The Waiting Game!

Waiting is integral part of our life.  We hardly find any aspect of life that is sans waiting. The human life in itself is the upshot of a patient waiting of 9 months. Waiting has different aspect -- sometimes lovely, sometimes lousy.

When a mother waits for her child to meet the world, the whole waiting process is adorned with expectations of how she will raise her, how she will call her, which school she will go, what kind of person she will marry and etc…

When the child is born, the waiting game starts again for her to take the first step, utter the first word, draw the first letter and etc…

Waiting has enigmatic charm. When a peasant waits for rain and when it waits for the time to reap harvest, the waiting period is rife with emotions of hope and a better future.

When we face calamity we wait for it to get over. And wait for good times to take over.

Waiting refuses to leave us. When we study, we take exams, we wait for results; when we get job offer, we wait for joining day; when we find love of life, we wait for him/her to come on time at a restaurant and etc…

Waiting is like a canvas of a painter, which we paint with our thoughts, aspirations, and expectations.

But, waiting is not always beautiful. A convict who waits to be executed, a terminally ill patient who waits to meet end of life can experience the worst attributes of waiting. Apprehension and dejection enwrap the psyche and soul.

Warts and all, waiting is inseparable facet of our way of life. We wait to be happy, we wait to cry, we wait to live, and we wait to die.

I Want To Take Your Leave

You are green, I am pale,

You are fresh, I am stale,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are loud, I am crowd,

You are evident, I am shroud,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are bloom, I am gloom,

You are boom, I am doom,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are present, I am past,

You are first, I am last,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are best, I am rest,

You are bright, I am night,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are thunder, I am blunder,

You are wonder, I am wanderer,

That’s why, I want to take your leave.

You are morning, I am mourning,

You are sailing, I am sinking,

That is why, I want to take your leave.

The Real Beauty Is Mind!

Image Coutesy: Google

The human mind has a unique ability and this inimitable ability is not only about thinking but also transmuting this thinking into palpable realities. It has mesmerizing qualities to question and answer. From the alleys of mind, several ideas have spawned that shaped and reshaped the ways of the world. And real beauty lies in these ideas.



Image Coutesy: Google



Through the use of several permutation and combination of alphabets, ample theorems have been proved in mathematics. The quadratic equations, Pi, Sine, Beta, Theta, Gamma, and Lambda have helped prove many things from distance between earth and sky to the proximity between speed and light. From the inanimate lines of geometry that have effected dreams that stand tall on the face of the earth in shape of sky-touching buildings to restless collection of calculus characters that have influenced a smooth flying of aircrafts in the extensive bosom of sky, everything is stunningly beautiful with Mathematics. Isn’t it real beauty that some Xs combine with some Ys and produce happiness that brighten our homes in shape of bulbs?  And minds that understand the reticent parlance of pluses (+) and minuses (-) are really beautiful that spread the beauty of their understanding to the whole human society.

Image Coutesy: Google

We all are familiar with computers; it has become an essential part of our life. But seldom have we dwelt upon the beauty that it encapsulates in itself. With the use of computers we write, we talk, we sing, we share. Isn’t it beauty that just by punching some numbers and alphabets we get to know information that we could never have known otherwise and we get to interact with people we wouldn’t have talked to otherwise. With the help of computers we control activities in space, with the help of computers we delve deeper into the activities of body cells, and with the help of computers we surmise the ways of weather. Aren’t all these things like sheer magic and beauty? And minds that helped make computers capable of doing these things are really beautiful: which understood the nature of binary numbers and gave us beautiful aspects of life to experience.

Images Coutesy: Google

Minds that thought about becoming sight of the blinds and voice of the mutes are really beautiful. To be able to speak a language with a combination of finger flicks when you can’t use your tongue to communicate and to be able to read with the help of embossed dots when you can’t see through your physical eyes, are real beauty without any adulteration. And minds that devised ways to communicate in the absence of natural methods of communication and that invented solutions to reception in the absence of natural methods of reception are really beautiful.

