When Silence Speaks...

So, we are a group of 3 friends who have always loved to talk in the style of jugalbandi.  I remember those days way back in 2006 ( uh God, when I count the years is when I realize how long it has been, else it just seems like yesterday ) when we were working in the same company and would chat long hours on the internal instant messenger. Those IM chat logs are definitely precious to have today. If one started with movie dialogues, then the conversation that whole day would be in dialogues. If one started with Shayari, then entire day we would spend conversing in shayaris. And so on... Definitely Life started getting busier with time, and over past few years, we have drifted apart physically. Literally, we 3 are in 3 different continents today. The frequency and amount of conversation reduced drastically, its been years that we 3 have met each other, but we are still in each others thoughts, and we pretty much know what's happening in one another's lives. We don't talk...

I have had different encounters in life, learnt different lessons, seen different people, dealt with different situations. I remember those days when I used to converse with my dad on how things and people were back in his days, and it has gradually changed with time. Changes are inevitable correct? People adapt with time, things change, time travels and world revolves around it. So it's all good. Change is good. But few instances in recent past has made me wonder, how much of all these changes have impacted human values. Basic values like Truth and Honesty.  Those were the days when a man gives his word, he sticks to it till his last breath. There were no stamp paper, no documents to hold him accountable to what he says. It was just the words that were told by him and heard by the listener.  And today, truth is changing its color every second. Chanakya says " A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first ." ...

I was returning back from my hometown, my family had come to see me off to the airport. I generally am not that emotional when it comes to send offs especially in airports. Have been travelling for more than 11 years now, and have never been emotional.  But this time, something different happened. I hugged my family and walked into the airport check in area. I had already told them good bye, and it was couple of mins when I walked past the security inside the airport. I paused and looked back. At the same time, all 3 of my family members were turning around to head back.  It was a strange feeling. I was seeing them turn their backs at me, and I wanted to shout loudly " Amma Turn ", ofcourse I couldn't. I could have called their cellphone, but I let it pass. I wanted to live that feeling too. I stood there for a minute, saw them walk away from my sight slowly.  I am not a big bollywood fan, but I remembered a dialogue from one of the very famous movie, " Dilw...

There's a conversation in Atlas Shrugged book, where John Galt says to Dagny Taggart " Dagny, it's not that I don't suffer, it's that I know the unimportance of suffering, I know that pain is to be fought and thrown aside, not to be accepted as part of one's soul and as a permanent scar across one's view of existence. Don't feel sorry for me. It was gone right then."   That has been the case with me for quite a number of times. While I was reading this book today and came across this dialogue it was like echoing what I have been thinking. True. Buddha says that the first step to free a soul from suffering is in accepting the full existence of suffering, and then think of its solution.  Unfortunately the society perceives such attitude as our carelessness, that the problem is not our priority, that we are not serious about it. Carrying a sulky face shows how much the problem has impacted you, vs being logical and normal about it means you just...

There are 2 kinds of people around us, no wait, 3 kind of people. One set of them - Never want to fight any battle. They accept the terms set by others, follow other's rules and just survive in this world. They kill their dreams, mute their voice, shut their eyes and continue to breathe walking down the path of life. They live someone else's life without any complaints. Second set of them - Are stranded and confused set, who try to fight their battle placing the gun on others shoulder. They are not clear on what they want and what they don't want. They let someone else take their life's decisions, try to place blame on others, listen to people without using their own reasoning, convincing people that they are the victims and so on.  This set of people basically live someone else's life whining and complaining, holding others responsible for their pain, and not really brave enough to do something about it.  If the first set are coward then this set of folks are ...

I was at a beauty salon today, a normal day with a bunch of ladies waiting for their turn.  I was waiting for my friend to finish, when a gentleman entered with his teenage daughter. They waited for their turn, and on their turn the girl went and sat on the chair. She said to the beautician " threading of upper lips " and then she called her dad. He came and stood by her side. When the lady started threading, her dad stretched his hand out, she held her dad's hand tightly to overcome the pain. For those who don't know, it does hurt quite a bit, not too bad but depends on persons ability to withstand pain.  I heard him say " My brave girl. Just a few more minutes" . I have seen varieties of shades of a father daughter relationship, but this was really sweet and bold. I haven't seen girls getting their dad inside the beauty salon, neither can I imagine dad consoling a daughter during threading or waxing. But either ways, Dads will always be the King...

