Slow Dance

Read this somewhere and thought of sharing it.. Time is short and the music wont last..

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night? You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

 Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask, "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head? You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last. 

Ever told your child,
"We'll do it tomorrow"
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi?" You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last. 

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift...
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music,
Before the song is over.

-Zindagi Milegi na Doobara-

‘ZMND’ sounds quite familiar, huh??  Well this is not the Abhay, Farhan and Hrithik starrer movie I am referring to, it’s the agenda topping me and my few friends’ life for last few months. -- To live life as if “Zindagi Milegi Na Doobara"-- (ZMND)  -- this was the acronym that inspired us to do something lively and this is how me, Atul, Govinda, Sanket, Jatin and Rahul have been spending our so many weekends now. Our motto being to live life to the fullest, to enjoy each and every moment of it.

 

The thought of having a ZMND trip emerged form one of our master brains (Atul), the inspiration being the movie itself. The thought of LIVING life once before it’s too late was indeed attractive and we all were pulled by its immense magnetic power. A unanimous decision was made to have at least one ZNMD trip per month. Well, we call this ZMND Pact. The trip will be planned by one (God father) and to be accompanied by rest of the group (God sons) - such unique names being coined by Atul.

We started ZMND with our trip to Lonavala. This was an office outing and from there emanated the idea of having a full fledged ZMND trip. The immediate outcome was an impromptu halt at Matheran on the way back to Mumbai. This was the most unplanned and the most amazing trip so far. A night out with office colleagues at a resort in Lonavala, the enchanting weather, the serene beauty of nature and night long cards session, blue water of pawana lake, sights of lonavala city, delicious chikki and, most importantly, the unplanned move to and stay at Matheran. This was a much required escape form the hustle-bustle of the Mumbai city. This small trip of two days touched upon those pages of life, which even were not aware of. Life is much more than just getting up every morning, getting ready for work and, then, working for the whole day. Life is indeed much more. Life is to enjoy the beauty of budding flower, appreciate chirping of birds, listening to the sounds of the waves, retiring in shade of a tree, picking up the fallen leaves bare-handed during autumn, feeling the cold breeze standing at the rim of a cliff, and much much more.

Other trips followed this trip under ZMND pact. We all wanted to live our life and that too in the most memorable and amazing way. Few other trips include:

-          Trip to Malsej Ghats (Twice) - including once when we went just to take the bath in the waterfalls of Malsej

-           A night out in Khandala city. (Amazing place it is)

-          A night outing at Manas Mandir (Jain temple)

-          Trip to Mahabaleshwar (which I missed L)

-          Trip to Aurthur Lake ( we got completely soaked by the beauty of its green and blue water.)

-          A movie marathon. And we managed to watch six movies in a span of two days.

-          Trekking to Mauwali Falls (and a dip in holy water, of course).

-          A day to enjoy on the rides of Water Kingdom. (And we plan to go to Essel World soon).

-          Camping at Phansad Wild life Sanctuary. (Night stay in midst of forest)

-          Chilling on the beach of Revdanda, Kashid, and Murud.

-          And a trip to Janjera fort (located about a km away form the coastline, in the midst of the sea).

The last trip being trip to Kashid and Murud-Janjera. We want to cover more and more places and that too as soon as possible. Places like Kolad (for white water rafting), Kamseth (for paragliding) are in to-be-visited list. We are planning next to go to Bhimshankar temple on the outskirts of Pune.

Whether its luxuries of Lonavala resort or the harsh climate of Phansad Wild life sanctuary, every of the trip had something special to make it a memorable one. I loved every single second and am sure that all others would have also enjoyed a lot. I pray that theses lovely time never end and many more adventurous trips keeps on coming. Life is small and we want to live it fullest. Its only this ONE life we have and it is in this life we have to live up to the life’s worth, make the most beautiful memories, because—“Zindgi Milegi Na Doobara.”

Another year gone, A fresh new year awaits.....Another Birthday passed by...

