Sunday, August 29, 2010

It’s Complicated!!!

Bus journeys are always joyful. Ok not always especially when they are really crowded and you have no other option than to hop into one hanging yourself in the handles surrounded in the middle of similar tired exhausted and equally irritated souls and then when you find one loser standing at the back and trying to touch you at the press of every break and jerk!!! Yeah we all face it at some point or the other. And we all hate it equally!!! Sometimes submissive and at times aggressive, we try to deal with it in our own way. But then when it is a blessed day and you get to catch that window seat as your valued possession (just for a short duration though). The crisp air caressing through your face as you tune into that favorite track in your iPod while the lovely city breeze just blows away the tiredness and exhaustion with itself. Bliss it is!!! And then as you turn around, you find a face familiar to you sitting next. Who is also equally blessed as you today. And the two of you celebrate the joy of your ‘seat acquisition ceremony’ offering a friendly smile to each other. I might sound crazy here but then you would know how it feels to get a seat if you had to travel standing in the middle of a crowded bus for 4 hours every day. And if you don’t, then I tell you, you are certainly missing out something in life.

As the wheels role forward, moves further the friendly chat with my stranger. She is the very same whom i meet every day in the bus, pass to her the ticket in the crowd, also sympathize with her when she shows her frustration to those unfriendly touches that we all are part of. We both share a similar story and that’s fit enough to strike the wavelength. And then it becomes a regular affair. Sometimes we get to converse on such lucky days, and on the others it’s just a smile that does the job.

She is not a friend nor is she an acquaintance. A fellow passenger who is now a little more than the usual ones. We laugh. We talk. We share. Not much but yes a small slice of our everyday life. We talk about the weather, the city, the people and the work. We are different yet same, as I discover my reflection in her eyes. The age difference gets washed off in the tide of laughter on sharing of a light moment from the office or tickling on a joke. Some relationships
(If you call them one. I do)are difficult to describe. In the intense bright neon lights of a hectic and frantic urban life where the intensity of close relations gets dim under the cloud of work and lack of time. One tries to find her share of sunshine and solace in the small little sharing of light moments with such strangers at times. You feel the city doesn’t care for you. Nor do you care for it either. But then someone in the middle of the crowd stands up to offer his seat to you as a kind humane gesture. Someone who is yet again a stranger. You don’t know him or his name. You don’t feel the need to ask as well. You bid him thanks as you get down, with the thought of gratitude surrounding your heart. An inspiring gesture that propels you towards positivity and compels to offer your humane side back. Some relationships are really difficult to describe.

Now it’s your turn to take pleasure in the joy of giving. You lose your valued possession and gain a blessing smile in return as you get up and offer your seat to that elderly lady carrying a heavy bag. She takes out an orange from her bag and offers you her share of gratitude as you smile back and politely refuse to it. But is certainly touched by her genuine gesture. Again some relationships are difficult to describe. And they are better not. True it is, relationships are really Complicated!!! :)

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Happy Independence Day!!! :)



This independence day let us free ourselves from the boundaries created by region… the restrictions of religion…let us free ourselves from the confines of caste and class…the precincts of language…let us free our minds from all the inhibitions…let’s break the block and move towards building a country without any prejudices and discrimination…coz until we free ourselves from these fiends..We are not free yet…so break all the limitations and unite ourselves into a single identity common to all…

On this occasion of the 64th year of our freedom. Let’s forget who we are…let’s forget where we belong to…let’s forget the religion we practice…Let’s forget the region we live…and remember only one thing…Only one identity…Only one nation and one religion…the land of unity in diversity…from now on let us carry an unanimous identity for ourselves…an identity that is common to all… an identity that adheres the divide created by the politics of regionalism and religion…and preaches only humanity and peace…from this 15th of August let’s call ourselves Indian…just an Indian…happy Independence Day!

Below are few lines I have penned down when I see the bias around me in the name of religion and language.

I love Jesus… I love Allah…
I love Krishna…I love Buddha…

I love the oak and the beautiful teak
Paradise in the Himalayan peak
I love the cold chilly wind that makes me freeze
Oh, I love you my blue Marina for your soothing gentle breeze

I love the aroma of fresh tea leaves from the north-east
I love the delightful Dussehra of the east
Sensual sculptures of Khajuraho becomes a cynosure
Emotions engraved on rock; my heart adore

I love the colourful people and the royal palaces of the west
A place where the dessert looks at its best
They say we are different…colour caste religion and region
But still I don’t find any reason

Deep down I see them all the same
Carrying out a single aim in different names
They call me a North Indian; some find me a South-Indian,
I look at them and smile; “see me a human and call me an Indian’’ :)

Office Office


Workplace does not mean just Work, it comes with a whole package. A big bunch of experiences and emotions….eh emotions?!!! Well I think so!! At least in my case. Emotions of happiness and joy on a job well done, emotion of stress and frustration when things just don’t work in your favour etc etc…Your office is a place where you spend the maximum hours of a day. Though they are not your friends or your family, your colleagues are the ones with whom you spend more time than your family and after sometime you start knowing them better than you know your family and friends. Just a little observation does all the magic.

They say work is worship, I say it’s all about worshipping the Boss!!! Something I preach but have never been able to practice myself. May be perhaps I don’t want to or never felt the need. The attitude “Who cares?!!!” dominates here in “My World”…Who cares if people play politics around? Who cares if someone who claims to be a friend bitches behind your back? Who cares if someone else gets the credit for your hard work? Etc etc…Who cares?!!! Alright one cannot be indifferent for long and then comes a stage when you start caring and of course thinking as well…either you find a solution or you find a better job…resignation time guys!!! People come and people go…again who cares?!!! Or do they?

Now every coin has two sides and everywhere there are two types of creatures…oh colleagues I meant…!!! Well the survival of the bad depends on the existence of the good. Lucky to have comes across many from both the types and to be honest it has been a great experience so far…with both. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the wonderful experiences and for all the learning…and if you are reading this blog…then you know which one you belong to…don’t you?!!! :P