Can the "Superman" ever be wrong?

I am a 30 year old working professional with a family and a child of my own. I would like to believe that I am reasonably well equipped in terms of my mental faculties to live in this world. However, a certain individual by the name of Pahlaj Nihalani wants me to believe otherwise. For the past one year he is time and again trying to tell me that I should not rely on my mental faculties to decide what is right or wrong, good or bad for me. He is trying to tell me that I am not mature enough to do so. He is trying to tell me that I should watch and listen (only on the celluloid though) to only what he thinks is suitable for me. He is trying hard to explain to me that whatever goes on in the world around me can be somehow negated and wished off only if we refuse to give it space on the celluloid screen. He is also telling me that if we committed the grave sin of giving it screen space, we are doomed as a society. It would tear apart our social and moral fabric and render us helpless and susceptible to all the demonic forces of the world. Such is the stuff that I am being forced to believe in, with the hope that repeating it over and over again would somehow legitimize it. Or that I would, some day, give up out of sheer exhaustion of resisting such absurdities, which are not even worth occupying my precious mental space.


Coming to the "Udta Punjab" controversy.  The makers of Udta Punjab have been asked to administer 89 cuts to their film, the most absurd being the removal of any reference to Punjab. What is the objective that is trying to be fulfilled here? I am myself a half-Punjabi, and it is heart-wrenching for me to witness the great fall of Punjab from the green revolution to the drug revolution. But the truth is that this is a fact, it is in the public domain and is known to one and all. It is not a secret wrapped up in some closet, that can be safely brushed under the carpet, so that no one comes to know about it. It is being lived by the old, the able and the children alike. Millions are trying to grapple with it daily. Millions are trying to make a sense of their life, gone all topsy-turvy, and trying to understand what went wrong. No ''sarkar'' has ever really honestly intended to end this scourge. It has been allowed to comfortably grow to such proportions, has been fed rather, that it has now turned into a big monster threatening to engulf the entire state and condemn it to a total ruin.


The key point here is that all of the above is widely in the public domain. So what purpose is being served by not allowing it to be depicted on the screen? Or in dressing it up in irrelevant niceties, so that it becomes meaningless drivel? What "public purpose" is being served here? Pahlaj Nihalani, the savior, is trying to save whom here, and from whom?


I think what is expected from us to understand here is that it is perfectly fine that thousands actual real of lives are actually being destroyed by this menace, but there is a big problem if we watch it being depicted on the screen.


Out of all this, I can understand only one thing, that I have seriously overestimated my mental faculties. My sincere apologies for the same! I am sure that I am incapable of ever having the requisite mental faculties to understand these simple things that are being tried to be explained to me. I am sure the fault lies with me, because the "Superman" can never be wrong!

Being a spectator!!

Have you been a spectator? I had been one and I believed the same for you as well; to each and every thing and everyone..I had been a spectator to innumerable people I knew and whom I didn't; to programs I viewed on the television and to LIVE cricket matches and to plays at Prithvi Theatre and NCPA. I had even been a spectator to corruption and to hostility of countless people..From now to the oldest of my memories, I had been a spectator to others MORE THAN to MYSELF.

And with every passing day, I intended and tried to move INWARDS. And I felt deeply revered to ludicrously pathetic at my LIFE'S LIVE performance. We LOVED being a spectator to a performance where people gave their 100% to what they did and we relished the outcome. I expected the same from myself. Sometimes, I felt so irritated at my raucous mind that I deliberately tried to assume myself drifting into irrelevance than to continue being my own spectator.

And then, the Sun rose. And the mind was afresh. And, a new thought. To rise above. Above oneself. From simply being you to being a spectator of yourself and then being what you were to what you can be OR moving away from just performing to the strategy to first visualize how you would want yourself to perform. To give yourself space and time to prepare and perform. And perform for just one person..Yourself...

It is really important to view yourself from the OUTSIDE; It lets you look at yourself from a different perspective..You assume to be another person with same mindset as yours and you watch yourself performing...And you really want to please the other person because first, its yours own virtual image and second, you would really want to enjoy your own performance. And that is what drives to perform with max energy.

