Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki…

Location- A boutique

Scene- Wife busy looking at kurtis, kid busy running around playfully while the husband is passing time glancing around the place.

Husband: "I liked this lampshade…shall we buy?"

Wife: "First buy a house for yourself and then think of buying a lampshade!!!"

The smile that had hardly appeared vanished soon with this statement. Husband leaves the lampshade and follows his wife to the billing counter.

Moral of the story: If you want to live happily ever after, always do as your better half says!  

Shhhhhhhhhh…

Time is money.  Time is precious. In a busy city life on the pursuit of the precious time we often miss out the joys of doing simple things, the simple way. A look around and everything seems to be in a chaos and clutter. Everyone is in hurry, chasing behind a bus or a train or hurrying to get inside that small space left for the last passenger to squeeze in an already overflowing share auto. Be it the mornings or the evenings, we are always on the run. Either to get out of the house or to get inside it. Not that there is always urgency. But we are so used to this fast pace life that we seldom want to slow down a bit to breathe easy. Certainly, Impatience is the new way of life.

My journey back home from office requires me to change two trains. Everyday as I get down from one, I had to run through the over-bridge to catch the train standing on the other platform whistling to leave. I hardly care to notice the happenings around and try hopping in the train as soon as I could. Yesterday was no different. I was rushing down the steps on the over-bridge to catch my train. At one corner of the over-bridge on the sides of the steps I saw four teenage boys standing and chatting. Regular collage kids having a conversation. But not in the regular way. They were communicating through sign language, all four of them. Amidst the muddle of noise around, their silence was elegantly soothing. Where our normal conversations takes place with shouts and yells to make it audible amidst the crowd, these four boys were effortlessly having a conversation with much grace and grandeur than anyone else there.  No yelling, no shouting or screaming yet very much clear and lucid. A quiet and silent one with no haste, the conversation was happening only with the movement of the eyes and the hands, and of course a smile on everyone’s face. 

While I passed across them, I felt a strange aura of calmness surrounding them. When everything else around was noisy and loud, these four teenagers appeared so much at peace.  And before I could experience this tranquility further, my train wrestled me back to the world of impatience. All this happened within few seconds but it brought me a good feel taking me out from the maddening world of normal beings to a far simple and uncomplicated world of the special few, although just for a brief while. True it is…Silence is golden.

Cricket…Craze &… Cedilla

Yesterday was the India-Pakistan Semi Final. The thrill of the game had made the entire nation bleed blue and a cricket crazy agency that we are, Cedilla Communications too was all drenched in the true colours of the game. So, ladies and gentlemen presenting you a glimpse of the game in our very own Cricket Crazy Cedilla!!! Here we go… 

The screen is set and the action begins….

Yes we created our Team Cedilla logo & t-shirts to cheer for our very own Team India

Bleeding Blue...

 

Blowing her our own trumpet…

 

Munching over the match….

Match is on…mustache gone…

Cheerfulness on the cheek…

Knock them out…

Cricket is contagious…so are the colours…

Indiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…India…

 At the end it was a magnificent match that indeed brought in a great glory to India. :)

वक़्त नहीं

इस दौड़ती भागती ज़िन्दगी मैं 

फुरसत के दो कदम साथ चलने को वक़्त नहीं

पैसो की चाहत मे, आपनी चाहत के लिए वक़्त नहीं 

वक़्त नहीं है, उन छोटी-छोटी खुशियों को बाटने का 

कामियाबी की चाहत मे, जशन मानाने का भी वक़्त नहीं

बीत गई ज़िन्दगी, ख्वाबो की हकीकत तराशने मे

अब इस हकीकत को जीने का भी वक़्त नहीं 

सब है यहाँ, दोस्त भी है, रिश्ते नाते भी 

रिश्तों की इस डोर को बाधे रखने का भी वक़्त नहीं

Show Me The Money

It seems I just can’t get enough of my train adventures and clicks. So here I am with another one. Saw this one put up on the wall of the compartment I was travelling in. I just have one question for the one who came up with this idea of getting his/her tale of misery to be put on display in the train and expect us to offer ‘Urgent Help’ with our hard-earned money. Dude you think we don’t have no brains at all? No…no…tell me...well i too need cash... Urgent Cash I mean…can you give me pleaseeeeeeee!

