Wintry mornings!

I open my eyes. It's still dark. I check for time on my cell phone. It's 6 in the morning. Realizing, it is yet not time to get up, I pull up my blanket a little. I slide in for the warmth and shut my eyes, ready to weave another dream.

A little while later, though this little while spans for almost two hours, my eyes open again, I can feel that darkness has slipped away. I CAN get up at this hour. But no, this is not the right time, not for someone who has been embraced by  laziness that wintry mornings engender. No force within me can fight this state.Or should I say, I have tuned my mind not to. Such is the delight in a winter morning. 

These days, every morning I wake up, I go out of my room and when the cool air brushes my face, it seems the day has been colder than the previous one. By everyday, winters seem to fortify their position. I don't know about others, but there is someone who has been reveling in these cold winter mornings. And that's none other than me. 

I wish they stay here for sometime. I wish there be some more fog. Fog that envelops you in its embrace to the extent that it blurs your immediate surroundings. I wish there be some cool breeze that touches your face, seeps inside and give you the chill and thrill. 

Why do I feel guilty? Why do I sound cruel? By the night, there is a clash of the romantic and the realist within me, the one that glorifies winter mornings and the other whose thoughts reach out to those who dread winter for the lack of protection from the frightening and fatal cold. Thus, I earnestly wish, everyone gets protected and gets a chance to witness these enchanting winter mornings.

The first entry of 2014

I always write when there is an urge to pen down my thoughts from within. And yes, I have an inspiration in this new year : the Little Angel who joined our family a few days ago. The first thing that you'd notice about her is that she is so small as any other new born, of course they are meant to be that way. I know it is a plain and simple fact but yet it could be a little overwhelming to hold this small little child in your arms.  

I wonder what should be going on in her thoughts. Till so far, she had been hiding from the big world in her mother's womb. She only knew her mommy as she had been protecting her. And here she is now facing us all. So many people around her, that she will recognize as her family when she grows up. Her eyes don't even open completely yet. But whenever she opens them, they seem to be contemplating or so I am guessing. As the time passes, she will be discovering the world. 

It is not only her, I should admit who is experiencing this newness. The parents themselves, my sister and my brother-in-law are having a never before experience and that will change their lives. Bringing up kids in the world is such a huge responsibility. Their whole world will now revolve around the little girl. She is the cynosure of their lives from now on. Knowing them, I am certain they will make a pair of very cool and wonderful parents. She is for sure lucky to have them.

Having a new member in the family always brings such an immense joy. And that we have entered this new year with the blessing of this little angel, I can foresee the happiness, pleasure, adventure that await us through out this year. I hope this year be fruitful for all of us.

Dear 2013

Dear 2013,

As you come to an end, I look back positively at all the events of life that  took place. Last to last year, I had written a certain resolutions for myself just for fun. As far as I can remember, I didn't make them come true. Consequently, I feel, I did not write anything either on a piece of paper or in my mind about the things I would do for you. However, I had a few aims running at the back of my mind.

You have given me all sorts of surprises. I am only more than content with the way events shaped up. Sometimes I let myself led by the moments and sometimes I decided to take them head on. 

As I like writing on paper more than typing it out on the laptop, I have already made a "Bilan" as we call it in French, of you for myself and boy, what a fruitful year you have been! And I could only thank you, my stars and everyone around me who made my world so lovely, exciting, and wonderful through out. 

                                            THANK YOU SO MUCH !!

                                            Lovingly yours,

???

rivers flow,
from melted snow,
do they know where to go?

flowers bloom,
effacing gloom,
do they realize for whom?

birds fly,
high in the sky,
do they ask themselves why?

my mind stirs,
when everything blurs,
raising questions,
seeking all answers!!

do I find 'em?
I don't know.
a few I find here and there,
rest I leave in despair.

                                      My heart goes out to you,

                   When you look deeper into my eyes.

                   A thousand suns, the tidal waves

                   Within me, they rise.

                   I look up to your slightest touch,

                   Frozen heart it melts,

                   The thousand suns rise again,

                   Secret longing, it swells.

                   I take your hand into mine,

                   The thousand suns subside,

                   For we walk along in the moonlit night.

                   As beautiful as a bride.

Delhi Daredevils

Don't go by the title. I am least interested in the IPL team of Delhi, neither am I a great fan of cricket. This story is of all those anonymous daredevils I have seen every time I step out on the streets. Delhi's roads offer them so much space to show their daredevilry.

I am a student. I don't have a car or any vehicle. Thus, I need to take the various forms of public transports. I seldom take buses. I prefer taking metro, however, to reach a metro station, I have no option but to take an autorickshaw and from thereon starts my ordeal on the Delhi roads full of superheroes.

Don't mistake these superheroes for ones who would save your life. They would rather endanger it along with their own. They come in all kinds of machines; cars, autos, buses, trucks, scooters, etc. You imagine a machine and they will be right there in front of you.

