Living in the moment

It was a day like any other day filled with learning & laughter & anguish & questions & answers & no answers & ...

The day was unusually warm and humid which added to the tribulations going on in my mind with the thoughts in my mind. While all that was going on, the sky had its share of clouds floating around for the sun to play hide and seek with it. It seemed to be keeping pace with my mind.

As I walked down the quite road back to my resort, I aimlessly decided to head towards the sea and witness the beautiful sun go down the sea while playing with the clouds.  I walked up to the beach aimlessly and sat down at a spot with a 'thud'... I let my legs spread in front of me with my back arched forward and hands playing on the soft sand of Cherai. I let my mind wander on the day with eyes looking at the sun settling its business for the day with the sea.. I stared at the sun and then at the sea as the sun rays shimmered over it.

The glare was strong for me to move my focus from the water bed to that of the little boy playing with the waves in front of me. He would jump at the waves coming towards him and then chase it back into the sea as the waves receded... Run back again as the new waves would touch his feet. He was doing that with laughter and freedom, not being bothered about anything but the waves, which seemed to keep pace with the boy's laughter and run up & down the beach...

After the boy left the beach, I was all alone in my world looking at the last few rays that were split across the sky by the clouds. The sun was not in its full form but its beauty was printed on the sky like the little boy playing with his new friend and learning the art of being in the moment...

As I got up to leave the beautiful Cherai beach with the sun having gone down leaving space for the moon to spread its wings of calmness on the vast sea, the Ocean said to me..

इस लम्हे में रहो और ऐश करो', 

खुद से सवाल मत कर.. 

ज़िन्दगी इन्ही लम्हो से बनती है ,

इसी में खुशियां है, जो तुझी में है 

(Enjoy the moment that you are in, Stop questioning yourself. Life is made of these moments.. Live in its happiness for you have it in YOU!!)

Society.. Aha!!!

Dad: Don't be so rude to the people who are supporting us
Me: What crap dad, these people from the so called society are good for nothing!! (Enraged tone)
Dad: Son, this is the society that we live in and we have to support each other and that is the what creates the brotherhood.
Me: Dad, I do not believe it, few days back when we were in need none of these guys came forward and supported our view rather they wanted us to compromise. Why should I support them.
Dad: That was their view point, we don't have to accept it. But feel good that they have cared enough to share their view point. Is it not what is important that you are being cared for.
Me: Sorry not my kind of society, what use is these kind of view points that have no value, I do not care for the society. I will go ahead with what I think is good.
Dad: You are young and hot blooded, give it some time and you will know what I am intending you to see...
Me: May be... may be not.. I don't care (Left the room thumping with anger)

This was some 20 years back when I suppose I was in my prime of teenage. It was then and now, I seem to have fully reckoned with what my dad tried me to look at..

Off late when one had to travel on official purpose, family being at the base location is something very normal to recon with. Though one travels off to different places, the safety and well being of the family is always on the back of the mind. I am for sure that my better half is well equipped to manage her self and our son. But, recently while travelling realised that both of them were down with severe viral and were not able to move much, and me to reach back would take at least one more day. Though a few of my friends knew about their sickness but not many were aware. By the time I reached home, my son was on a recovery mode and wife was still struggling. To add to the trouble, I had also got bitten by the viral bug and rendered me immobile. The few days that followed was very touching, help just kept pouring in from all quarters from within the apartment complex. People from whom I never expected and some whom I expected. The most important part was the fact when people come and start caring for you. Those words of comfort, a simple gesture of care was more than enough. Irrespective of our differences in thoughts, they were there and I suppose that is what Society is all about.

People come and care for you. You may have differences of thoughts and opinions with them. But when there is a crisis that you are dealing with, they are the ones who come and stand by your side. I think Dad, I have started to realise that the society is much larger that what I could imagine and there is much more than what meets the eye..

The journey has just begun, I hope I become the extended arm of this expansive society...

Let me be!!!

What seems small for you...
It could mean the world to me.

What you call insignificant..
It could mean very valuable.

What you may not care for..
I could die if, I did not preserve it.

What makes you happy..
could make me wonder why!!

What you chase..
It could never be mine.

We may have shared a path
but, my destiny is mine!!

You have loved your path and life..
Trust me, so do I for the path I chose in this life of mine!!!

Love is complex :)

My 5 year old son was watching a Hindi Movie.. all of a sudden he asks;

Son - Dad, The lady is an enemy, why does she love the hero.

Me - Son, Love has no boundaries. (Felt, I answered a world economic forum question)

Son - Oh, love is so complex..

Me - Aaaaa... actually No, 

I was baffled, and failed to even explain what Love is and only hope he grows up to understand it better, in human language terms.

The only good part is that, he at present experiences the love in its most purest form. No boundaries, no second thoughts, no blocks, just "Unconditional Love"... I just hope it remains as such and does not change (What to do, Parents tend to think utopian state!!!)

We seem to have got our definition of love so complicated, that we miss the purity in it with time. The question that does often surprise is, why and when did I loose it and got corrupted, or do I still have that in some corner of my old self...

My Hydrabadi Guide...

Sahabji, do you see that lights there, that used to my aunty's house where we used to come to spend our summer vacation time. That time this place used to have hardly 30-40 houses and no lights. In the evening you can see only one light and that too from a bunglow some two Kms down the "kacha" road. We use to go to the canal nearby where the water used to be two man deep and we used to play for hours!! The same canal supplies to drinking water to the whole of Hyderabad... Now that canal is a dried nala but the damn still manages to hold water to supply the city...

We used to tell our parents that we want to go to the village. My Aunty's place was the village that we used to go and we used to say that we live in a city. Now look at it today, this very part that we called as village is now very much an intergral part of the Hyderabad city and is developing fast... look at those lights... all the houses lit up.. Thinking of buying a plot now on this road.. forget it sabji.. my dream is already shattered.. I am now looking out for a piece of land in my "in-laws" place which is very far off in some interior.. Hope by the time i think of buying a land there, it still would be village.. saying this he gets into a hysterical laugh..

A memorable journey on a bright evening from the heart of the city to the new Airport at a place called "Samsahbad" in Hyderabad... The scene of hyderabad is fast changing. Even though they say that the innocence of the city seems to be moving away from it, but the charm of its people is still bringht and well lit...

And I... love it the way Hyderabad was and is today....

Gai humari Mata Hai!!!

While going through the comments on one of my blog thought.. I found a nice comment that triggered an old school pun I at school used to keep saying..

The line commented was “ Gai humari mata hai”…

What we used to say at school is between the student and the teacher:

Student: Gai, humari mata hai, Humko kuch nahi ata hai!!
Teacher: Bhains, humara bap hai, Number dena pap hai!!

I thought of translating but then the whole pun would be lost i felt...

Perfect Stranger

We went on talking for hours on various subjects, ranging from Politics to Indian Police academy to the naxalite movement and issues related to them to the marital life to many more such topics… The discussions were intense and some-times light hearted. We crossed from one station to the other. Many more co-passengers joined our discussions between Vijaynagaram to Bhubaneswar but our discussions kept on going. When we parted we shook hands and wished each other.

After I had alighted from the train, I realized that in the complete journey of 5 hours that we never got to know who we were, we did not even exchange our names… But believe me; the discussions actually helped me tied over my last 5 hours of my long journey home...