I really want to enjoy my performance each day and it usually is a mix of full and partial achievement of my goals. But, I realize that I may lack in a few areas and I know that I need to fill those gaps. My Other person needs to enjoy me performing..I wanna keep him happy. My spectators must enjoy my performance. :-)

The Other Side of Silence - Urvashi Butalia

I just finished reading Urvashi Butalia’s “The Other Side of Silence”. It’s a book on Partition, dealing with the partition of Punjab….it is not an official account of the technicalities involved or the ‘’facts” about Partition, but deals with the impact of Partition on the human lives involved…. giving much needed space to the neglected and the silenced ones….women, children and the marginalized communities (the “Harijans”, as they are called)…..

After finishing this read, I expected to feel in myself an upsurge of emotions, a feeling of disbelief in what she has written…..but that didn’t happen…..may be because the accounts I read are so unbelievable that you keep on reading them like a robot without actually registering the enormity of what occurred…..may be because they are from too distant a past not having any direct bearing on me…..or is it because such barbaric and inhumane incidents are not able to surprise anymore?....Have they become a trend rather than an exception?....

The devaluing of the human lives that happened at the time of Partition, when the fact that a human being was just that first and foremost, a HUMAN BEING, became irrelevant and inconsequential….the only things that remained important were the adjectives that can be attached to a human being….those pertaining to religion, gender, caste, class and the like……did this devaluation happen only then?.....does this not happen day in and day out….may be on a different scale…..may be in a different form…..but does it not? Women are still the secondary gender, no matter how much we talk of gender equality……children are not even considered as separate individuals in their own right, but only as an extension of the parents….as if they were brought into the world for the sole purpose of the fulfilment of the unrealized drams of the parents….the marginalized on the basis of religion, caste and class are not even considered worthy of being treated as human beings at times…..

Why do these state of affairs not trouble us? Why does it not give us sleepless nights? How are we able to accept this and live our lives as usual? Why are we always ready with the excuse that a single individual was remained incapable of doing anything about anything? Why do not all these single individuals decide to make a difference, at least in their own lives, in which case everything will take care of itself automatically?

But till such time this utopia is realized, do read these personal and human accounts of the survivors of Partition…..it will force you to think, after you get over the numbness……of the meaninglessness of it all……..

A big thank you to Urvashi Butalia for uncovering some of the silences……

The Shadows..

The reverberations of an unruly mind bridging the gap of the real and imaginary you..The imaginary quotient is like that unfulfilled dream that you aspire for..The dream that you work on to achieve...

There are shadows that travel within the mind to remind about that dream...The shadows actually live that dream before the real you could  experience it...The shadows keep reminding of the commitment you once had to achieve those dreams...The shadows are really powerful because they have the capability to force you to act...They show you your naked face, the wrinkles of imaginary you behind your real face...They expose you to yourself..They bug you and hit you at time when you least want them..

The shadows of procrastination, of lies, of feeble you, of insecure you, of your lacklustre performance, of your troubled relationships, of your dark realities....The shadows that hide behind the real you, of real you creating a paradoxical mind...

And the life revolves around these shadows...Around bridging the gap between imaginary and real you..The gaps are meant to be bridged..They will certainly be bridged...The shadows will show the way...

Emptiness

Emptiness is good. It renders free space. There is huge shortage of emptiness in today's India. There are people and there are objects; all around. There are endless vehicles and the sky is full of planes. I search for emptiness everyday but I cant find it. I go out to parks which are closed in the afternoon; coffee shops and Mc. Donald's thats full of young crowd. There is construction; big malls and residential building all around. There is pollution and there is too much of rush everywhere.

Emptiness brings value to our ecosystem...my coffee mug has its value because of the space it possesses.....My mind is hardly peaceful because its hardly empty anytime....There is always a rush of blood to my head and innumerable thoughts that add to turbulence of my mind....Emptiness is peace to me and my final aim..

