When Silence Speaks...

As I walked down the street through the red walled East gate entrance , I stood still at the first glance of the Seventh wonder of the world!  The Taj Mahal! First glance of Taj hidden behind the gates! It was an abrupt trip, completely unplanned for; thanks to a friend who shot this idea my way to take a pit stop at Agra for an evening before I catch my flight to US from Delhi the next day. I just had one evening in Agra, and did not have time to plan anything. View of Taj from the main entrance. Time Check — We reached Agra at 5 PM on a Saturday evening and headed out to buy entry tickets at 5:45 PM; were inside the East gate by 6:15 PM and it was not crowded at all. We saw the interiors of Taj and then sat outside in the veranda watching the sunset. April being the hottest month, the evening was warm but not uncomfortably hot. 7:30 PM we had to leave as it was closing down. The next day morning we got the tickets at 5:45 AM, were in Taj Mahal again around 6

We were driving up North from Denali National Park towards Fairbanks on Aug 21, our next stop to try our luck with some Aurora Borealis. As it is, the drive was very fascinating, with the clouds lying low on the road, and we - driving through the clouds. We saw a pullover spot for scenic view; and when we turned into the parking we saw a biker standing there watching the beautiful overlook with sun setting behind the mountains.  There was something in the way he was standing and gazing out into infinity. His face had a serene content smile. We asked him for how long has he been riding; and his response made my jaw drop. Well, it's quite a common thing in USA, where people run, hike, bike for miles together in the wilderness. But I hadn't met anyone in person who did that, so may be that was also a reason as to why I was so intrigued by him. He introduced himself as Michael from New York. Yeah right, all the way from East to West. As if like that was not enough, he said he

So, we had obviously Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) on our list in this Alaska Trip. Whether we could see it or not, we weren't sure. Weather, Clouds, it's frequency of occurrence everything played a role. We were just staying hopeful that we could get atleast a glimpse of it; and that was the only reason for us to drive North towards Fairbanks.  Aurora Borealis that night We started at 12:30 in the night, on the remote roads of Fairbanks peeping out of the car's window to see if we can see THE LIGHTS ! And we were testing the slightly doubtful clouds by clicking its picture to see if it was just another passing cloud or was really the hidden aurora. We turned into Old Murphy Crossroad, pulled over the curbside and started clicking the pictures of the sky, and it showed green streaks. Wow.. we were excited and started clicking more pictures at different corner of sky to see more of aurora.  And suddenly I heard quite a heavy toned " Hello " right ove

Innocence is fearless. Innocence is free from consciousness of how it gets perceived. Innocence just acts, reacts at free will.  On the Denali National park bus, there was a 6 year old boy, Matt. While driving in the park, there were couple of folks riding the bike, and the guide made a comment " We call them Meals on the Wheels! " ; we all giggled, smiled for 2 secs ; like we did on most of his jokes; and got back to the normal serious self. After almost a minute or two, this kid started laughing out loud. And he told his mom " Oh.. Now I got the joke. Oh that's so Funny. Hahaha.. Meals on the Wheels!! " and he was laughing his heart out. He was the only one in the bus laughing but that dint stop him from doing so. For a full 8-10 mins, he went on and on , reminding himself of that phrase and laughing. I laughed for 4-5 mins with him just because of the way of his laughter; I couldn't control.  This happened in the morning; but now on the way

I don't think we should continue fighting for equality - whether it's based on gender or class or caste or religion or region. I believe that when people start appreciating real talent outside these boundaries, we will succeed in having a well balanced society.  We don't want the comparison scale for anything to weigh against an attribute whose base itself is questionable. Why should women be treated equal to men? What makes you think that men are treated correctly?  Women or Men should be treated based on their talent, their skill set - the measurable qualities. Rather than setting up against a standard which was set thousands of years ago and whose roots are already rotten.  All this Feminism and Communalism and Racism and Casteism; they just are continuing to prevail for no real reason I feel. It's that mirage that we think is real and attempt to reach; but it keeps distancing itself from us. I don't think we will ever get equality in next 100 years, if th

Love is a very strange emotion, albeit in a nice way. You can never hate your loved ones, no matter how hard you try, no matter what transpired between the two of you, no matter how much the void expands - you will continue to love him or her. No matter how illogical things seem, you still continue to reason in its favor and not against. You are more forgiving; more considerate; more patient than you generally are; when it comes to the loved ones.  Years after the broken heart, when you look back, you will still feel for that emotion somewhere deep within.  You always think and come to believe that you have moved on. But strangely, in this case, you can move on for thousands of miles ahead yet you are never far enough; it's like you are kayaking in the ocean of memories where everything seems still but no one can see the underlying ripples deep within that silent ocean. No blanket is thick enough to cover up the broken pieces of true love; they will continue to shiver and prick

फिर से मन चला खुद को ढूंढ़ने ज़िन्दगी से रिश्ता निभाते निभाते खुद से कोसो दूर हो गया था जो लौट रहा है फिर वो अपने सपनो की गलियो में खुद से कुछ यारियां अब तो निभाने खुद की खुशियों में अब तो शामिल होने बावरा मन फिर से चल पड़ा !! -सरीता dated - 1st August 2017