Little good things in life --2

I was supposed to write a story prompt but something else in the morning caught my attention and I have to write about this. Every morning in the cab, Arjun , our driver, passes across a book to sign for all of us. Before I go ahead, here is something about Arjun. I don't think he is above 24-25. He has a bad collection of songs (at least Hindi songs, I can't comment on the regional ones) and his favorite song is "Tum he ho" from Ashiqui, so much so that he keeps crooning it all the way to Target. He seems like a happy go lucky , jolly, like-able fellow.

So, this morning with the attendance book, he passed across something else -- a box of sweets. That's not every day! Heck! That's not even every cab. It brought a smile in every one's face. It touched my heart. Not only that, when everyone was getting down , he was asking everyone with a bright smile ... "Did you have the sweets?"

One little good deed, enough to brighten many faces!

May there be lots of love in the world!

Happy Diwali!

The Pause

Naina huddled herself and rubbed her arms as she stepped out. She accidentally kicked a beer bottle that went clunking down the small steps. It was darkerthan what she expected. There was silence all around and she could only hear the soothing sound of the crashing waves. After the deafening music at the beach party just a few hours ago, the silence was welcoming. She moved closer towards the water. Who said beaches were scary in the night? It just had a darker side like all of us.

She sat down and felt the damp sand beneath her. She closed her eyes and filled her lungs with the moist air. "hmmm" she thought. "Nothing to think of.' "Wow!"She muttered under her breath. For once she was in the world and yet so away from it. She was in Goa,
the party capital of the country, and yet ironically, this is the place where she sat in peace. Of course life was still going on as she sat there. But she wanted to revel in the nothingness of now.

She would go back in her room where her drunk friends would not have noticed she was gone."Thank God for that" she thought and smiled. But right now she was happy being alone,with the waters shining under the fading light of half a moon. Of course there were
matters going around in her life which could use her attention. But they can wait. Sometimes all you need is an empty moment. No,it does not give you a solution to anything. It does not even leaves you enlightened . It just helps you to stop and feel.It helps you slow down.

She could do this all night. But logic suggested otherwise. It was time to go back. She was not sure how long she sat there but she guessed it was late when she saw a lone fisherman tugging his boat. Naina got up to walk back to her room. On the way, she turned back and smiled towards the playful waters. "Thank You" she muttered as she hurried towards her room. Life was waiting for her after the pause.

Shine bright like a diamond!

Rockstar, aka Saviseh was playing at Legend of rocks today at Kormangla. For the uninitiated, Saviseh works with me in Target and is an amazing self-taught drummer. I went to see him play but unfortunately the place was too crowded for us to even stand. Eventually, I entered to wave a quick Hi to him and then moved out. So I must have been there for 10 seconds and fortunately managed to catch hold of rock star’s attention. In those ten seconds, I could see how much he was enjoying himself while playing his drums. In fact, it is a lot of fun even seeing him while he talks about his drums, his set up and all the music jargon. His eyes sparkle, his energy goes a notch higher and a tiny smile plays along his lips. That man defines passion for his art.

Sadly, passion is a very over used and over abused word. One should be really careful when to use it. It is a beautiful word and it is an even wonderful feeling. I can still not say that writing is my passion. I enjoy it immensely, yes! But I am still scared to call it my passion. Many times I don’t feel like writing. May times, I don’t understand what to write about. Many times, I have to push myself to write and more often than not, I come up with ill standard content. Should I then, still call writing my passion? May be passion is also developed, slowly and steadily. I have never spoken to Rock star about how much did he work on his drumming skills and seriously looking at him play for even the shortest span gave me such a high that maybe I will talk to him at length about his passion.

I am definitely happy about one thing, though. My writing is going one step ahead. As of now I am doing dry freelancing content with not an iota of imagination, but it still gives me a satisfaction. It gives me a sanctuary to hide in. It gives me an assurance that I will not forever be stuck in the IT world, which may sure be my bread and butter but it sure is not something I really am in love with. I still have to go a long way in writing. I have to reach a certain standard which, right now , does not seem too far-fetched but looks like a huge amount of hard work.