Aah, good to see my blog again. It has been quite sometime since I wrote last. Now I am back, feeling great. It has been almost a week since October 8^th, my Birthday, the day for which I have been waiting for quite sometime now. No special reasons to make me excited about the day, or anything specific I was looking forward on that day, still there was something in me which kept me waiting for the day. Perhaps it was a kid in me who, like any other kid, waits for the entire year for his Birthday, for those amazing times when he is pampered most. The day when he can invite his friends, play all those little games, can have lots of fun and can feel to be on top of the world.

The celebrations-The day started well with my near and dear ones calling and wishing me. This was followed by an amazing long midnight chat which I can never forget. I feel that was the best part of my Birthday. Amazing gifts, which I got on that day, made me feel very special. Friends, family, colleagues called me, many more people than what I had expected, thanks to Face book. A couple of friends, whose call I expected, dint called, probably they are too busy in their lives. But that’s ok. Expecting from each of them will be like expecting too much.

Entire day passed in office, thanks to the quarter closing of books. After losing the entire day at office, feeling totally lost, I along with a few others planned a small party. We did had a small get together, courtesy Ajit, JP and Rahul. We watched a hilarious movie, had great time chatting, had  yummy cake which was followed by amazing dinner at a Chinese restaurant. These were some of the things that happened special on that day and I felt great about them.

A thoughtful part of me began wondering of what lies ahead on the road of the journey called life. Teens passed and now twenties are almost over. Life is moving on so fast and I have so many things on my to-be-achieved list. Phew... How will I make them possible?  Will I ever be able to get near them?  These thoughts came striking to my mind.

  

Moving ahead with short term goals is a great way to go ahead. After putting in much of my time and energy, I realized that small goals like “things I will like to achieve before me turning 35” are the ones to be focused on. Planning for these small pieces of life will sum up my entire life. It was difficult to come up with anything concrete, but still I was able to zero in a few things. They are : --To reach base camp of Mt. Everest. To paraglide. Jumping from the edge of cliff and to fly like a bird. To travel the world. To see as many places as possible. Reach every continent, at least once. Thoughts goes on….All these might sound a bit weird, but still I want to live them once.

Still many more birthdays to come and still many more years of my life left. How many? I don’t know. I want to LIVE them all with no redemptions and no regrets. On this birthday, I promise myself to live every single moment left, to make out the fullest of the life which GOD has gifted. Life is indeed precious and it is meant to be LIVED. And I will surely make it large.

Random thoughts after being “Engaged”

The Saying- I have heard people saying everything changes after one meets its soul mate. The priorities changes, the feeling and emotions changes and the outlook changes, in short, the whole world changes for it. Everything seems to move in slow motion, as fantasized in yash raj films, and love is what one finds ever where. Isn’t all these so surreal? I always thought this to be some type of arbit bakwass and masala for our very own Bollywood films, until this happened to me.

I remember that day when I had the first glimpse of my fiancé. By the way, it was her picture and not her. It was somewhere in the March’s last week when I was on a small trip to Calcutta. I liked her at the first instant. I thought of her as the one whom I always wanted to be in my life, someone whom I always wanted to be my better half.

Things progressed; our families met and had the initial discussions. I was called to meet the girl I liked at the first glimpse (in picture, of course). First meet followed by the second meet after a few months and things were finalized. I was ready to accept her as my better half and she was ready to accept me as her soul mate. The natural outcome of this acceptance was a formal ceremony last month – Roka or Engagement.

My Feelings- Having been in the committed relation for sometime now makes me think about the changes that I have felt, about my feelings and myself, in last three weeks. To begin with, the feeling of being into the relationship is awesome. There’s someone on the earth that cares for you more than herself, isn’t that amazing? The thought that you are in somebody’s thought is fabulous. Someone who is interested in smallest of small thing you do in the entire day. The existence of that someone is special.

Someone with whom I can share my innermost secrets. That someone to whom I can speak my heart out. Isn’t it so natural? Isn’t so beautiful?

The one with whom I have already started to plan my life, my life with her. Rather, our lives. The one who is always in my thoughts, and beautiful they are.

That one who is more important with each passing second of my life. That one without whom I cannot dream a complete and blissful life. That one who is now the love of my life, in fact, that one is my life now.