Image Coutesy: Google

Our body is made of precious organs that need to be repaired when fall out of order. The minds that understand the complexity of the neuron webs of the brain and talk to the throbbing motions of heart are stupendously beautiful. Every time, they make incision onto skin, they cure the brain of a tumor and the heart of a blockage.  The mind is beautiful that doesn’t tremble on the sight of a bare brain or an open heart and imbues a leash of life in them through immaculate discerning abilities.

Image Coutesy: Google

Sound is there in the nature but to fashion a rhythm by imprisoning the sound in different notes of music is real beauty. The dulcet notes of a Piano and cloying tunes of a Cello are designed through motions of fingers that are directed by minds – completely besotted by the trance of sounds. Truly, the mind is beautiful that creates ragas and symphonies, that sooth the soul.

The mind that creates hope, happiness, and hymn is beautiful. Yes, the mind is beautiful!

This post is written as a contest entry for Dove Yahoo India Real Beauty Contest being conducted by http://www.indiblogger.in/. Click below to explore the real beauty:


                        

The scoreboard of my life

                                                          Image Courtesy: Google

The scoreboard of my life is not a pleasant sight for me. Every time, I have a look at it, it remains unchanged. The stubborn zero refuses to leave my scoreboard.

I have often tried to tell the zero of my scoreboard that why buddy, why don’t you go and take a stroll? At least I will have some change. It replied: even if I go the change that you want might still be elusive to you and who knows some negatives occupy my seat while I am off for a stroll. 

Huh… I can’t beat it in arguments.

Every time I go to play a new match of my life, I try to cajole the zealot zero. But it says, it will decide on leaving or living only after watching my performance in the match. I am left with no choice to work hard and ensure that my performance doesn’t become a reason for zero to be livid to an extent where it gives way to negative integers.

But there is a fun in being with my zero as well. It always keeps me egging on to strive for more; it always pushes me for that extra effort. Sometimes, I feel that I love it more than I hate it.

After every game we both sit together and spend some time together. It tells about my mistakes and I argue with my defense. I would like to acknowledge that I cherish moments spent with it.

But still I would like it to leave me. I would like to miss it sometime in my life.

But till then I will keep trying to replace the zero with a positive number and would like to befriend that but it is a promise that I will not forget the zero which has been a source of learning for me.

No, I don’t want to fly!

Image Courtesy : Google Images

Sailing with you on the translucent face of river and floating with the desire of the current to an unknown destination is my dream. The unfettered wind directing fragrance of your hair on my face is what I pine for. The scene of fishes adorning the riverbed with their rhythmic somersaults to celebrate our rendezvous is what I long for.

I want to be with you when pieces of cloud tear away and drench the soil. I want to enjoy the drizzle with you and be soaked up with blessings of nature in the form of raindrops.

I want to experience nights with you at the top of a mountain that is bathed in the moonlight. At the acme of the mountain, I want to fall in your heart and remain there forever.

I want to be with you amid the cherubic chortles of children and innocent giggle of kids. I want to be with you amid the petals of blooms and leaves of trees.

I want to walk with you the craggy roads and thorny paths. With you beside me I can tame any adversity and defeat any challenges.

I want to be with you on days, when I see my world in your eyes and that is why I say that I don’t want to fly, because I want to drown in your eyes that has unfathomable love and unremitting care!

The Meaning of Real Beauty!

When we imagine about real beauty, we draw pictures of stunning sirens reigning Bollywood or Hollywood. Their spotless skin, neatly carved features, and velvety hair are paragons of beauty for us.

But this way, don’t we get parochial in our thinking of defining beauty, when we limit our version of beauty only to flick females?

Oh! Yes the ramp roaming models and television stars also vie, in our mind, for the coveted tag called, beauty.

Is the word beauty confined only to looks? Can we enlarge the possible meanings of this word beyond the boundaries of flesh?

The real beauty lies in the behavior of a person. The attributes of compassion and commiseration make anyone more wanted in a life than other persons who are indifferent to the needs of others.

Mother Teresa was never in the league of Miss Universe or Miss World, even then the crown of beauty pageants feel dwarf before the puckers on the forehead of the grand lady. No beauty pageants get complete without the mention of her deeds by the participants in order to prove their commitment to the society. She touched the oozing wounds of lepers and adorned the eyes of them with glint of hope. She made the beauty of life palpable and thus let the world experience the meaning of real beauty that resides beneath the endeavors of a common person.