Where the mind is without fear

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

Thank God he is not alive to witness the chaos, turmoil, pettiness and the death of humanity today....

I AGREE....and I WISH

Professor Apoorvanand doesn't have a son but I am sure he would want his daughter to develop into an independent minded humane individual. I have a son, right now too young, his innocence in full bloom, untouched from most that goes around him. But he will grow in due course, and I wish that he turns into an individual capable of thinking on his own, capable of questioning anything and everything that goes around him, including his parents' thoughts, decisions, biases, prejudices, everything. I wish he grows into an individual who values humanity above all else, who understands empathy, who has the ability to suffer for others as he would for himself, who has the courage to stand up for what he thinks right and admit equally adroitly if he realizes he was wrong. I wish he develops into a human being who understands what it should mean to be a human being. I wish this now and I will wish this always. And wishes do come true, only if you wish hard enough!

Sense of responsibility!!

Shakespeare said, "The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves".

I agree with the above statement and I have truly started to believe in it. The kind of environment in which i was brought up was charged  with 2 parallels - one to act and the other to leave the rest to God. Why leave to God - because whatever has to happen will happen anyway. This was really confusing as then, this challenged the very logic of me trying to accomplish anything. So, although the action was given true importance, it was also confronted by the predestined philosophy.
But over a period of time, i did realise the importance of "responsibility" in life and that generated the psyche to own the tasks performed by me. And then, in the absence of an action, it was me to be blamed, not the destiny. It took to me some time to start becoming responsible for the tasks I own, but it also generated a raging desire to be disciplined and focussed towards accomplishing the tasks. There were challenges and i realised - Everyone of us has some or the other responsibility and its the duty of each one of us to act with precision and take complete ownership of the tasks assigned to us.
The more we accept the responsibility of who we are and who we cam become, the greater will be our progress and contribution.

Detach yourself!!

Hope is here to stay...A man needs to trust himself and must not limit his thoughts based on the events of a day...every day is different and brings in more energy and more scope for accomplishing your half met targets...every moment is separate from the previous one and a thrust of energy, a rush of blood can change the game...keeping looking for avenues that take you towards your goal..THINK and ACT carefully and detach yourself from the outcome of the previous moment...A person need to work on an outcome based approach and also detach himself from the outcome of the previous moment. The driving factor must not be the outcome of the previous moment....IT must only be achievement of the final goal that must drive a person to move forward!

A wanderer........OR....

The pathway looked abstruse and capable of bemusing the journeyer...The real is disguised by the misrepresentations of the perplexed mind.. And the journeyer wanders... Her own fake mindset forces her to stop but she does not stop...It is her battle against her mind to keep moving and so she marches ahead...She had been a fighter till now, but just a mere fighter..And she fought and could just do that..Her energies were not spent in "where to progress" but   were rather spent in "not stopping". And so, she succeeded to move but still failed herself because in-spite of moving all through and not stopping when the circumstances were adverse, she failed to accomplish anything..

And one day she realised that all this time when she thought of herself as a focussed journeyer, she was just being a wanderer..Her fighting spirit marred by lack of reason reduced her to a mere wanderer..an aimless entity wrapped in the personification of a big tree..but a day came when the tree fell down..a rootless tree fell down...

What could she do now? Too feeble to move and realising that she was just being an irrational fighter, she lacked the strength to get up...she was unacceptable to anyone in this world. But she did fight and in some way, could win over her mind but no one registers that.. Still, she could manage to be optimistic...She regarded her journey as worthy enough of distinguishing her from the rest of the world and so, its an accomplishment in itself. The world is too ruthless to appreciate her journey...why is it that nobody admires the journey when its unfinished? The society is too used to work with the finished products of fine quality...Anything lesser is rendered inefficient and looked down upon as unfit and being tagged as a mere wanderer..

And she realised that its her life and so, nothing else mattered. And she again gathered the strength to move,but this time, she moved with a reason...A reason known only to her and that made her a journeyer in her own eyes. The world could still think of her as a wandered and it did not matter to her anymore...And she knew that she wouldn't fall this time because she had got a reason.....A reason strong enough to make her journey worthwhile.............