That someone is Sucheta, my fiancé and my would-be better half.  

What my friends has to say-I would divide my friends in two categories. First ones who are unmarried and will crib after reading this and second are the ones who are married and will still crib after reading this write-up. A natural reaction after reading this write-up will be that I am out of my senses and am on cloud 9. Hawa mein uud raha hoo My answer to such a reaction will be-

For those who are unmarried- You have to be in a relation to feel this. It’s a feeling that can only be felt but difficult to describe.

For those who are married- You guys have already been through this feeling and you know exactly what I am trying to convey. Shadi is a motichoor ka laddu and I want to have it.

Excited? Yes I am. With a feeling of excitement, and at the same time being nervous, I and Sucheta have taken first step for our togetherness. Getting engaged on last 21^st was just the first step of wonderful times ahead. And I know in the store of time more happy times are waiting for us.

Amen.

Link- Pictures of myself and Sucheta on the Engagement day are in the embedded FB link. Through these pictures I wanted to share my joy and happiness with all my lovely friends who were not present at the ceremony. 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2332825441851.2136473.1286234282

OH!! Calcutta

Yippy….Its now less than 20 days and I will be in Calcutta again, but sadly for a week only. Every time when I plan to go to Calcutta, I have this strange feeling of being there more and more, or in other words, settling down there. I don’t know, but there is something unique in Calcutta, whose spell bounds me every time. Even after being away for the city for 3 years, there is still something which attracts my heart. There is part in me which wants me to be there, again and again.

Calcutta- “The City of Joy”,

--is rightly described by Dominique Lapierre. It’s the city where joy and happiness are among the top priority list of the people. There is no mad rush to amass huge wealth. Calcuttians don’t mind sleeping for a couple of hours in the afternoon after having their favorite Macher jhol and Bhat. People, there, don’t mind even if that two hours nap cost them in their revenues. For Calcuttians its happiness that matters. They are content. They know the art of living and to get maximum of every bit of life.

Calcutta verses Mumbai

-- Being in Mumbai for more than three years and have explored every bit of it, the comparison is obvious. But I don’t want to make this comparison. Mumbai is better in every aspect which can be described in materialistic terms. Mumbai have bigger flyover, wider roads, better infrastructure, Industrial houses, BFS industry and Bollywood. Calcutta is way behind in each of these aspects. But there is an aesthetic appeal. It’s the appeal from the lovely time spent there, life LIVED there. Being away from Calcutta, I miss-

- My loved ones- family and friends.

- My office –PWC and my colleagues there.

            - “Adda”- after the office and on Sundays.

- Amazing food at Azad hind Dabbha, Curry club, Rose, Haveli, Gangaur, Teej,Gautam’s…….

            - Music at Tantra, Sheesha….

            - Hanging out with friends at City Center.

            - Underground metro.

            - Puchkkas (especially the ones at Jorabagan crossing and in front of Jaya Cinema).

            - The yellow black ambassador taxi.

            - 2-3 strikes every month.

            - Holy dip in Ganges on Sundays.

            - Rabindra Sangeet on festivals like Durga Puja.

            - The people of Calcutta.

The amazing nature of calcuttians to accept a stranger as a part of their family and the compassion towards fellow beings, it’s simply awesome.

The list will go on. These are the things which Mumbai can never compensate. I am not cribbing about Mumbai, will never do. It’s just that there is a special place for Calcutta in my heart.

Love you dear; Love you – City of Joy- City with a heart.. mwaaaah!!

Scared to be the next one

It was a usual evening till 6.50 pm. There in the canteen, on the 3^rd floor of our office building, I was having my evening snack and was watching the western sky. Sun was setting as usual. Traffic was slowly increasing on the road below. People were returning to their heavenly abode. Everything was just normal. Suddenly the TV screen flashed the news-

“Mumbai vandalized again”.

----Terror has struck to the city again. Three blasts in a span of 10 minutes.-- Dadar, Opera House and Zaveri bazaar-- 15 died and numerous injured. Once again our intelligence and police have failed. Mumbai will be under high alert for next few days.