Real beauty is not only about gorgeous girls and funky ladies, it goes beyond them.

She is one of the victims of landmine in terrorism- hit Kashmir. She might go by any name but that is not important. The thing that is important is that she was 14 when she lost her both limbs in a landmine blast in the decade of 90s. She and her family were devastated. She needed help of her family members in performing the tasks related from defecation to ablution. With the indefatigable effort of her family and immovable grit of hers applied for years, today, she walks without help of anyone(and of course with the help of artificial limbs) and defines the real beauty of being happy in covering yards with her sheer determination and spunk.

Real beauty is not related only to smooth skin and healthy pigments, it encompasses more than them.

He belongs to upper echelons of society where being fashionable is more important than being human. In that society physical beauty counts a great deal. And when Gautam Singhania of Raymonds was diagnosed with Vitiligo, even his close friends advised him to remain in the confines of his house. (Even if, India is in the race of becoming a superpower, to be a white skin in the country of brown skin is still considered a stigma.) But he defied the reeking notion of society about Vitiligo affected people and today is one of the respected business barons of the country. He compelled society to acknowledge that real beauty is not on the skin but beneath it where a valiant heart beats.

Real beauty is not only about drooling over somebody but it is about respecting somebody from the bottom of our hearts.

She resides in the tribal backwaters of India. Early in the morning she wakes up and goes to the jungle to collect wood to cook food. Even under the simmering Sun, she toils in the field to eke out a living for her family.  She doesn’t have luxury of any nutritious meals, she is emaciated and you don’t need an X-ray to count her bones. Even then, when her suckling child writhes and cries with hunger, she offers her bosom to her child even if there is no milk in it. She suffers the bites of the child but never drags her away from her bosom. She demonstrates the real beauty of being a mother, which is celestial and inimitable, even in the outright paucity of resources.

Real beauty is not slave of being blond or brunette. The real beauty emanates from being bold and brave.

Rani Lakshmi Bai was neither fair nor a flawless face, despite that there is hardly anyone on the face of the earth that can match the beauty of her personality. She was fearless and fearsome at the same time; she was motherly and macabre at the same time. She exhibited that real beauty is in being courageous and holding your ground, even if you are beleaguered by your enemies and you know that defeat is certain for you.

Real beauty is everywhere in this world and not restricted only to curvaceous bodies and silky skin. Real beauty is in the rough hands of a laborer that crushes stone with hammer to douse hunger, it is in the dexterous hands of a doctor who weaves rhythm of life in ailing bodies during every operation, it is in the parents’ dream, for their children, of a fabulous future, and it is in the smiles of innocent kids that know no discrimination of cast, creed, race, and gender.

Indeed, real beauty is really beautiful!

Explore real beauty here!

Because, you didn’t smile today

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Birds were missing rhythm in their chirpings, because you didn’t smile today,

Flowers were missing their fragrance, because you didn’t smile today,

Sun was feeling fatigued and frazzled, because you didn’t smile today.

Sea was ruffled and restless, because you didn’t smile today,

River was not eager to meet sea, because you didn’t smile today,

Pond was with withered lotus, because you didn’t smile today.

Air was missing its invisibility, because you didn’t smile today,

Water was missing its purity, because you didn’t smile today,

Sky was missing its serenity, because you didn’t smile today.

Time seemed tired, because you didn’t smile today,

Watch seemed stagnant, because you didn’t smile today,

Moments seemed mammoth, because you didn’t smile today.

See what harm you have done to the world by skipping to smile for a day,

Promise that from now on you will not forget to smile!

Suicide: A concept of life, not death!

Image Courtesy: Google Images

Suicide, contrary to the common belief, is more about the life and its peculiar ways than dying or death, for that matter. Generally, society is sarcastic in its opinion about people who commit suicide and look down upon those who chose to end life.

But then, is it the only way to look at it?

It is easy to term somebody coward, if he/she decides upon bidding the world goodbye prematurely or otherwise. But then, it is about treating a situation in utter ignorance as well. And being disrespectful only cements the fact that the world is ruthless and indifferent to the lives that are unfortunate.

