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Happy Mother's Day

From being critical about the Mother's and Father's days, to writing this today... Our life goes through different phases... from being an infant, and holding their hands... to childhood heading to adolescence, where the hand became a finger, but the touch was still essential.... somewhere in the middle of the second decade, we long for independence, striving to break free (from I wonder what !) from the "hold" our parents wield on us... I guess life comes a full circle, when we actually set out to build a nest of our own, how much we depend on them... Though I may not end up saying this to you face to face (you might even think I've actually lost it if I do ;))... but it is true... Amma, I might have grown up, but I don't think I can ever outgrow you...  You mean the world to me...  from being a child, and yet enjoying being treated as an adult by you; to now being an adult and yet your indulging my childish whims and fancies.. you just know it...

Dali

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He made paintings like Persistence of Memory ... And said things like  The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not mad. It might sound like I am referring to a friend, but this is the most apt way to introduce anyone to the one and only Salvador Dali .  So, on his 113th birthday (and to say he still sounds relevant), I borrow his own lines.. Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision. PS: A special thanks to my friend who introduced me to the joys of Dali :) May you find more like these.

The Anthem

Though these lines were written ages ago, I am still waiting for a time when all of us truly imbibe these words, and are proud of the nation we are a part of. This is, actually, my anthem. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high  Where knowledge is free  Where the world has not been broken up into fragments  By narrow domestic walls  Where words come out from the depth of truth  Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection  Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way  Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit  Where the mind is led forward by thee  Into ever-widening thought and action  Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Social Campaign

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After a long time, a brand has chosen a strong social message through its campaign.  Vicks in its latest advertisement  has chosen an issue which has been debated in various forums, but with no outcome. The last such socially relevant campaign was done by Tata Tea through Jaago Re , where it pushed all citizens of this country to vote. It helped that they covered the entire spectrum of issues faced by voters, from applying for a voter ids to understanding a constituency, and not just the ad campaigns. Very often, these ads leave a message which might not occur to you at the face of it, but which successfully plays on your subconscious. I hope Indians are able to churn out more such campaigns, which help Indians in becoming more and more aware.

God - I hope you hear me loud and clear !

I was suddenly reminded of an earlier post of mine when I read about the recent controversy Sonu Nigam got caught in. Loudspeakers at religious places have always been a pain, and suddenly now, media seems to have caught wind of the problem. I hope people like Babu Khan , who are fighting lone battles on the issue should be get more support from the public. Maybe that will set the right trend. As The Supreme Court rightly pronounced earlier, no religion prescribes that prayers should be performed by disturbing the peace of others nor does it preach that they should be through voice amplifiers or beating drums. Despite all the noise (literally) around this issue, The noise persists... I wonder if we can ever learn.

Word Play

We often indulge ourselves in light banter and comments, without putting much thought into the impact of those words. However, as an after thought, one would realize that each word falls into place due to a subconscious decision to say what we wanted to say. What most of us guise of slip of the tongue or unintended remarks are more often fully intended.

The Grand Plan

We are all planners.  Some of us try and plan the minutest detail and the others plan just the milestones. But whichever way we look at it, there is some amount of thought and 'inception' that goes into it. A believer would say that it is all pre-ordained and part of a grand plan... Each joy, each pain, each loss and each gain... But in that moment (of happiness or gloom) it is quite difficult to identify this plan. But if that's true, what's the point of our planning? Was it all for nothing?

Our Evolution

I know this reads like a repetition, but can't afford to under-emphasise the importance of what we pick up from our environment, subconsciously. We are all like sponges , constantly learning and unlearning from our environment. We learn at home, work, with friends, through friends and gradually, sometimes imperceptibly, change over time. But what if the changes ultimately become drastic, and one fine day, you realise you don't like parts of what you've turned into! Then is my evolution (which is supposed to be for one's better) counter productive. What do I manage my acquired aggression, talkativeness and flamboyance. I am wondering if it has become a part of me now.