The newsflash shook me from inside. Terror again. So many people died without knowing the reason of their death. So many lives were taken for no reason. Those who died were the ordinary mumbaikers. The thought that I could had been one of them, sent chill down my spines.

This is totally unjustified. I felt this act of terror to be highly unjustified on the part of ordinary people. People who were never involved in any such things were killed mercilessly. I felt like people were helpless. I felt like I was helpless.

Though none of the organizations have taken responsibility, this act of terror can be done only by a coward. He who kills people for strengthening his own belief can only be a coward. And the belief is also such which he only believes to be right. Killing for proving a point cannot be justified. But terrorists have different set of thoughts. They think they have done something correct which cannot be justified by any extent of imagination.

Mumbai have been struck again and again. And once in every three years for last two decades. Form 1993 serial blasts till now; there have been 14 acts of terrorism.

http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/database/mumbai_blast.htm

Be it blasts in train or in a bus; terror has struck again and again. Intelligence has failed, security systems have failed, faith of an ordinary man failed.

Faith in Judiciary has also failed after the unending trials of “Kasab” not leading to any conclusion. Something which should have taken months is not ending in years.

But an ordinary mumbaikar has little to do. Seeing these seemingly unstoppable strikes, he has accepted this as a part of life. And have accepted the loss of fellow beings, every few years, as something inevitable.

Media talks a lost about the indomitable sprit of Mumbai. Mumbaikars, forgetting what has happened yesterday, standing up and starting a normal life again. But is it the reality? Does he have any choice? I feel the choices are limited. He takes the same train which was the blast site yesterday. He feels he was lucky last time and was not a victim of the blast. I feel the same—

                                                                 I was lucky last time. But nobody knows when my luck might run out and I may be the next one.

BARSAT Ke Din Aaye..

I have been waiting for this part of year for quite some time. Especially after the scorching heat ripped my soul, rains were very much awaited. It’s a lazy Sunday morning with heavy showers outside. Standing in the balcony, sipping a cup of tea and enjoying the feel of droplets touching your hands, it’s simply amazing. Am sure rest of the mumbaikars will be feeing the same as am I.

Rains have a special significance in India. Our economy, primarily being agricultural, depends on it. If there’s a bad monsoon year, GDP would tumble. But this is a quite macroeconomic view. What barish really means to a farmer is of more importance. He spends his entire summer staring at the sky for first sight of rain clouds.  I could not but thought of movie “Lagaan”. The song “Ghanan Ghanan ghan gir aaye badra”--- I can feel the joy of poor farmer (Aamir Khan) at the first sight of rain clouds. The farmer is the one who has most awaited it.

It’s said that Tansen had the voice to make lord Indra shower his blessings. In this era, I believe, the poor farmers have such divine powers.

Rains are manifested as the season of romance. Our bollywood has taken much use of it. The oldest depiction I can remember is --Raj Kapoor and Nargis, under one chata, in “Pyar huya ikrar huya” and the latest I can remember is –Akshay kumar and Katrina Kaif in “Gale lag ja”. Rains make their chemistry more going. My personal favorite is the scene form movie kuch kuch hota hai. Link embedded. BTW, I am die hard fan of SRK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEM8bwu4fSE

This lazy Sunday gave me some extra time to back in my mind. I wanted to relive my past of the times when rains means a break from school, when rains meant wading through the streets of badabazar, when rains meant running to the terrace and taking first showers, when rains meant making the paper boats, when rains meant so much fun. Times have changed, forms have changed, but the happiness rains brings to my heart is still the same. I still cannot stop myself from getting drenched when it pours. The smell of damp earth is heavenly.

People, here in Mumbai, dread rains, especially after 27^th July incident. Thundershowers and high tide swept away every thing that came in its way. It was bad. It was terrible. But what we could have done to avoid it? We are small creatures against the Nature’s extreme power. I pray to God that such a natural disaster may never strike ever again.

Apart from major havocs, rains create many traffic hassles. Pace of movement of traffic on Western Expressway Highway is like that of a snail. Even after honking for an hour, one is almost at the same place from where it started.

But every good thing has some dark side and these traffic hassles, these hardships are nothing compared to the happiness that rain bring with it.