Once on the road, they feel they have a complete right to do whatever they have in their heads. Since they are 'super' heroes, which means right above the heroes, beyond any comparison with the lesser mortals like me, they assume they are even above the traffic rules. Or let's just say, no one ever told them about the rules. Or even better, they have their own set of rules.

Rule no 1 : Keep your speed ahead of others. Delhi's heavy traffic jams try to slow them down a bit. But once on a clear road, they move with meteoric speed regardless of whatever the maximum speed limit might be.

Rule no 2 : Keep changing your lanes. No one has ever learned in Delhi to remain in one's own lane. (the minority who have are being overshadowed by these higher beings) It seems, the superheroes have got so much busy in their superheroic deeds that they need to reach instantly to their destinations, that first they speed up and second, they would not mind changing lanes every now and then to the point of being heedless to brush with a vehicle. It does not matter to them anyhow. If in case they do touch someone else's car, they have a knack of overpowering the other by bad mouthing them.

Rule no 3 : Keep a distance of a needle with the previous car while stopping at the traffic lights. Once arriving at the traffic lights, beware of these people. They might be ahead or behind you. They believe in proximity and so they would stop right behind the car in front of them without any space. ( when I was young, while travelling I used to see words like "Don't honk and Keep distance' written on trucks, I think they were at fault, They always meant " Honk and don't keep distance") They might even hit your car from behind. You would obviously remain unaware of these heroes until hit by them.

Rule no 4 : Since each superhero film has an awesome background score, these heroes think that they need to create some music as well. Though what it turns out to be is blatant cacophony. They would annoy you by honking incessantly sometimes, a few times it just pleases to their ears and yet some other times even when not needed, they would oblige you.

Whenever I come on the streets, to be honest, I feel scared by these daredevils who pay no heed to others who are also there on the roads. They would speed up as if they are F1 racers, come as close as crushing your vehicle, change lanes unnecessarily and honk till death. Is there any way out for a commonner , not of a superhero origin like me to feel secured and safe in such a chaos that is DeLHI with its streets?

હું ગમે છે

Travelling is such a delight. More so when you travel to various states of the country. Our country is huge and so is the range of diversity. Each state has something different to offer in terms of culture which is an all inclusive term in itself. This time round, I got a chance to visit Gujarat again. They say it is at its best during Navratri. I had been harbouring this desire for quite a while and at last my wish was fulfilled. Not only did I experience Gujarat's rich culture but I also had an opportunity to relive my past, that is to say, I had a chance to meet my best friend whom I hadn't seen for long. 

Navratri was just an excuse to reminisce about the good old past that we had shared together. Meeting friends does mean a lot of old stories being retold. While all these years have passed by, there are a lot of things that have changed in her and in me but the thing that remains intact even after this time gap is our ability to laugh at anything and everything. Getting together with my friend is always accompanied by bouts of laughter and uncontrollable giggles. She is now almost completely transformed into a Gujarati, at least the way she speaks, no one can deny that she does not hail from the state. 

My friend introduced me to a Gujarati dish mainly eaten on Dussehra. If on the day of Dussehra, you happen to miss the effigy burning of Ravan, it wouldn't affect the Gujaratis as much as missing the typical Fafda Jalebi. No Fafda Jalebi means no Dussehra, so I have been told. One thing I became fond of during my stay is the variation one gets in food items in Gujarati cuisine especially in snacks known as Farsan. Even the variety of Sweet Paan that you would find here is unimaginable. 

It is really fascinating to hear Gujarati language. My friend used to tell me it sounds very desi. After listening to it, I would agree with her completely. It does have a desi feel about it. Being a hindiphone, I did not find it difficult to understand the language except for a few situations where I might have missed out the meanings. Even the script is not that complicated to read.

Food and language were the principal features of my visit. But wait! How can I take the liberty of not mentioning the mesmerizing ambiance of Garba. Navratri is the nine day celebration where people dancebGarba to the tunes of Gujarati songs. Even if you are not on the dance grounds, you would see people all dressed up for the Garba nights on the road. This is enough to give a feel of what it is like to be in Gujarat. In the eveneing, the whole city turns out to be participating in a fancy dress competition or in a costume party. After having roamed around in the streets, if you get a chance to go to the Garba venues, you would remain ecstatic through out. People dancing in groups with their fancy costumes on. A veritable delight is to watch the boys dance with fervour. They dress up in the traditional attire, not all of them, however. They dance on the rhythm of the songs played, enjoying themselves to the core, matching up with the dances steps of the group.    

Once you happen to visit Gujarat during Navratri, you are bound to get addicted to come back again and again for the celebration. It had been amazing fun with my friend, food, fancy dress and foreign to me but a desi language.

                                                      હું ગમે છે