For a friend!

Some people walk into your lives and manage to make a place that no one else can fill, if they leave. I am always lucky to meet people who teach me the biggest philosophies thru their life. This piece is dedicated to one such person. A person who lived in the shadow of death for almost a decade and yet managed to live a life fuller than many others.

Her dad's death was probably a big blow and what seemed to be headaches owing to the sadness was later diagnosed as brain tumor. The innumerable treatments saved her life but not without taking away her vision. Saved from death to never see the world again! Was it worth it? Well, each one of us may have doubts but not she. She lived on to complete her graduation and post graduation and it was here that I met her. All my doubts about 'Is this life worth living' were laid to rest then and there. This beautiful, fair, waist length haired girl taught me never ever to take the 'routine' things of life for granted. It took much more than dedication and hard work to record lectures, listen to them and then give her examinations thru a writer. How many of us have cried when our portable cassette player didn't work? She would almost skip a few beats if hers didn't, because for her it was not a means of entertainment. It was her biggest ally. One who would fulfill her dream of being a post graduate! "Just because I cannot see does not mean I will make candles, I will at least try and see if I can write code"- the words are clearly etched in my memory. Those were the words of a delicate looking but feisty girl out to challenge destiny. She inspired many on her way. Our department head fought with the university to let her write exams with normal (really?) people. Yeah, she finally achieved her dream from on the most reputed colleges in the city.

Just when you thought that things were turning out to be ok, her tumor relapsed and she had been bed ridden since. A few days back when I had called up, her voice was not audible on the phone because of her weak state, but deep down I felt that she would come back just like she always did. We would then again pull her leg about growing fat. But she didn't!

She taught me to see the beauty in routine and feel blessed about it. She lived her life to the fullest and taught me what that phrase really meant. I am sure she would inspire many others en route to the other world.

Rest in Peace Yogini!

Humming.......

Sunte the hum yeh zindagi
gham aur khushi ka mel hain
humko magar aaya nazar, yeh zindagi woh khel hain
koi sab jeete, sab koi haar de
apni toh haar hain
yaar mere.....haan yaar mere....

sach mere yaar hain
bas wahi pyaar hain
jiske badle mein koi toh pyar de
baaki bekar hain yaar mere ...haan yaar mere



Saagar/ SP Balasubramaniam / RD Burman / Javed Akhtar

Truly Tempted

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it - Oscar Wilde

Why is there such a strong affinity for something that is out of bounds? Is it because it is out of bounds? Probably yes! Anything that is immoral or wrong and with a high degree of repercussion is more simulating to our senses. Right choices are – “Aah! So bland”. But then the basic question - what/who defines right and wrong? That judgment usually comes from elements who contribute an iota to your existence. Why then are we always worried about appeasing these elements?

A paradigm that makes more sense to me is the one where your choices are based on people. A choice that hurts someone and in return makes you feel uneasy about your judgment - that is morality in its true form. It cannot be based on gospels and sermons because its much more than that.

So when faced with a choice, stop fretting over making the right one. It’s anyways easy to be God; what’s tough is being human!

Puneri .....once again

A friend's conversation at a famous diary in Pune. The taste of this conversation is in marathi, so keeping the conversation language as is.

She: Dahi aahe ka? Kitila?
Shopkeeper: 12 la
She: Majhyakade 11 aahet.. 1 nantar deu ka?
He: (thankavun) NAHI
She: Bara.. taak?
He: (again thankavun) SUTTE 5


Kahihi mhana, tya puneri maaz chi majaach vegli!!!!!! I miss it.

Defining Moments

What does it take to enjoy a movie? A good theater, a good movie...Naah! It needs an exam, rather, exams. A bunch of papers that kill you as they pass by, giving you a sigh of relief on just the last day....and that’s the perfect moment to watch a movie. No other criteria come close to that moment of finishing up your paper and heading towards the theater with your gang.

Someone was tad too perfect when s/he said that Life is nothing but a bunch of moments. Everything between those moments, well, who cares about them anyways?