By the way, to triumph the apprehension of losing a life is not an act of cowardice, even if it is not considered an act of gallantry. So, to disdainfully mock the act of suicide amounts to nothing other than an insensitive facet of social demeanor.  

Whenever one chooses to call it a day with life, one is beleaguered with despondency, low self-esteem, and loneliness— be it social or mental. And when everything around seems daunting and macabre, the obvious choice to ward off these things. And when all physical and mental efforts fail to produce any reasonable solution, uprooting the tree of life seems the most sensible thing.

So committing suicide is not insane! It is an act of an agile mind that has exhausted all options to fix things that seem spiraled out of control.

Sure, the writing is not an ode to suicide (or glorification of it), it is just an endeavor to make us all realize that because somebody chose to cease doesn’t mean that they did want death badly. No, they also wanted a normal life with normal circumstances. But this wasn’t so.

Instead of slinging aspersion on those who are no more, why not we mend our approach toward life and save some more precious lives from getting lost in the darkness of death.

Let’s make life more livable for one and all!!!!

Lovely Ladies!

Image Courtesy: Google Image

She is on the bicycle and paddling her way to a factory. The tiffin box fastened to the carrier of the bicycle and thumb finger on the bell signify her struggle and command of her life. She is an ordinary worker of a factory but she is extraordinary in her determination to keep the hopes of a better tomorrow alive for her family.

She has fastened her child on her back and is carrying the cakes of bricks with utter balance to help build the dream house of well-off people. The threadbare slippers have failed her, despite that she defies the prickly grits scattered across the construction site. Her courage is inimitable and her dream is indomitable. She wants that her child, who is dangling on her back in the simmering heat today, get to enjoy the plushy comforts of tomorrow.

She has sickle in her hand and she douses the hunger of the loved ones with it. She works indefatigably in the field for whole day so that her family gets assured of enough morsels of meals in a day. With her sickle she weeds out the uncertainty for today and ensures certainty for tomorrow. 

She painstakingly rubs the dishes, in our homes, canteens, and hotels, to make them immaculately hygienic. She rinses utensils to rinse her aspirations and dreams squeaky clean, so that she can see through them a future that has indelible sheen.

She brooms and mops the floors everyday and tries to wipe out the monotony of her life. Though, she knows things will not have variety, the next day, yet she very diligently exerts her abilities to influence a change in the routine of her life. She swishes broom to slash the challenges of her life.

The illustrations of all these women have hardly been considered to respect women on women’s day, yet they are inseparable part of women power of a country. Though, they might not seem to be cut out for the cover pages of glossy women’s magazines, yet the essential niceties of being a woman of substance, with all its struggle, reflect from their taxed faces. Despite their premature wrinkles, dark circles and rough palms, these ladies are graceful and lovely!

You went but your presence remains!

Image Courtesy: Google Images

I knew one day you will go, but I didn’t know that your moving away will invite such a vacuum in life. Your ethereal enigma of being humane and humble still haunts me.

Sometimes it felt that your existence is surreal but when your smile hacked gloomy clouds to pieces, it dawned upon me that you are for real. The pearls of happiness was entangled in your lock, once I was passing by you and a pleasant breeze shook your silky strings of hair and the pearls started dancing. I was overwhelmed by the utter ecstasy that I encountered.

In the morning when I was taking a stroll, I saw something very familiar. It was beads of sweat, which used to beautify your forehead, lying on the blades of grass in the form of dew. I was amazed how omnipresent you are!

I moved further and found children playing with gay abandon. Here again, I experienced something very known. Unremitting energy emanating from supple bodies had a semblance of your indefatigable exuberance.

By now I had passed quite a distance and understood more of you.

I was moving ahead with a mind full of your thoughts. Suddenly, a car screeched to halt.  The scene attracted attention of morning walkers. I too went there. I saw a lady frantically running to the site of the car where a boy of 10 was sitting his skin grazed and limbs bruised. First of all, she slapped him and then grabbed him in her arms. The child started crying but not because of pain but because of affection shown by his mother both in slap and in embrace.

Again I had a feeling of déjà vu. In your motherly scolding and affectionate reprimand, I have often experienced the emotions of that child. I was stunned how pervasive your impact is in the life, around me.