I had my birthday recently, and more than ever I felt I should write about it. I have always been thankful for having beautiful people in my life, good friends , well wishers, who care for me.  I have been having a rough time, juggling a bunch of issues of life. And I have been worried, tensed, frustrated and what not. But then my Birthday came, and I was left pleasantly shocked. I saw how many friends came together to wish me, w ho remembered me, friends with whom I go way back to 2005; more than 10 years.  I had video chats, calls and of course spent time in person with friends and colleagues around me. Everyone did make me feel special. They made me realize that I am valued as a person, and my happiness, my well-being does matter to them. They not only care for me, but also my sadness cascades to them as well. They want to see me smiling as always. These are people who know me and love me the way I am. And I cannot thank enough for having such good people in my lif...

Why is it that we are so much stereotyped about few things that we can't be what we really are; but are forced to be someone else by other's standards? I am a female and I am proud of my gender. But that doesn't mean I should love cooking or be dressing up like a barbie doll. There are a bunch of things that I am and  I don't think there's anything wrong in it. I love Boxing/Kickboxing; but that doesn't mean I go punching everyone at their face or do hooliganism. I love Hiking the mountains and not walking in the park, but that doesn't mean I am not romantic. I am straight forward and speak my mind instead of listening silently and nodding to someone else's view, but that doesn't mean I don't respect the thought of the other person. Courtesy - Google Images I listen to my heart and believe in following my principles and dreams, but that doesn't mean I am stubborn. I carry an attitude that I have built over years, but that...

I went shopping yesterday. I had couple of items in mind to shop for, and I ended up buying a bunch of unrelated things. You might be saying with a smirk a common trait of every women . Well, that's not my topic of thought today.  I remembered a day 12 years back when I was in Bangalore on an internship during my final year of engineering. I was staying with a friend and we were 4 girls who had picked up that company from our class. It was a weekend ( I think, I don't remember though ), and we 4 girls went out to shop at Commercial Street of Bangalore. For those who know Bangalore, they know this street very well. In-numerous; eye-catching; lavish; colorful items adorning every store, that keeps calling you to buy them. A Saree Store in my hometown Back in those days, my family was financially struggling; and so was another friend of mine( and we both wanted to buy something since we were heading back to our hometown after the training) . While, my third friend, sh...

Sometimes words are not enough to express what we feel. When we try to put our emotions in a sentence, we feel the words we are using are not doing justice to the depth of our feelings. It does not happen quite often, but sometimes when it does, we realize the value of a " Thank You ", " Sorry " and " I Love You ".  We use them hundreds of time in a day without much of a feeling, but there comes a moment when you have to say it like you mean it. And that's when we realize we probably have over-taxed these words so much over the time that now we feel the person in front of us probably does not realize how much we mean it at this very moment. Then we start saying " I am really really very very sorry " or " I really Love you ", to stress the depth of our feeling. It's funny :) People we love and care for; we don't say Thank you, Sorry or Love you that much. Like our parents, our kids, our immediate family, our close friend...

I generally don't write a farewell to any year; instead I usually write something welcoming the New year. But today, as I sit in this empty office, I went on a quick 10 secs tour of my life in 2015, and felt that I should bid it a good bye; hence this post :) I drove in to office today against the wish of all my office friends who chose to work from home. I somehow badly wanted to be in office this last day of the year, no particular reason. Maybe it was more of a gratitude I wanted to show my office; my work; my employer for having me around. As I drove into the office parking lot, it was all empty, and I realized how quiet its going to be in there. And it was pretty quiet., not many came in. But nevertheless, year 2015 has been one of the important year in my life primarily because I got to check off a lot of items from my bucket list. Yes, I do have a LONGGggggggg bucket list, and this is the year where I got most of them checked off.  I did a lot of crazy stuffs, some of w...

ज़रा धीरे चल ए ज़िन्दगी, मुझे  संभलने का मौका तो दो तुम्हारी रफ़्तार से जो नुक्सान हुआ है उसका हर्जाना भरने का मौका तो दो Image Courtesy - Google Wallpapers वो जो दर्दनाक हादसे किये थे तूने उनपे जी भरकर रोने का मौका तो दो मेरे अपनों और दोस्तों की हंसी में अपनी हंसी मिलाने का मौका तो दो बचपन की हर वो छोटी ख्वाहिश जवानी में पूरे करने का मौका तो दो जो ऊँचे ख्वाब देखे थे खुली आँखों से उनके बिखरे टुकड़े समेटने का मौका तो दो कभी जो इतनी खुशियां दी तुमने उन्हें अपनों के साथ मनाने का मौका तो दो जो प्यार रूठकर चला गया था कभी उसे याद कर आहें भरने का मौका तो दो इतनी भी क्या जल्दी है मौत से मिलने की तुझे पहले अच्छे से तुझे  देखने का मौका तो दो बहाने नहीं है ये मेरे , दिल से गुज़ारिश है ज़रा धीरे चल ए ज़िन्दगी, मुझे जीने का मौका तो दो. -सरिता  Dated - 28th Dec 2015