Tearing Away From Destiny

The beginning
This boy had a happy life in the village. Known and loved by everyone, the whole village was his. The fields, the rivers, the cool winters, sleeping out under the stars, the whole landscape was home. Day after day, he tended to the fields, noon was siesta time, and evenings were a get together at the center of the village – bursting with news, gossip, laughter, followed by a hearty dinner and a peaceful sleep with the knowledge that he was safe, life was full of contentment and there was nothing more to ask for.

The beginning of the end
And as the wheels of life turn, he turns away from all this. He sets out to discover the city of Bombay, prosper and give his family a ‘modern’ life. Life is a roller coaster ride. Strokes of deceit, resentment and retreat paint themselves on the canvas of life.
The struggle, the compromises, the routine were eating into him. But by now his children were born in the ‘civilized and evolved’ world and how could he bring them back to the village where higher education was unheard of? So he dragged on, the only respite was the visit to his homeland every year.Was this evolution or dissolution?

I have often wondered about the choices life offers and the ones we take or shy away from. What is the fear within us that we dare not do something drastic lest it disturb the ‘balance’? Is life merely a sequence of neat balanced steps? If I loved something, would i go all out and pursue it? And if i didn’t, just to keep ‘my’ set of people happy, would they be really happy, or would they be weighed down by all the compromises that were made for them?
I know the answer to the last one...it does weigh you down, knowing that people tried to change their life for you.

Tearing away from destiny.....
Sometimes questions are knotted enough to make you want to tear away from everything. I know I am like a thread woven intricately in the cloth that is trying to tear away. In doing so, I risk losing the identity I began with. But there is a part of me that want to tear away, not have any roots and just live like a newborn, forgetting each day, not feeling the need to stack memories, form experiences and create meaning out of these. Just breathing in every moment and letting it die...just that..and nothing else...Isn’t the thought of that so comforting ?

Poetic Gems

Heard these lines recently...and lo! Transported to another realm. To hear the full song, keep your ears open for the Arziyan song in Delhi 6. If I had to pray someday, this would be my prayer to the One.

Arziyaan saari chehrey pe likhkar laaya hoon
Tum se kya maangu mein
Tum khud hi samajh lo Maula...
daraarein daraarein hain baandhein pe maula
Tere Dar pe Jhuka hoon Meeta hoon bana hoon
maramad mukkadar ki kar le maula

Bolo Chai (TM)

I don’t boast of a very creative job..If it were a Rubix cube, no matter which way I twisted the cube, none of the dots are forming a coherent pattern J As I was sipping my favourite chai today, without realizing , my mind goes off making this business plan of opening a chai shop, and where else, but outside my work place. I can hearmy friends telling me to get a life. ‘What!! Is making tea your idea of a creative job? Go take a sabbatical, your idea is crap’. All I am telling you, my dearies, is wait and watch.

Until I get to boiling you a pot of tea, i hereby trademark my tea venture name to BoloChai. Dont smirk, we will be the StarBucks of India.

Several Perambulations

I love walking, aimlessly, with no destination in mind. No destination means no time limit is set to reach there. Having removed the fourth dimension from life, my mind is free-er to make new conversations, observations and sometimes moments of Nirvana .

On one pleasant morning, I was walking along with Dad, who is now 75+. I mentioned his age specifically, as I have been realizing that he is helplessly slipping away...succumbing to age...I don’t really remember when this process of ageing started. I noticed how childlike he was ...observing every nuance on the road. How I had to keep reminding him to walk carefully else some idiotic rash driver would knock him over.

It is one thing to know in theory that man in his old age is a kid again. Experiencing this firsthand has left me with a handful of learnings. I am learning to be more patient, more polite, learning to let go and let life take its own course with him, to just keep all my fears aside and help him experience life as much as I can.

The world is going to the dog

Was touring the city today. Saw this Amul ad titled ‘ Hot Dog Millionaire’ , which needless to say, was riding on SlumDog millionaire success. How Utterly Butterly(um...Cheesy), Amul