Roses make no sense until the moment you have someone to give it to as you are popping the question. For that moment, nothing but a red rose would do. And irrespective of the answer to your proposal the red rose and the moment become an inseparable part of your life.
You may attend a few thousand parties in your lifetime but the party you threw with your first pay stands out from the rest of them. After all it defines a moment you were proud of yourself irrespective of the self skepticism you carry otherwise.

After adding a lot of inches to your waistline and accumulating a fortune, you may buy a Mercedes, but still it cannot beat the first Ambassador your dad bought home for the family. The moment is too precious which your accumulated fortune cannot replicate.

Most of the times we are so busy worrying about the future that we let go many such moments in the present. So the next time you think you have a defining moment just hold on to it, for it would be past soon.

Aptly said by Gulzaar -

Ek baar waqt se, lamhaan gira kahin,
wahan dastaan mili, lamhaan kahi nahin.....
thoda sa hasake, thoda sa rulake, pal yeh bhi jaaane wala hain....................

Quote

The unlucky are nothing more than a frame of reference for the lucky. You are unlucky, so I may know that I am not. Unfortunately the lucky never realizes they are lucky until it's too late. Take yourself for instance; yesterday you were better off than you are off today but it took today for you to realize it. But today has arrived and it's too late. You see? People are never happy with what they have. They want what they had, or what someone else has.


........If you haven't seen the movie do watch Lucky Number Slevin, atleast the starting 45 minutes

Friendship

Which is the most generalized relationship in the world? Think! Think!....... Friendship! It can just walk into any other relationship and stay harmoniously with it. Even if the original relationship fades away, friendship can stay and maintain its own identity. Truly something different, isn't it? We all get introduced to friendship long before we spell R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N and we tend to stay in friendships long after we have understood, tried, succeeded and messed relations. With the Friendship Day approaching I thought it would be cool to write about people who make up a big part of each one of us.

When I was a school kid we had this tradition on birthdays that the birthday girl could choose her best friend and take him/her around to distribute sweets. I always so eagerly waited for my friend’s birthday, because I assumed that on those distribution rounds the best friend got extra chocolates. So I distinctly remember when one of my best friends did not choose me for the tradition, I sulked for weeks to come. Come to think of it today it sounds cute but childhood friends evoke a strong passionate reaction amongst many. You had to be loyal to your friend, loyal in sharing lunch boxes, not getting too friendly with someone else and making sure that your friend was always the first to be invited to your birthday party. Since you almost grow up together in an era where other distractions have not yet taken priority, these friends are probably the most treasured (for many people).

In college, a friend is someone who rides pillion with you to college, bunks lectures and hangs out because you think the lecture is boring and completes your file while you try to impress the opposite sex. A friend lies to your mom that you are studying at her place when you are actually out with your date. A friend is the first person your mom calls up when she wants to make sure that you are indeed going on a safe trip. Everything 'extra' is promptly fulfilled by your friend without nagging you about it. It may be extra money for movies, extra time for completing your notes, extra butter-polishing so that you get to attend the lab session and many such extras.

As we all step into the adult world, this relationship quietly steps aside to make way for others. You become a professional, get hooked, become parents and go onto add many other feathers to your relationship cap. All this while friendship just exists! At times, you forget to invite it into your happiness, forget to share your grief or a momentous achievement but it never sulks. It definitely comes a long way from the childhood friendship we all adhered to. After the initial glitz and glamour, when the newness of many relationships wear off, we all cater to the neglected but still strong bond of friendship. You may have not spoken for years but just drop a mail and see the way your mail thread grows.

Friendships are like that, they do not really need a lot of attention; once the bond is set, it seems to exist forever. Anyone who makes you feel good about yourself, reminds you of your past and makes you laugh, feels happy about your present even if s/he is no longer a part of it deserves a special pat. So this friendship day raise a toast to all your friends with the age old yet contemporary proverb by Albert Camus -

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.


Happy Friendships Day everyone!