Naughty smiles :)

There are times when, in wrong situations, an unexpected smile arrives. When thoughts swirl in the mind and a spontaneous smile comes, it really is embarrassing when people stare. Doing something mischievous, following which the vivid expressions on my face, always give me away.

One such day I was in a peppy mood. Singing songs, greeting everyone I met, I was enjoying myself. On our office staircase, I started swinging to the song I was singing. Well, logically this shouldn’t be done, not when all your seniors sit on the same floors. But who cares about logic on a fine day! The moment I turned for taking another staircase, I almost collided with a group of people which included one of my seniors too. Even then the problem wasn’t me colliding, the problem was I had this huge idiotic smile on my face with my thoughts being: “I was dancing right here. What a pity! You missed!” Of course, everyone stared at me for seconds on end. To me it seemed like minutes. All of them had question marks on their faces. It was fun seeing them that way, as I knew they wouldn’t ask me the reason for my smile.

It feels great to have some secret joke to smile at or laugh at. These naughty smiles give different experiences to live in a dragging monotonous life.

Effortless expression

I present a piece whose creation required absolutely no effort. The words just flew from my mind. Other things that I have written needed at least some kind of effort, some thinking and some time that I needed to put into them, before they could be completed. But this one here, it was just effortless.

The meaning which the six lines explain is strangely fitting for me and the situation I wrote them in. But today, instead of dwelling on the reason behind, I just see the piece as a combination of words which I could put together to express myself.

I was and still am amazed that I am able to write, telling things I want to, in a beautiful way. This one here was one of the first things I wrote and so it’s close to my heart.

I close my eyes
A tear escapes
It seems like a diamond
And people watch it dazed
But for me, it is the loss of a lifetime
I never had opportunity to face.

Three days of heaven

Recently there has been a substantial increase in the traffic of Ahmedabad. The blame most probably lies on enormous vehicle sales that took place during Dashera time. Whatever the reason, it is pure hell to drive through. It is very draining to stand in a traffic jam for hours, inhaling all the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. In the evening, it used to take me an hour and a half to reach my home for the drive of half an hour. Then came Diwali and the streets were thronged by feisty shoppers increasing the traffic woes. L And of course the fire crackers were the worst of it all.

But, after Diwali the scene has completely changed. I don’t know about the other states, but in Gujarat, the market remains closed for four days after the New Year has started and get opened up on the fifth day. This year, because of some astrological calculation, only three days are there. But these three days are pure heaven. Very less vehicles on the roads, pure air to breathe and complete relaxation of the mind. I wish these three days would continue forever.

A serious thought behind this: The way we humans are using the non renewable sources of energy and the amount of carbon dioxide produced being so huge, we really are slowly and steadily killing earth and of course along with the flora, fauna and ourselves. Everyone, and I mean everyone, the rich, the poor, the illiterate, the educated, the Indians, the Europeans, need to make a conscious effort to conserve energy, to start using the renewable sources (in whatever little things we can), stop deforestation at any cost, plant trees wherever possible, make the usage of fire crackers completely nil, stop wastage of water etc. These things are in our hands and we can practice them in our daily lives. Let’s wake up and stop killing the earth.

Oh! Edward

Having read all the five books of the Twilight saga (the partial draft of midnight sun included), getting your mind away from Edward is kind of an impossible thing to do.

Liking Edward (I didn’t want to use a more stronger word J) has got only a little bit to do with looks. After seeing the first movie and Robert Pattinson in it, though he more or less fits the bill, the feeling didn’t go much deep. His looks, no doubt are very good, but when compared with ‘The Edward’, the author has described, has left me untouched. I had expected to be swept away and in the world that didn’t need much from me in the imagination department, as the things I have read, I was going to see them now. But, the movie left me unsatisfied as I am sure the same reaction was invoked in many other people.

The words ‘Oh Edward’ aren’t far away when reading the books. The most interesting part is that, they are completely involuntary. His nature, his characteristics, the way he takes care of everything, his expressions, his stubbornness of choosing the right thing for her, all these are the things that make him hot. I won’t deny that him being utterly handsome and his having out of the world beauty added so much that then the adjective ‘hot’ does not even come close to describing him.

There is probably not a single gal remaining who has read the Twilight saga and not fallen in love with Edward. It seems the guys would have to do quite a bit too much to match up to him. :D

Happy Somethings

In reel life, the life on TV, in theatres, there are always endings. Happy, sad, not so good not so bad, but always endings. For real people, there are no endings. A beginning once in a while but other than that life goes on with up and downs, with changes. The bursts of happiness with which our lives become alive, I am glad they are not endings, they really are “Happy Somethings”.

The reel stories with happy endings are the most adorable. You watch a sit com, follow the lives of the characters. Sometime later a bond is formed. You identify with them, their pains, their problems, their love, their happy somethings, their moments of change, their calling, actually their lives. When it draws to close with a happy ending that is huge, big and great, that is going to change their lives forever with contentment, satisfaction and happiness in the backdrop, it compels you to feel, after all the struggles and problems, why, in my life, can’t there come a happy something (coz I really don’t wish it to be an ending) which is like a huge bubble so that when it will burst, it will cover my complete remaining life.

On second thoughts, I can’t say I am glad but it’s a thing to rejoice that a single happy something does not stretch over complete life because if that would happen it will be very difficult to appreciate the real meaning of happiness.

May be that’s why reel life isn’t real.

All thanks to Technology…!!!