Another one from my train journeys

Everyday on my journey to destination- office, I see a reflection of myself in their eyes in the train. Eyes that tell a story of life and its learning. Of joy and happiness…of pains and sorrows…of dreams and desires…of struggles and sacrifices.

Eyes…some reflect my past, some tell the story of my present, and some bring me a glimpse of the future.  I see myself in the laughter of that small little girl sitting on her mother’s lap enjoying every mundane view outside the window from her innocent eyes. I see myself in the teenager brushing through the notes at the last moment before her exams. I see myself in that young professional sitting half dozed off, tuned in to music amidst a mind full of ambitions and ambiguity. I find my soul lost in the infinite thoughts that the pregnant lady carries in her mind of her unborn child. Hiding away the pain and unease with the pleasure of motherhood, she is going to obtain. I glimpse a slice of myself in that middle aged women sitting at the centre juggling between work and home, gulping down her breakfast in hurry. I see myself in the old lady with grey hair at the corner reading The Bible completely isolated and submerged in her own world. And I see a reflection of me in all their eyes. And I find a part of me inside each one of them.

What’s in the name...A lot actually

 

Ever since I landed into this part of India, the vast cultural and linguistic differences between the south and the rest of the country has constantly kept me at surprise from time to time…and just when I convince myself saying that now am very much used to this land and the differences have blended within, I discover something new again that leaves me...well just with a smile on my face now.

This is a board I noticed at the station I catch my train from. It is called ‘Chennai Fort’. What is so special about this? Well it is in the name. The name in Tamil says ‘Chennai Kottai’. ‘Kottai’ in Tamil means ‘Fort’, which is quite evident from the English version of the name here. But the fun lies in the Hindi version of it. Even if one ignores the blunder made with the spellings here, it still doesn’t make any sense to you if you skip the English or Tamil version. ‘Kottai’ for sure is a word in Tamil that makes perfect sense when written in Tamil but when you use the same as it is in Hindi it just leaves you...well confused! But then this is Tamil Nadu dude. Enchanting ‘Tamil’ Nadu...Mind it! :)

Check It Out!

Early morning…rushing to the office…Hop into a crowded bus…between the jerks and the pushes you think, “Why did I get into this one?”…as much to get inside was a pain equally painful it is to get out of it…uff finally out...what a relief! Waiting to cross the road…you turn back…see that crowded bus one last time and your eyes get stuck on the advertisement on the bus back...”Hey that’s my ad!!!”…now it wasn’t that bad an idea to get in…hmm worth it…you smile :)

 Some of the bus back pics clicked by the production guys the night before the launch. Could not click on my own coz your boss doesn’t understand your emotions when you are late! 

A Lot Can Happen Over A Cup Of Chai

Once upon a time there was an advertising agency known as Cedilla Communications. The advertising agency had a tea vending machine and its very hardworking employees were hardly working without having their everyday cup of tea vended from it.  Their lives just revolved around creating good ads over endless cups of this aromatic beverage. Then one day they had had enough of this artificial machine-made chai and thought of going for some real stuff instead, ‘Asli Human-made Chai’. And they bought this…

........................................an induction stove!!!

Since then all Cedilla Vaasis started drinking ‘Aasli Chai’. And they drank happily ever after…I mean tea! :D

                      The Artificial Chai Vending Machine 

                      The Human-made Chai In The Making...

                        Cheers To The Asli Chai! :)

Zara Zoom!

 

A closer look and you will find them all the same. You will find a little piece of you inside every heart. You will experience a small slice of your life in every life.  All that you see from this end is the same what you will witness on the other edge, just in a different version perhaps.

Deep down we are all the same. Our lives are the same. Only lifestyles differ. Our emotions are the same. Only expressions vary. Our aspirations are the same. Only inspiration differs. 

We all tempt for the riches. We also relish on the idea of a simple and peaceful life. We all love our freedom. We also like to be tied to our families. We hate our lives.  We also want to be reborn as no one else but ourselves. 

We all desire for the same. We all dream about the same. Our problems are the same. Just approach varies.  All you need is, to look closer. And then you will find them all as you. A step closer and you will see a reflection of you, in a form different than yours.