Even Sachin Tendulkar slogged. Just having a skill is not enough. Then of course I cannot complain. Someday, even my eyes will light up like Rock star’s, while I write, every single time and that day I would declare to the world that writing is indeed my passion.

Here is a parting question. What will make you excited enough to not snooze that alarm or make you stay up without a single trace of fatigue? What makes your eyes light up?

Memories

Have you ever felt a familiar whiff of aroma of tea from your favourite tea stall, when all you were doing was walking by the streets minding our own business? Have you ever felt the air and remembered a breeze many seasons ago, when you had wrapped your shawl a little tighter, hugged yourself and smiled..perhaps for no reason at all? Has memory ever sneaked up, walking behind you like a naughty kid all along only to appear suddenly, taking you by surprise?

That's what memory does ..you know. Every single time. It catches you unaware and all you can do is slip into its warmth, reveling the moments gone by. Remember those lunch boxes in school, which were opened together and every bite was shared? Did you go running to you mom saying, "Mummy, Minali's mom makes the best aloo ka parantha's in the world. Please take the recipe from her!" ? Well I did! Remember those bus rides home, or the sunday morning breakfasts with everyone and sometimes even with the neighbours bringing in their pohas and upmas?

The first day in college or the first time you met the people you now call the best of your friends -- what they said the first time, your first impression -- they are all lovely conversations over coffee .. that go and on and on. The jokes still crack you up and the secret pet names are still fresh in your minds. You go through the photo albums, look at your professors and in a jiffy, there you are ... in the same class, at your seat , doodling at the back of our note book , trying your best to control your laughter or maybe , even listening to the lecture?

Memories -- they make you laugh, they make you smile and more often than not , they make you cry. They also bring along regret. You want them to stay , you want them to hold your hand and take you back once again to the days of carefree laughter and worries that hardly mattered. Be careful, they may fly away if you don't look closely ...leaving you with a hazy foreground. Hold on to them .... these days , it is difficult to make memories.

Bit by Bit

I stand tonight
like every other night
wearing the brightest of my clothes
pulling down my blouse
showing a bit extra

He touches me, and I squirm
He smiles, comes closer
reeking of cheap alcohol
but.. It was I who called him

I smile, brighter than my dress
I lure , I talk
inside I scream
I hope and pray that he does not stop

But sometimes I pray that he does
and He goes back happy and staisfied
So that he pays me well
Atleast I can buy more than just food

I wish I earned enough to buy more
I wish I could buy happiness
I wish I could buy peace and respect ...and maybe dignity

I stand tonight
like every other night
getting judged, gawked upon, stared at
by the "good people"

This is my work .. I tell them
Atleast I don't beg and cheat, I tell them
Atleast I don't kill,
Though my soul dies ..
bit by bit ...Everyday

A review really matters!

What do you do when you are confused about which restaurant to have dinner at? Or when you have to decide which should be your latest read? Or maybe, which holiday destination to go to this weekend? That's right! You check for the reviews! You ask friends, find out their experiences and finally go to your best friend... Google! Reviews and feedback have become the most important measure of our decisions.

Now think about what do you do when you want to find out which is the best online retail website? Or which is the best website to research for your upcoming project? Maybe you want a help in your code and we know there is a lot of everything all over the net! How do you, in the whole wide web world, find out which website will really help you get out of the soup?

Some good people in Bangalore got their heads together and understood your dilemma, thus coming up with a one stop shop for the reviews of the entire websites in the world. Say hello to Reviewmatters.com! What you get here are honest reviews, an insight of what people think of a particular website.

Sort out the best from the rest by reading the online experiences of people like you. Share your online stories with the world. Help someone find a better deal on the internet. With reviewmatters.com, you can make sure that you have an unbiased view on the website you are looking for. Didn't find what you are looking for? Why don't you put up a review and let the world know how did it go! You can also get to know about websites you didn't even know existed! Browse through the categories like Clothes and Fashion, Electronics, Entertainment, Kids, Leisure, Transportation, Public Services.... trust me! The list goes on and on. Read the reviews and make your decision. With its colorful and easy to navigate interface, reviewmatters.com helps you find your way through the huge, entangled world of the internet. When you look for a review, not only will you get the point of view of the visitor, but also the summary of the website itself on the same page, so you don't have to go to every website to have a glance of it.