"Intolerance"

The purpose of this piece is solely to voice my solidarity with one and all who are standing up against the 'intolerance' being depicted in the nation. I am not apologetic of voicing my opinion now and I would not like to justify or clarify to anyone the merits or demerits of the timing chosen by me for voicing my opinion. Whether or not I had voiced my opinion in the past, what are my political inclinations and so on and so forth are nobody's concern. I am also not concerned with quantifying 'intolerance' and measuring whether it is 'rising' or 'falling'. I would also like to clarify that I do-not wish to qualify 'intolerance' with the adjective 'religious'. Castigating individuals for belonging to a particular educational institution which protested on certain issue, hurling abuses at an individual for voicing his opinions for the sole reason that he is a celebrity (forgetting that he is firstly an equal citizen of the nation) and his opinions don't coincide with yours and so on and so forth, are all examples of extreme 'intolerance'. And they will remain so irrespective of the political dispensation of the day, in a similar manner that 'Emergency' remains a shining example of extreme 'intolerance', irrespective of the political dispensation of the day. Out of the multifarious voices rising up today, some might be sane, others not, some might be sincere and genuine, others not, some might be well-intentioned, other not, but picking up all these, bundling them together and labelling them with rhetorical terms like 'politically motivated', 'anti-national' is actually quite hilarious, bordering on the insane. So, let us please not get gobbled up by paranoia and let some sense prevail....

The horror of the absurd

At bewilderment to at loggerheads

In the dark dungeons of heart, hollowness prevails. The emotions are too volatile to stay permanently and often change or leave leading to a prevalence of hollowness. Filled with too much of illogical crap and multifaceted opinions, its too much filled and still be as hollow as a galaxy black hole.

There have been many attempts at concretising the views but they still win at perplexing the self. Not to be bewildered by such a state, there is a lookout for more ideas to motivate oneself to frame and give shape to a particular idea. But time seems to work on it and the thought fades away leading to more bafflement.

Tired of such a vicious circle, the mind has come up with an idea. To be at loggerheads with the heart and initiate a journey from bewilderment to a dispute with myself; a dispute, more of a war with everything except the ONE; the one that the heart-mind combo decides now. A decision with no alternative paths and a journey with no stoppages. A well thought of plan and its creative execution. At loggerheads with all the obstructionist forces, arising from within and killing them within..

I wanna go with the jogi

Mother o mother

I made friends with a falcon

I made him a sumptuous cake of grain but he does not eat it,

I fed him with my love

One day he flew off

Never to return to me

              -Wordings from a punjabi folk song...

Oh! Mother, I am in love with the jogi who came to my home and sat stubbornly at  the door. Adorning the bridal mark, i want to go with the jogi. All the pains will vanish with the solace of his embrace.

Sitting there in disguise with a bridal mark, i want to go with the jogi...

God is, God is, God is with me.

You are unique!

Whoever you are, there is some younger person who thinks you are perfect. There is some work that will never be done if you don't do it. There is someone who would miss you if you are gone. There is place that you alone can fill.
                                - Jacob M. Bruade

Who you are? What is the purpose of your life? Why are you even living? Are these the questions that haunt an idle mind or a busy one? As busy as an ant? Industrious just as ants but not really focused towards one ambition. But you try. And that's your only satisfaction. And in the end you should be satisfied which you are. So, that's your life. And you think, and think more and more. And more. And you decide to follow a plan. A plan to glory! The final one. This should work. A hope. 

Whoever you are and whatever you are, you are the best. Because you think. And you listen and you know yourself better every moment. You try, you succeed and you fail. And every morning you get up to succeed. In the single day, you climb up 100 times and fall 200 times and then you rise up again. But you rose up! And you achieved 10% of what you had planned. And you did achieve. And you are seeing the positive side, being a sport. And 12% the next day; you improved. You are happy and you deserve a treat. That's your life. YOUR life with most of YOU in it. 