On the next bend of the road was a septuagenarian tottering with a stick. I found your patience in the stick to support a strong effort of feeble legs to traverse distances.

Now, I am assured that even if you are away, your presence is still very much there around me in variety of forms. And this presence will always defy the void that used to scare me to death. On my way back from the morning walk, I have earned this knowledge that you will remain in my life till my death, be it in any form-- droplets of dew or depths of patience!

To be left behind, alone!

Image Courtesy: Bing Images

It was the last boat that I saw off. Gradually, with the undulating moves of sea waves, the vision of the last boat also went blurred and finally the boat vanished. People who were with me moments ago have moved on in the direction of their desired destinations. Moments ago there was hullabaloo of emotions, now there is silence of separation.

I am wondering what happened to my boat.

I am alone on the coast with the footprints of the people who left. These footprints have restlessness and eagerness of reaching to the destination. They will also evaporate in the coming days as those who left them behind, evaporated a while ago.

A bird is asking me: why are you still here? Why didn’t you go with your friends?

Innocent bird doesn’t know I can’t fly in a flock as they do. We humans have sections based on some criteria and characteristics. Neither I fulfilled the criteria nor did I have the characteristics to stand at par with them. And for these very reasons, I am left behind.

Now the Sun is setting and the ink of darkness is getting splattered across the sky. Wind has withered and trees have turned into stone. The whole ambience seems defunct.  

Tonight, the Moon is eclipsed by clouds of despondency and stars seem pricking the eyes. The extensive bosom of sky seems shriveled to accommodate my grief spawned from separation.

The fragrance of people who left is still fresh in the air. The memories of moments spent together come unbidden to mind and bring tears to eyes without effort. This seclusion is suffocating. I am missing moments and madness (of those people) that were meticulously stitched with every day and night for past couple of years.

But then there is also a sense of happiness that others have carved success with their hard graft and committed determination. There is a vicarious feeling of rapture that others have blinded the world with their brilliance. With their scaling of heights, I also feel climbing up.

By and by, the darkness of the night is being wiped out by the youthful rays of the morning Sun. Birds have started chirping and wind has become lively again. Is it any sign of a new hope?

Aha! I can see a spot against the rising Sun in the sea. Is it a boat?

I keep my fingers crossed!

Mother Dear Mother

Image Courtesy: Bing Images

O! Mother I feel guilty that I was the reason for excruciating pain when I was in your tummy. And despite that horrible pain you never thought of getting rid of me. And today when you need me the most, I was planning to send you off to an old age home.

You were always there to support me when I was a toddler. Whenever I felt it tough to take one more step, you quickly grabbed me by your arms.  Today, when your bones have become brittle and your frame has become frail, I am so busy with my job that when you fell last night in the bathroom and got bruised; I was busy attending my meeting.

In the nights, when I used to be restless ,your lullabies calmed me.  When I was wondering about the existence of stars, you told me they were there to be plucked. You taught me how to see dreams and today you are miles away from my dream life.  

Your prayers had an essential inclusion of my wellbeing whenever you went before God, today I forget to include you when I go on a vacation. You always ensured that my favorite meal was on my plate, today I forget that you would be hungry as well ,when I devour exotic cuisines in plushy restaurants.   

You were my best friend whenever I wanted something to whisper to; today the clamor of my fast paced life stops me from hearing the words emanating from your quivering lips.

You were always proud of me, even if I was not that brilliant at studies and sports, and today I keep you tucked away in the corner of my house. You were the first one to reach to me whenever I felt like crying, today tears roll down from your eyes and I am engaged in celebrating New Year party.

You have developed wrinkles on your skin and I; on my mind. My thinking has got shriveled. I really feel ashamed of myself that I could only be the reason for your pain—right from my birth till now.

I am really sorry mother!

I am writing on the sand…

Image Courtesy: Google Images

You came into the life like a gush of wind and razed the poignant pall of despondency in a jiffy. I was flabbergasted at the ability of the God to create a person like you. If God is some artist, then you are his chef- d’ oeuvre.