It is also of immense help to you if you own a website. You can encourage people to write about what they liked or disliked about your website and help you improve it. Discover your strength and weaknesses and build a loyal customer base. Sounds like a good idea .. Doesn't it?

On an ending note, Browse, read and share your (re)views and let the world know! Bookmark this one right away!

The little good things in life ...

Among all the stress, the work load and the reluctance to work, I witnessed an unussual incident at work yesterday. Lunch in Target is a fun deal. There is Veg, Non-Veg, Chinese, Indian and Rolls! The best part is , all of it is free. The taste however is a different story. They display the food with plates and menus at the side. For a yet another corporate company, it is pretty good.

So when yesterday, like every other day, we were deciding which cuisine to choose, one person was talking to a friend way too loudly, reading every item on all the menus.

"Cauliflower, Rice, Rotis, Radish Rasam .... Oh there is Gulaab jamum in GMR. Lets go there!"

Shilpa and I looked at each other. We smiled the "who is this moron" smile, shrugged and left. While Shilpa went to one caterer, I followed the noisy man and his friend.

After a minute or so, Noisy man told his friend "You want another spoon of the curry?" The friend nodded in a no. Noisy man dragged his friend's plate while carrying his own in his hand. Something was not run of the mill here.

They moved to the rice section. Noisy man said. "I have put one and a half spoon of rice. Do you want more?" The friend nodded in a yes this time.

"Next we have black dal. Do you want that?"

I could not control my curiosity. I peeked in just so carefully.

The "friend" was blind.

Suddenly, Noisy man was a sensitive, helping friend and I was the moron. I couldn't help smiling to myself.

May there be lots of love in the world.

What if money was no object?

I came across this wonderful comic site called Zen Pencils. The comic phrasing Alan Watts pleased me the most. Such a thought liberates your mind, although the body feels captivated instead. But , what if really, money was no object? What if we did not have to think about "security", "savings" or "settling down". What if being an engineer, a doctor, an MBA graduate, owning a car, a house were not the measure of a person's success?

They say 'what' and 'if' are two harmless words as harmless they can be. But put them together and they have the power to haunt you for the rest of your life. If I had no "responsibilities" to think of, I would have definitely been a travel journalist. Because, what is life if it is spent in a corner, without ever getting to know, what was out there to explore? There are sunrises and sunsets that take your breath away, there are luxuries that let you fly and realities that bring you down. There are people to meet and talk to, who give a completely new set of thoughts to think about and dishes, whose taste would be alien to our palette. Did you know that lake hilier in Australia is pink in colour?

Did you know about Giethroon , a city with no roads ? Or that the phenomenon of norther lights is a miracle in itself? Or that the castles of ireland are the most hauntingly beautiful in the world?

To live a life with a memory in every corner of the world -- does it not sound the most beautiful thought ever? Also, to have it recorded in words, to be shared with the rest of the world and inspire others to have the same experience -- doesn't that sound the most wondrous of ideas ? That's where the journalism part comes in, where you let your thoughts come out and play in form of words, where the memories stay as pictures and the witty comments below them. Writing lets me express myself in a way I can't do while I am talking. It lets me paint a picture, with the colors I want.

Of course, such a life is not easy. But, isn't the sleep a tad bit more enjoyable when you have actually worked for it or the food a tad bit tastier when you have strived for it? No one has shied away from adversities. It's the lack of passion on an everyday basis which depresses the most.

So, if money was no object for me, I would have been backpacking my way through the world, known and unknown, with my words, putting every tiny detail on the paper. I would make friends with strangers and crash with friendly locals. I would do odd jobs and who knows, probably enroll myself in a university for a writing course or maybe learn baking at a local bakery. Ah! The sense of unknown, the sense of novelty and the exhiliriation that comes with it! The high is better than any alcohol in the world.

Maybe , Billy Bryson is actually living the life of my dreams.

PS: Thank you for the picture Amber! :)