And that's who you are. And your purpose in life - To make every moment better than the previous one. To rise up every time you fall. To smile and be happy, always..Mostly..And that's what keep you going, the spirit to continue..The motivation to move. The love for your life.

In the name of Pujari Laldas

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for.                                                                                   -John A. Shedd

 If the fear of sinking holds the ship from sailing, the ship is bound to stagnate and even the water at the harbor will become its graveyard. A day will come soon enough when that same ship will be weakened because of its own fears; it wont even be able to withstand the usual waves that move to and fro to the same 
harbor.

For me, Pujari Laldas represented the ship that had the courage to sail in turbulent waters.  Unperturbed and poised by the communally charged environment, he held his views firm and showed resolute endurance that has become truly inspirational for me.

Though he became a victim of the extremist forces and was murdered in early 90s, his views and his voice will always reverberate in my head and he would always be alive for me, in my heart.

True happiness is to rest satisfied with what you have!

Hurdles - They really test you and pulls you out of the comfort zone. They are good in that sense as they grill you and forces you to face them.
As they keeping popping up or not, you always need to be content and satisfied with your life. Thats the only thing that matters really; you ran away from a challenge or you face it; you feel intimidated by a challenge or not, its ultimately your decision and you can correct a wrong decision as well.. You do get chances mostly to grow up.. And so, be easy and be satisfied and value what you have. Thats the way to lead a good life!

Realise your powers and limitations..work towards knowing your inner self; sometimes its good to know that there may be things you cant do, goals you cant achieve than what you can do..Too much restlessness can make you miserable..have the courage to know your genuine self.

Choosing a Character

Characters...a tv character or a movie character etc...? A personification of someone real or imaginary symbolising something thats already scripted...They learn and prepare for their role, rehearse and then give their final performance....And then there are audience to judge them; sleepless nights and lots and lots of hard work is judged by the people as significant or insignificant..And the judgement of the audience becomes highly consequential and a deciding factor about career of a person..

And a person struggles..Success or failure - everyone strives for better...The satisfied being stagnates..

How about real life roles? The role as sister or mother or a brother, a husband or a wife? There are no readymade scripts in real life, only performances and all of them LIVE!!!!!! And, the audiences do exist as well and even more so aware and judgemental about your performance...Because, they are impacted if you don't perform well and so, they would make sure to teach you a lesson at any time required...And so, you try to be more cautious and aware of the situations, trying to predict them beforehand and act accordingly...Many times, you do fail... And then, you try changing characters..An employee, a husband, a son or a wife embodying an imaginary character that meets the expectations of their respective audiences..And they try to script everything.. And they rehearse and they perform and they are judged...And performance after performance, creating scripts in perplexing situations, the person remains in two minds...Follow the script or the self..And this is one decision that he has to take everyday in every other situation...And then, this life becomes a big pretence...

And then, the Sun rises...Start of a new day and an old struggle continues...A man at war with himself or his audiences...Or can he script a middle path and walk a fine line? Lets try and script it...

The phoenix

And in the end it’s all just ashes….that is what remains of a human life….and when the noise and the clamour dies….when the wails become silent and the tears dry….when all get re-occupied with the routine and the mundane…..then is the time when it rises…..rises like a phoenix….taking its shape from those very ashes…..all those memories which you never even knew that they existed…..all those moments that you had never even registered….all of it and much more…..it all rises in the form of that phoenix and slowly and subtly reminds you of its presence….in between your meeting schedules…..when you are cooking in the kitchen….when you are driving….when you are reading with a cup of tea in your hand….when you are watching your favourite show on the television….when you are just about to hit the bed….when you are in your shower…..and anytime when you least expect it to…..the phoenix becomes a part of your life…..to remind you of a human life that once existed…..and also to remind you that you will also one day be that phoenix….and also to remind you, not how inconsequential human life is, but on the contrary, how precious and priceless it is…..because it might just end any moment….and you might not even know….one moment you are a human life…..and the next you are a phoenix…..so where is the place in all this….of all the trivialities….of all the adjectives we use to classify a human life…..and give a status to those adjectives that is larger than life itself….the adjectives that classify and compartmentalize a human life into male and female and the rest….into Hindu and Muslim and the rest….into a Punjabi and a Tamil and the rest…..into a believer and a non-believer and the rest….and into the million other categories that we devise…..and spend all our lives doing it…..devising categories to fit people into them….so that we could decide whether to love them or hate them or just ignore them…..and in all this…the one single life that we have…that is our own…..just passes by…moment by moment….second by second…..closer and closer to those ashes…..to rise into a phoenix….a phoenix that is just a mirror of the human life that once was….as trivial or as consequential as that human life could make it…..