 His chisels must have felt lucky to have helped him carve out such a wonderful piece of art out of inanimate heap of flesh and blood. Now, I know why your eyes shine when you smile, because they have the sweat-drops of God that went into your eyes when he was shaping up your eyes.  Now, I know why there is a blinding lightening when you smile, because it has the aura of God’s face that got rubbed off on you, when he was fashioning your face.

God painted your lips with ruddiness of the morning sun, he painted your cheeks with hue of a pink rose and he drenched your soul in the colors of a transparent sea. Since, you have the elements of the sublime nature, sometimes you become divine.

Your heart has incarcerated care, compassion, and affection and everyone gets a chance to meet them when they come across you and in turn they get imprisoned to your charm.

The warmth of your demeanor is as cozy as a blanket in a perishing climate. The strength of your support is as unwavering as the desire of mountains to touch the sky. You are always there when I need you -- be that in person or in notion. You touched and retouched my life.

I have very painstakingly written moments spent with you on the face of the earth, and I wish them to remain etched there forever, till the end of the earth.

Oh! No. The surface of the earth seems brittle, Good Lord! It was sand and I am watching the precarious surfs eager to decimate my moments. I feel weak, I feel feeble, before the roaring ripples and grisly waves.

But rest assured, I will try my utmost to cushion these moments from gruesome events, come what may! I will keep on fighting and I will keep on writing. Let’s see what wins, nature’s persecution or my determination!

A leaf breaks away…

Image Courtesy: Google Images

It was quite a succulent and lush green leaf. It used to sway in the wind with its other peers. The sweet aroma of ripe fruits of the tree used to enchant it. It had danced with the music of thundering clouds and the blow of sweet winds. It was very happy with its friends. The days were mesmerizing. The leaf used to feel quite comfortable amid the presence of its friends. It was enjoying life to the full.

One day a blow of the wind got impish and blew hard and the leaf got broken away from its bough. Suddenly, it was being drifted by the gust of the wind. It was inconsolable, it was devastated.

 The pain it felt was unprecedented in its life. It saw helplessly other leaves yelling for it. The fruits were frantically swaying as well to make themselves detached from the tree to be with their beloved leaf.

Gradually, all known scenes got out of sight and the mighty wind was carrying the leaf to a strange destination. The wind slammed it down on a rocky surface. It was really painful; the rough surface of the rocky mountain was pricking the supple body of the leaf. It was experiencing utter loneliness and fear. The rocky feeling was appalling for it. It was feeling excruciating pain. It missed the soft touch of its peers and wet drops of rain.

Whole night, the poor leaf was feeling uneasiness and praying for the wind to come and take it back to its friends. The Sun knocked at the foot of the rocky mountain in the morning and leaf got hopeful that now the wind will come and take it to its desired place.

The impish blow of the wind did come and once again started to drift the leaf but not to its place.  This time, it banged it down on a sandy surface. The Sun was shining with its all force and the sand turned boiling hot. The leaf started writhing, the heat was entirely unbearable. All energy liquid of the leaf’s body got sucked up by the heat. The leaf shriveled. It was a languishing entity. The leaf felt urgent need for water toward the evening.

The wind came again picked it up and left it on the surface of a flowing river. The leaf felt relieved for sometime, it tried to slurp the water to energize itself. But, after sometime, the water itself started mutilating it. In matter of hours, the leaf started rotting. And, finally it got lacerated by the callous conditions. However it tried, it couldn’t withstand the brutal forces of the destiny and drowned in the river forever, without any chance left to return to the tree again.

Rest In Peace the Leaf!

Yes I Have Seen Your Smile!

However you try to conceal it, I have seen your smile.

It was like a lightening in the aphotic sky, it was like shining in the blank eyes. Your smile had confidence of mountains and fragrance of flowers.

It was as pristine as the first snow of the season. I felt happiness for only this reason.

The feeling of fresh breeze caressing the leaves of a tree was evident in your smile to a tee.

Your smile has sheen of stars, but I like the aroma of earth in it. It has heights of mountains, but l like the depths of sea in it.

Your smile has strength of a falcon’s feathers, your smiles has courage of a sun to defy cloudy weathers.

Your smile has eternity of a rosary and tranquility of a hymn.

So, keep smiling, for the world needs more pearls of smile to outnumber the roughy stones of gloom.