a superhero shall make an entry to rescue you.

To experience this though, you need not go on a sea trip.The storm being tantamount to the never ending challenges and the superhero being god. It's believed that if god creates a problem, he gives you power to surmount it as well. For all atheists, it may sound pacifying but it does stand true.

When faced with the agony of circumstances, we lose our temperament, the hope that makes this life worthwhile. Everything in life is certainly not a bed of roses. But we are the curator of the garden of our life. "What you sow is what you reap", the well known adage fits in here. But what if we sow the plants and run away?No wonder, the blight of our asset will become certain. We need to regularly water the saplings, remove the pests and weeds, so that one fine day, they blossom and spread their fragrance all around. Same holds true with life. We sow our thoughts and dreams. But we need to work towards them diligently and protect them form wilting. Pests are nothing but challenges we face in life, and you can't always hope that a superhero will come to your rescue. 

You are the storehouse of all power god has endowed upon you and so you're your own savior, your very own 'superhero'.  It's this 'hope' that keeps the candle of our life burning.

Face the storms with fortitude, shed off your torpor, surmount your fears. Sail through the storms, the shore may not be far behind.

"Learn to defeat the defeat before the defeat defeats you". 

Soliloquy

When times change as they 'usually' will
When the road you're trudging seems an uphill
When the 'moods' are low and 'sorrows' high
When you want to smile but have to sigh
Then rest you must, but you mustn't quit.


The epitome of plagiarism. But the message is original (I hope and I don't copyright it). The obvious question with a not so obvious answer arises, "How to rest ?" For all those who endorse sleep, medication, meditation and the other common suggestions by some connoisseur of health, here lies an alternative pill. Soliloquy, for many to whom I sound like a sesquipedalian, it means self talk. The prescription to subliminal conditioning (not to project you as someone abnormal).


You all must have done it some day in your life, although subconsciously. And you know how? Rote learning in our 'Examination System'. (I didn't term it Education system consciously) And it might have saved you from drowning (failing). It can certainly help you sail through life as well. PS: I don't promote rote learning here.
One is always available for introspection (no appointments required I hope). The results are many. It can pacify the disconsolate, the morose and the lugubrious.
Talk your sentiments out, repeat your ambitions aloud and witness the change. After all, actions sometimes do speak better than words.