Hold your cuckoos tight!

There are voices. There are sounds. There are people speaking all around you. Sometimes relevant, mostly irrelevant. You listen in. You don't have a choice. Sometimes you register, sometimes you don't. And then you try to concentrate on something relevant to you.    You read a book or you tune in to some music. You feel better. There are things you feel like running away from and then there are things that attract you. You are jogging in the morning and hear a cuckoo's koo koo. You may like it. But why do you like it?  Because its tune to your ears but thats not really pertinent to you. May be you are not that individualistic that you just care about about your material obsessions. May be you FEEL some things. 
You have heart to feel and to distinguish between what to listen and what to feel. And so, all looks alright. But sometimes, you may want that same Cuckoo to just shut up. And then, you shout at it or may be, throw a stone at it and scare it. She stops to koo and flies away. And you are back to your own self. Happy or no, you must be unhappy, downcasted by someone or some emotion. And you are back alone. That cuckoo's voice wasn't really a noise but a soothing tune; but that day, you just did not register it. That day, it was just you.You subjugated and wanted to overcome everything around you. In a bid to control and hold back your own emotions, you dared to control others. In that moment, you held yourself supreme and instead of renouncing your own emotions, you went on to hurt others. The rhythmic cuckoo became a black ugly bird for you. Your perspectives changed, narrowing your view. Blinded by your own incapability to assimilate and conform to the circumstances, you just deepened the pit that was dug for you and you fell into it. 

Sometimes, It becomes really important that you feel what you must feel and control your mind and force yourself into action. There are situations when the mind just wants to sink itself into a pit hole, making circumstances more difficult. But, you mustn't fly the cuckoos away. There are people in your life that have always mattered to you and will always do. If you let them go, your life may not be the same again. 

India of my dreams....

Truth, logic and reasoning are crucified when jugglery and deception become the norm and goalposts are shifted. So when cow becomes "gaumata", eating beef becomes a sin and murdering people becomes an act to be sympathized with, because who can resist when one's mother is being attacked? The Constitution is twisted and turned, religion is used as a plaything and God....who cares about that anyway? And the Prime Minister, unfortunately and sadly has his hands tied because law and order is a state subject.

WELCOME TO THE INDIA OF MY DREAMS.

You are hereby constitutionally guaranteed the freedom of speech and expression....the freedom to say or to remain silent....but shhhh....shhhh....shhhh....how could you work as a bar dancer?...its indecent and vulgar....We bar you from earning your livelihood....Oh!...how could you wear such indecent clothes and venture out so late at night, all on your own? Don't blame anyone later....girls like you are responsible for your own fate....How could you even think of watching such vulgarity...so what if it is even in the confines of your bedroom?....We forbid you to do it....what?....you want to attend the concert of the famous Ghulam Ali....but have you forgotten his origins?....so what if he is an artist par excellence....so what if he is just another individual as everyone else is....We will ensure that no such concert takes place at the first place....how could you even utter those words?....have you forgotten your gender?....how can you even have a thought of marrying a girl?.....Don't forget it's a sin....We forbid you.....What?....you are tired of living in this undeserving world?...But who told you, you have a right to your life?....We condemn you to live....because it is we who decide....we the people....we the collective....you are just an individual....inconsequential....invisible.....WE are the ones who rule....and shall always do....

WELCOME TO THE INDIA OF MY DREAMS.

The Outsider

They assure you…and they reassure you….

