Musings

 A short trip to a small town in Himachal Pradesh (HP)  turned out to be a huge eye opener for me. I feel like the boy in the famous story who shows his father a village from his point of view to show what 'rich' really means. Being born and brought up in Mumbai I always felt that 'Mumbaikar's' have it all - simplicity as well as being fancy. Yet, Nahan (the place I visited in HP) taught me what being 'real' is - no showing off, just being pure unadulterated 'human'.  To build up the context better - imagine a single old lady all by herself in a city. We will get our sympathies out and work out al possible schemes to keep her safe, but will hardly do anything beyond that. A simple 'take care' will seal our conversations with the elderly. However in Nahan, I saw friends and neighbours never say ' take care' but are personifications of  "I will take care". I know some of you may remember I had a blog post on a similar feeling ...

It was a rare relaxed Sunday evening when hubby & I were taking a nice walk along a lake near where we stay. What a sight! Lovely weather, families out on their Sunday outing, groups of friends playing pranks and posing for group photos, so many young boys and girls (called couples in our world!) cuddling in the sylvan shelters of the trees along the lake, far from the madding crowds. It seemed like a perfect world. Love, caring and sharing all available at one place. If there is so much love energy why do people still hate, separate, abuse each other? Wondered my mind. Over the years of association with people around us, some of the relationships fade in to infinity, some are safely and conveniently kept away, some tag along as 'devoted followers' (generally most love to have a following that does not question our ability!), some seasonal 'coming and going' types and finally some who are sealed with us for life! So what are the different shapes and shades that ...

It is time where we are hearing about medals and accolades coming in for India in more than one way. Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupati winning a grand slam, Yuvi Bhambri for his junior title in tennis, A. R Rehman ofcourse getting all the praise for his music in Slumdog millionaire. Proud moments . I feel proud of them despite of all the possible obstacles that we see in India they have made a mark for themselves in the world. Fabulous and I can feel the smile in Mother India’s heart- for a change her children are getting the right type of attention! Though I am no where close to even holding a tennis racket or a baton to wave; the feeling is similar when my parents proudly show off the little achievements I have in my account to all and sundry. A tad embarrassed nevertheless happy it is so amusing to hear talk like “My daughter went abroad on work and got me these shoes”, “She took me for my medical check in her whirl wind tour”, “She sent me tickets for coming over” After...

A new feature on Orkut of being able to chat with all your contacts has been driving me to take cover under the “being invisible” mode. Much to my dislike, I am still being invisible as the thought of being available to the 200 odd contacts on the site sends me shudders. What will I chat with people I have hardly met? It is ok to share an occasional not with each other but talk to unknown people everyday? Oops! not my piece of cake, surely. For once I am happy to let the cake go! Getting in to the mould of being unseen has its own share of excitement and disappointments too. It is interesting to see a lot of contacts coming on line, who cannot see that I am also present. Some kind of ego-booster I must say. It fuels a supreme pleasure of giving me the power of talking to them at my will. I just need to ping them and a conversation can happen. Unless I initiate it, they cannot reach out. At the same time it is also a little sad that no one reaches out to me with a friendly...

It is a common scene in the various social or official circles. Someone is leaving your office, locality, home for better prospects (or otherwise!) and there is this sudden demand for that person. Words of praise flow in which have been absent for so many years of togetherness. Gifts are exchanged or given; contact addresses are exchanged (no matter the next moment it is not to be found) and invariably there is an unknown, unheard of sentiment which chokes many a throat and in some overflowing–with-emotion cases wets many a shoulder. I always wonder where all these are hidden when the person is physically present in our life. Why do we mask our feelings or worse why display something which is not exactly what we feel? If it is the second case it is a total hypocritical display and less said the better but what really intrigues me is the first case. Is it that we expect people to be always available at our beck and call and hence think they have a permanent availability for us? It is li...