I know I can go on writing and there’s not end to it. Rains are such a thing. The sound of falling droplets, the sounds of birds chirping, the sight of greenery everywhere, the sight of little waterfalls, the sound of cricket, the sight of rainbow and  the sight of a couple cuddling each other under single umbrella-- makes me feel the heaven is still on this earth.

OUT-LOOKS- Is it worth it ?

Holidays are awesome. Lying idle on the couch and doing nothing is the best thing to do. Relaxing, chilling out and surfing the idiot box, is what I love most. These senseless movie channels have so much to show on holidays. It happened that I made myself, expecting some good stuff, to watch a movie “X” starring Harish Kapoor.

About “X”- Harish is the “hero” of the movie. For Harish, every other woman in this world is beautiful, expect Mrs. Harish Kapoor. And this is for the reason – she uses high powered specs and – she has a peculiar hairstyle “choti”. Harish hated his wife the most. He found her unattractive. The climax of movie is cosmetic transformation of Mrs. Kapoor and Harish finds her true love in transformed her.

My mind began to be more curious to know about the importance of LOOKS in ones life. -Is it that important? How can conversion of specs to lens and hair straightening made Harish change his mind? Are looks that important? Do people judge human on their outlooks?

The obvious answer from majority of junta will be “yes”. They would say first look of a person makes paramount impact, be it an official interview, making new friends or matrimonial proposal. They would add- Who does not feel like looking good? And more importantly- Who does not feel like looking good, if leads to greater acceptance?

This new age of medication has brought a new concept of CHANGING looks. Now one can be like the one it always dreamt of. People can achieve their innermost desire of public acceptance by some superficial changes. Going under the knife was common among women. We have a whole list of bollywood actresses. But now men are also inclined towards it. Statistics prove it.

The cosmetic surgeons are making their fortunes. So many new concepts- botox, liposuction, trichology, blah blah (and the list goes on). And, guess what, their clients consider them as Gods. I wished I would have been a cosmetic surgeon too (to make big fortunes).

There’s a TV serial series named “Nip tuck”. I have seen few couples of episodes. The series is about the individual cases of people who wanted to get their outlook changed. Every case had a different reason for change. I was horrified to see the importance people give about their image in others thoughts. In one of the episode an obese girl wanted to shred half of her body fats (infact body) just for the simple reason that she wanted to attend college prom night as a slim structure. Surgeon’s acceptance of impossibility of this fat reduction made her commit suicide. – Again I thought, is it worth it?

Is it worth it? Is it worth it?

I know I will never to get any conclusive answer. But for me, I will never go for laser treatment to remove my specs. I know its personal choice. And every body thinks differently.

About “X”, I still don’t know the title of the movie and Harish Kapoor is an upcoming actor in pollywood!

The Penguin’s way

Surfing on the net for a while landed me to story of a Romantic movie. I always thought that this feeling of insanity (being in love) is limited Bollywood with some exceptions in Hollywood. But this read made me realize that animals are also insane the same way our bollywood stars are. Nevertheless, hesitantly I started the reading. The entire read was indeed very beautiful.

The movie talked about the different ways of proposing your love. The one I liked the most is about penguin way of expressing it.

Penguins are unique creatures, and are the only creatures that have the same life long mates. Once they are committed, they are committed forever. I cannot imagine how their brains would have been designed!! And, of course, the choice of choosing mate is given to females.

To propose love, they have a unique way. Male penguin searches the entire beach shore for the most beautiful pebble. Once he is sure that this pebble is the one, he picks it up and places in front of the feet of female penguin. If the female accepts the pebble, they are said to commit lifelong. This commitment continues even after one of them dies. Isn’t that beautiful?

I could draw an analogy between this beautiful pebble and the solitaire ring. But, I guess, getting the most beautiful pebble is more difficult then getting the ring. Also, I had a question, how do penguins recognize each other in the sea of penguins??

Anyways, the entire read was completely new to me and I thought I should share it. This read made me realize that there is, at least, one living creature on the earth for whom, living for love and commitment is so important.

And, by the way, Can you guess the movie??