There’s no doubt in their mind that you now completely belong…

That you are all just one….that the impossible has become true….

That there is nothing that now remains…..nothing for which you shall long…..

 

And then it all begins….slow and silent….subtle and sublime….

Those furtive talks….those secret laughs…..at first you don’t care a dime….

But then it grows….and gathers….and spreads….

Whispers become loud…as it gains multiple heads….

 

In scared awe…..in disbelief….with eyes wide open….you watch….

In light and dark….with nakedness stark….its uncompromising march….

And it speaks and shouts….those words out loud….it had hidden all along…..

YOU ARE THE OUTSIDER…..you will always be….dare not even dream to belong….

Keep moving

A child was about to be born and the first thing she strenuously strove for was a challenging task, a struggle to make her way out of her mother's womb and reach this world; to see a world she waited for so many months, floating in a light-less water, alone and hidden from the world.

She was out in the world now and the meaning of life just changed for her. The world looked much more different than how it was in the past months. But that was how she had learned to be persistent and patient when it was most required because in such a situation, life did not give her any other option.

And so, a "struggle for existence" marked the start of life for the little child. And, though the life is much more that just thinking about the struggles, it just taught the child the underlying truth of living life; to never forget that in times of need when you would feel stuck and disgusted by the situations, you need to believe that there is a definitely a light at the end of the tunnel and so, you should just keep moving and never stop.

And this would be your journey - not just to the last day of your life but an inner journey to the spiritual confines of your soul and living this life based on constancy of ticking clock. The train of your life will halt at morning and night stations and the time spent in between would be the defining factor of the life. And the train never stops and so, you don't get that option. Happy or unhappy, you would be pulled by the train. This is just another way of letting us know - To LIVE and live happily. You are doing your best. Even if you failed at something, you either did try your best or you learnt. 

The clock keeps ticking, the heart keeps thumping, the sun keeps rising and setting, the eyes keep blinking, the thoughts keep running through your mind...Movement and marching ahead happily is the sole lesson this life wants us to learn and the sooner we learn, the better the results would be...

My Voice

My Voice…did I ever have one of my own?...

I spoke often but the words, I am afraid, were loaned…

 

The mothers…fathers…brothers….sisters…uncles….aunties…neighbours….

That every person other than myself….young or old….lesser or greater…..

All those who existed in the past…those that lived….and would one day live…

Some of those who mattered and some who were just another blip…

Some who had always only spoken that which they heard from someone else…

Some who were oblivious of mind’s existence….some who crooned paeans dedicated to their own self…

Some who always shouted….some who never spoke….

Some who thought only this…”Life will take its own course….”

Some who could think….some who only pretended to….

Some who wanted to hold on….some who could just let go….

 

In all these voices of him….of her….of all of them….

Did I ever have one that was my own….that was saying something more than just following the trend?...

 

This question is not mine to answer….at least not mine alone….

We will all have to answer it some day….can’t dodge it for too long….

The day we choose to answer this….let’s hope it dawns with a bless….

That the only word that parts our lips….is nothing but a resounding “Yes”….!!!!

Look ahead

The day was marred by so many 'why's....certain decisions taken in the past....Why were they taken and even though they proved right, it sounds immaterial now if they point to an aimless direction...What marks an action as a right or a wrong decision is to be decided by proper justifications of the mind, but what if the mind lack those? Then u must not be trying enough and not living the life to the fullest..And your struggle to evolve and be aware of yourself must go on until you realize and understand the complex phenomenons of your mind and then, you need to tame your mind as per your own awareness..The mind gains awareness to know whats its doing wrong and then tames itself towards the correct path..Correcting oneself is the need, the sole desire and soul peace..And so, the time that's yet to come had more bearing than the past and so, whys look more appropriate to the future decisions than to past and so, 'look ahead' is the need of the hour and must be followed religiously. There are many tasks lined ahead and if they can be well planned logically, the life would certainly change for better. The unnecessary inconvenience needs to be avoided with the sole motive of look ahead policy...
All the best