A Walk in the Rain...

RAIN !! The first thing that would come to my mind when I hear this word is Fun ! I dont know why ! A lot of people, associate this word with various things. But to me, Rain has always been FUN !! Be it the small pitter patter, to the roaring and pouring rain, I just love it !

When the teacher in school used to teach us, Rain Rain go away, I remember wondering why would they want to send away something, which is so much fun ! It is still afresh in my memories, the days in school, when two of my closest friends and I used to actually put our school bags on the perfectly ok bicycle and push it all the way home, just to get drenched to our souls in the rain. And we used to go home and lie, that the cycle was under repair. Rain, has also given me a cleansing effect at times ! When I see rain , or I play in it, I have this feeling like all my sorrows have been washed away ! Makes me feel lighter, better ! Which is why I enjoy the rain so much to say I LOVE it !!

But when I gave it a lot of thought, it dawned on me, that it could be because Rain is actually so related to our childhood..Even as adults when we play in the rain, our onlookers would probably tell us to stop acting like kids, right ? I remember reading this poem, again in school, that was named "Leisure". This poem asked us to take time sometimes to stop and smell the roses ! Which is true, isnt it ? How many of us, actually find the time to sit down for two minutes and actually enjoy things around us or even look around ourselves ? How many of us, take a walk, just for the sake of taking a walk and not going anywhere ? How many of us, even when we are travelling, in a car, or bus or bike, look out of the window and love just watching things, rather than be completely preoccupied with something else ? How many of us, spend time even listening to a song, not just for the heck of it, but to actually listen to it ?

I truly believe, or so you would have seen in my previous posts, that there's a kid inside us, who we are actually killing day after day. We blame people for our unhappiness, stress and we go to counsellers, psychiatrists and what not. But according to me, I think the solution lies inside each of us. If we could just spend time to stop and smell the roses, like the poem states, maybe we would solve a lot of problems.

Or maybe you should try the rain, like I do..If you dont have time to stop and smell the roses, you should probably take ..

A Walk in the Rain !

A Lonely Diwali !!

Going over my friend's blog about her Diwali deja vu, somehow struck a chord in me. I would'nt have probably written this, had it not been for her story. So Rama, here you go babe. My share of the story...

Diwali..The word brings on a flood of memories. I lived in a colony and diwali was a special time when the whole place jus LIT up. Lots of noise, people laughing, the sudden onrush in all the stores and standing in those mile long queues to get some thing billed, all the relatives piling up at home(who normally you never get to see..), the endless litres of oil parents get to empty on ur heads, the fights for the bathrooms at 3am in the morning,the sweets that stifle you, going from one friend's house to another giving sweets that were specially made for diwali, the fights to see who bursts the first cracker which had to be the longest and loudest one to wake up the whole colony, the pranks we used to play by throwing crackers at people(not intentionally..no offense !), the happiness that would emanate with the loud BOOM and people jumping like ten feet away from us and the list would go on and on. Diwali was a day when the whole family got together, my uncles and aunts and cousins and everyone would congregate at our house and spend the day. I remember the bouts of Dumbcharades that use to keep us rolling with laughter at these family get-togethers.

This diwali however was a complete contrast. Or should I say, a lot more silent. The day dawned with me waking up my mom(for a change !) when I got back from work. The oil works start and my bro called me all the way from the US and I got to wish my neice a happy diwali and wish with all my heart that the kid could feel the spirit of diwali that I felt when I was a kid of her age. But thats a wishful thought considering there are not even crackers there for her to burst. And then the usual chores of taking a bath, doing the necessary pooja for the festival and then watching Sun Tv. Around 10 30, unlike the rest of the diwali days, my mom had to leave to my uncle's house because she was in a bad state(healthwise) and couldnt manage the whole family for diwali(Good question..why dint I do it..Because..I dint wish to torture anyone by trying out my cooking on them on such a nice day). I had invited a coupla friends to come home, so we could burst crackers and the usual, but sadly, none of them could make it. Thats when it struck me, that for the first time in my life, I was alone on diwali. It dint feel like the special day it used to be !

So the only useful thing I did after that was, catch up on my sleep, which I did till 7am next morning. 16 hours straight. My diwali was over in my dreams and the crackers(which my bro sent out lovingly as a gift so my diwali wouldnt get ruined) stay untouched..Come to think of it, when I asked the rest of the crowd I knew, how their diwali was, and if they got to burst crackers and stuff, the answer I got was, "Yea diwali was ok..but crackers..naah..we are too old for that now !"

As the saying goes and as Rama quoted... If there is one permanent thing in life, it is CHANGE. And thats not just for life, or circumstances or festivals like these. It is for people as well. With the passage of time, we let the child in us die. We dont find the time or the inclination to do the things that we used to love doing as a kid. How many of us enjoy rain? Remember the days when we use to yearn to take a walk in the pouring rain. Where did that kid in us go? That is probably why festivals arent FESTIVALS anymore. They have become just another holiday !

Sadly, it is so true !

Unsure !!?

A new place brings on a lot of expectations and disappointments. Just like you feel, you have just stepped into the jungle after being in a zoo, there is an evident disorientation. It makes you feel lost and it takes you enough time to find yourself back. Working and doing what you have to do is one thing, but the ways to do it and finding out the ways and means to get the work done is a totally different thing and the most hardest part even.

Sometimes u end up feeling disregarded and ignored and sometimes, bossed around too much. I guess it’s just the starters of work. As work progresses, your relationships with your co-workers do too. Or so I think !

Everything takes time, I guess this will too..

Special Friends !!

Things work the way they want to each time. Like the Murphy's Law goes, "When something has to go wrong, it will" , there are few things in life that happens inevitably. How much ever you try to stop it or prevent it, it will happen. No matter what! Sometimes when u read things over the Internet or something in a book, it strikes you to be so true, that you never forget it.

Likewise, there are certain incidents and certain people in life, you can never forget. Come to think of it, your friends form an important part of your life. There are things in life, you would never talk to anyone about, that you would gladly share with your closest friend. They make you laugh, they make you cry and they make you feel like the most loved person in the world. And when things happen to them, though you know you are helpless to help them, it still breaks you and makes you feel guilty for not being able to do anything. It gives you the courage to face anything for this one person and want to protect them with everything you have.

I have had relationships like that, that still stays afresh in my memories. I guess everyone does. There are relationships that you would have always thought would stay alive, till the end of a lifetime, but disappear within a blink of an eye. Friends like these, who would stay in your heart forever, are rare and hard to find. You wish you could hold on to them, but along comes a reason, of why you just cant. There are many people who would mistake such relationships as love, a simple crush, or maybe something more. But it never works that way. A friend will always remain a friend and no matter, how much ever you love a person, the love that you hold for this friend will always be special, be different. You will yearn to spend time with this person, not because you love him/her, or because you want or expect something out of him/her. But only because, you love spending time with him/her and you look to spend time with him/her whenever you can. Because every time you are with him/her, there is this unexplainable feeling of content and happiness you derive from spending time with this person. Even if it were just about half an hour, you would rather spend it with him/her than any other normal friend.

This post is an ode to such relationships and I wish and pray that you could keep these relationships alive for ever and stay happy forever, with this single thought on your mind, that you found your special friend and could keep and cherish him for the a lifetime.

Tchau !