Good wishes and Blessings

Some would call me selfish...   But somehow, I associate great value to the blessings we get... At the end of the day, it isn't the food we eat or the air we breathe that keeps us going, it is the good wishes and blessings we get... earn... deserve that take us through the day, and life in general. So if I see my grandmother waving her hand, I ensure it firmly lands on my head :)

Smile

A wise person once said.. "Just because my eyes don't show tears, doesn't mean I don't get hurt... Just because I come our strong, doesn't mean that nothing went wrong... I often choose to pretend to be happy, so that I don't need to explain to people who will never understand... Smiling has always been easier than explaining why I am sad...." This is so true.... 

Tears

We often put ourselves through so much pain, both physical and mental, which we face firmly, without loosing our mind, unscathed... despite the pain, we don't leave teary eyed... And then there are days, when all it takes is a tumble, and the eyes just let go... It's like the mind just looses control...

Anti - Social Media

As a part of evolution, looks like we are on our way to becoming more social people... not that we have suddenly started bonding with our friends or interacting with our neighbours... but by simply sharing every possible event and non-event of our life on "social" media...  Be it Facebook, which seems to have successfully found means and ways to even ruin a special holiday by checking into the resort, or Linkedin, through which Microsoft seems to have taken on Facebook, and created a timeline of its own. What was once a professional network, and again become a sequence of posts.  Whatsapp seems to be the latest addition with its segment on latest status update. Despite creating the misnomer called being a "social" animal, as a society, we seem to be lonelier, more cut off from not just friends but even family. We claim to be extroverts, shouting out to the world, without realizing we aren't even capable of listening to ourselves most of the times. It is as

Miscalculation

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Haven't seen a more effective anti - smoking film !

Love and Being Loved

We were recently having an arbitrary conversation recently about who are our real loved ones, besides our parents/children. It was fairly amusing to see, as I deliberated on my choices, that my answers would have varied at different points in my life. The change can partly be attributed to the change in environment around us, and hence the different people around us, but it also has to do with the change in our interpretation on the concept called love and being loved. The only people who will probably steadily rank high on this list, despite time and age are our parents.

Choices and Aspirations

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This is an important question... There is no right answer.. I think it is each woman to her own... Though they haven't provided the answer, Titan has managed to capture most of the thoughts growing in our minds... We all have our thoughts on what kind of parents we'd like to be... what all we'd aspire for our child, and what in turn we achieve ourselves... But in most cases, becoming parents (especially mothers) suddenly changes their lives where all hopes and aspirations are for the child, almost neglecting oneself...  I wonder what I'd do when the time comes !!

Words... Play...

We utter the words... and then bite our tongue... We often wish to ask a question... and then debate if it our place to pose the question... It is not always the courage... It is often behind the words, that often don't get uttered.... Hmmmm.....

Trials and Tribulations

The push.. The pull... The trial.. The failure... When the multiple unsuccessful attempts give you such a surge... I wonder what finally getting through would feel like !

What Women Want

You don't need magical powers like Mel Gibson What Women Want > to be able to hear what goes on in her mind. All it takes is sometime in the Ladies compartment of the Delhi Metro or Mumbai local. You'll find women of all shapes, sizes and ages giving their immediate neighbour a piece of their mind or brooding themselves. Eitherways, you'll know, and you won't even have a choice about it :)

Present and Future

What if we could see our future... and experience it... would we then live our present the way we are living it now ? Hopefully then, won't our future change ? So did we even see our future ?  Or was it all an illusion ?

to Mumble or to Tumble out

If there is one line from Fight Club that I feel nails the philosophy of life, it is this. All a gun does is focus an explosion in one direction. We think, we think more...we overthink... but more often than not, we don't talk... we bottle it up... All it takes is a trigger... for it to all come tumbling out... and then, we suddenly start saying things......  which... we never would have.. leading to an impact and a recoil... neither of which is desirable.. It's okay to count to 10 and backwards before you start talking... but there has to be a limit to which you keep swallowing your words.