Yesterday in office, we had a heavy discussion on mobile computing. We were discussing some basics of the technology and were confused in some part of Mobile database stations. So I wanted to check it in a book which I had to study as a part of my syllabus during my engineering.

I still have kept all my books, even the tutorial files in my cupboard. Other than files and books, I have stored many precious things – every small gift presented to me by my friends, my drawings, crafts everything. These are some of the most beautiful memories of my life, most favorite things existing on the earth.

I can not think of losing any single thing at any cost. While I was searching for the book I found a small cute diary having flowery design on the cover page. As I could not remember what it is, it made me curious. I opened it and… oh! Telephone diary. A typical telephone diary having two alphabets on each page. I was supposed to write numbers of my friends in school (though I rarely used it, having a good number memory B) ).

This tiny diary made me think how things have changed today. We are so much dependent on our mobiles now. Earlier you had to dial numbers and you’ll remember it after dialing 3-4 times. Today you just need to store it once, i.e. only one person has to mention his/her number, will give missed call to other person. You’ll never have to check that number again once it is stored (Missed call is also a very interesting thing ;-) ). Moreover, no need to remember birthdays. just set birthday reminders. Somehow I feel in the whole procedure, the real charm is lost.

No doubt it has made life much easier, but a hand-made card touches heart more than an E-card. A letter is more appealing than a SMS. It reflects human emotions and expresses feelings beautifully. Today emotions have also become digital. No wonder, technology has made it cheaper and easier to keep in touch with dear ones who are away. But neither speakers nor web cameras can give a feeling which is even near to touch. We follow “Walk when you talk”, but can it compare a walk with a friend on a river front? Where you can read all the questions, fears or joys in your friend’s eye without saying a single word? And in chat… due to poor network connections, we miss some lines and misunderstandings take place… aaaaa.. it is so irritating.

Even though it fails to give 100% satisfaction, we can not overlook its advantages and something is better than nothing. Due to technology, we can instantly convey important messages and you don’t need to wait for long to execute your plans.

Techie things are like Maggie, you can instantly cook, tasty to eat and also satisfies hunger and letters, cards, walk, touch are “Chicken soup for the soul” :-).

Real Fascinating Instances

The world we live in. It is devoid of violence, hunger, danger and even change. We spend our time with the same people, face the same situations daily. No fascinating things to talk about, no real life experiences to share its all really dull. But after I heard some stories about the things I have not imagined in my entire life, I realized, so what if there is no change, at least there is no violence and danger. These stories I am going to narrate here are the ones that I heard from a person who is my uncle and who has served in the Indian military all his life. In addition to that, he even was chosen for UN missions, which no doubt took him to new experiences and dangers of course.

The most fascinating for me: About the UN mission, he was posted to Congo, Africa for a peace mission as a senior person. The strange part about that was he had 86 people from different nationalities working under him. He stated that there were people from all over the world. He learnt Swahili, the native language used there. As he amusingly said, how were we people supposed to bring about peace if we couldn’t speak to anyone! The other shocking thing was that Congo does not have a government. The country is not managed by any official body. There are military groups and as they have weapons they rule their areas. He said as soon as you cross one group’s limits, the other groups gets hold of you. The groups are fighting among themselves and there being no government, there is no one to interfere. Innocent people are killed daily in such wars and there is very less to eat so the people are even moving towards cannibalism. The only way to travel there is by your vehicle and there are no roads. They have to travel through mud and undefined areas. I could not really believe that such a place existed even in the 21st century.

Once they had to fight one such group to save a small village, the group had been terrorizing for food and other things. It really was tough for them but they made it. The chief of the village is the most highly respected person. And the authority he has is unquestionable. So when these people saved the village, he gave the thing that represented his being chief to my uncle. That thing was the “Tail of a Makau”. I think a Makau is a species of a monkey found in Africa. So much unrealistic!! A wood had been inserted inside the tail, so that it could be held easily. My uncle told me that if you walk the streets of any town or village in Congo carrying Makau’s tail, everyone around treated you with respect and even took themselves away from the path you were walking. Very much unbelievable right? I saw that thing and have even held it in my arms. It feels eerie to hold a Makau’s tail in your own hand.

For the next installment of real yet unbelievable stories, keep tab on my coming blogs.

Song of the month

Some days back, I, with my mom got to animatedly cleaning and organizing the age old cassettes and discs we had. Today, however, we siblings try to convince our parents into using the newest technology, they don’t feel comfortable. So when it comes to music too, there’s the same scenario and hence all the old cassettes and discs are kept safely. But I agree that there is no doubt that the collection of songs is awesome and there is very little chance that these classics can be obtained again.

In between cataloging and reading the songs from the cover, we were playing the songs which interested us. That’s when we encountered a cassette that had a mixture of songs without any particular category from different old movies. I heard this particular song. It probably was from the era where still play back singing hadn’t been introduced and I am unaware about the movie considering the time. Yet the music and lyrics mesmerized me. And I listened to it many times. So after that, whenever I tried to hum, I had that song on my mouth. And today it’s almost been a month and still that tune is stuck in my head.

Here’s a peep into the lyrics:
Woh paas rahen ya door rahen nazaron mein samaye rehte hain,
Itna to bata de koi hamein
Kya pyaar isi ko kehte hain

Well, thats the mukhda, and beyond that I am unable to remember. May be I will hunt for that cassette and listen to the song once more (the pull is irresistible) and write out the lyrics, so that I’ll be able to sing the complete song whenever my heart tells me to.