A day in clippings.

As I sipped my evening routine in a white mug, it was lovely to read the newspaper. As usual, I was indulged when a few news/information caught my attention. I decided to click them and share on my blog because they stood apart in the herd.

This clip opened my eyes about when an elephant needs coffee, it must be a jug of coffee, not a mug of coffee. I laughed heartily over it while the entire news warmed my heart at a great extent. It is about a 48 day camp set up by the officials at Thuthookudi, Bangalore (at the cost of Rs. 1.04 crore but provided free to mahouts and their elephants) hailed as a vacation camp for animals.

'They didn't want to leave at its end', said the official. (Who would want to if you get fed with nutrition-rich food, get leisurely long bathing sessions, free medical service and a giant chance to walk around for free, not for the throng.) Wonderful to say the least.

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You are never too old.

A few days back when I logged in to my FB account, I realized there was a friend request. I have already about half a century friend requests there and when I got another one, there wasn't any sign of particular genre of excitement nonetheless I checked who it was. And much to my surprise and a super special genre of happiness, it was my mother's! Well well, what do you know? You, the spoiled modernized high-tech species of 21st century, sit on your computer and there you have the privilege of having a friend request sent straight from the elegant 20th century version of your generation.

My father also has an Facebook account. He made it just for the sake of it but he hardly uses it. I even leave him personal messages so that when he logs in (which is a rare occasion like Independence Day), he won't find it boring for having to scroll for nothing! See! My concern and love for him yet he never sees them. I still send him li'l messages once in a while but they lay there exposed in the eclipsed sun of utter ignorance. Sigh!

But my mother surely stole my heart when I saw her staying active on the networking site. She updated her profile picture as well as cover picture, added a set of fresh moments of life and way better than all these is, that she replies to the comments on them! That's just outstanding, I believe. I really like that she is gettin' her hands on much hyped FB and is trying to make the best use of it. And my bhabhi (her daughter-in-law) has been helping her all along. Isn't my bhabhi lovely and so nice! When my mother told it to me, my heart swelled with love and admiration for her.

So clearly my mother shows no one is too old to learn anything. You just have to get that right amalgamation of passion to learn and determination to execute and you are all set on your very own flight of staying-young-by-heart forever.

Life is a book. Write your story well!

It's summer in Bangalore and trust me when I say I have a full respect for people who go out and toil everyday and that too without sitting inside an AC cubicle! But when I woke up this evening and opened my room balcony, I was grandly welcomed by this illustrious weather with open arms. That lifted up my mood up to a great extent and for a writer like me, a pleasant weather is much more than what it is for others. A pleasant weather is not just a time phase but it is also an inspiration for feeling good; a bag of motivation socketed with fresh new ideas about writing and life and many more things. My natural bend is to see things in a different manner and this post is exactly just 'bout that.

Lookin' out at trees and people chattering, I feel as if life is a book - a book with pages equal to days and nights we spend. Our daily routine, constant struggles, and special talents are being scribbled without us even realizing it. The book is grand let me tell you and will be handed over to us during the final moments of our lives along with blessings and prayers in which we will get to evaluate and re-evaluate and for the first time we will read it as a reader but not as its creator. In short, you are inevitably an author! And you are liable to write your story well.

Have a glass of cold water.

 

In the hot summer days like today's

all the beauty of you need is -

a glass of sizzling cold water;

a big glass, the plastic one like mine

you may choose the color purple of my like;

Now fill it all the way up to the rim

with normal water, not with a dash of wine!

No! Hold on a second!

I told the process wrong

I don't know what's going on?

Let's start afresh with those judgy curious eyes

you must've have those 3 cubes of ice;

Put'em in the round empty purple base

of the big matte purple glass 

and now fill it all the way up to its rim

again, with normal water, not with rum!

It's a very interesting process as you fill up

for you get to hear how ice and water meet up,

something crackles and then a little mingling

noiselessly they make a drink quite tingling ;

and then you lift the purple glass up

touch its rim with thirsty lips,

Continue taking a few deliberate slow sips

and see how ice has started melting in it;

As beautiful as quenching the thirst goes

I do hope I took away some of your woes.

An irressistible mornin'.

Bangalore is a city which will innocently drug you heavily to its breezy nights and warmed up mornings. When I woke up today for morning tasks such as making breakfast and lunch, I stood by my large kitchen window and had a look outside. What a sight it was! Totally hypnotizing! I immediately went up to my balcony and clicked a few pictures. I am a nature-lover. Thus, try to capture its heavenly beauty on my screen whenever it's possible. Have a look at those clicks:

This was the first one I took. Blazing clouds in cool mornin'.

How 'bout havin' a sight of horizon?

And this was the final one. Loveliest to say the least!

Not that easy to catch nature in the tiny hole of camera yet the beauty drippin' out of these pictures just steals my heart away. I love last one the most. It's as if the child sun is trying to peek through those thick chain of trees while those fluffy clouds neatly arranged on the table of sky look exactly in its support of play. It was around six in the morning and truth to be told, the view had me stunned. It brought a smile to my face but I could not spend much time in appraisal. I had to go back to my vessels and veggies. Remember?

Now it's one in the morning and I don't feel sleepy at all. I don't know whether it's the strong urge of writing that's ushering me to sit for longer or the quietness in the surroundings that has the ability to put a racing day at halt but I am certainly staying awake until my eyes are droopy. Let's have a night out with my own soul, heart and body until they start merging into one and take me to bed.

Love is not a toy, just as a heart is not one.

Last weekend I spent at my sister's house. There I got the rare opportunity to watch three movies in just two days- Neerja, Pyaar ka Punchnama 2 (PKP 2) and The Conjuring. I was teary eyed by the time Neerja ended up. PKP 2 was okay type but it was the last flick, The Conjuring, that got under my skin the deepest.

How?

Well, now I can't sleep at nights, scared to roam around the house (even in broad day light), a little sound and I jump on my feet (if this continues, no wonder if the tiles turn into potholes someday sooner), I frown more at back than to my front, heart threatens to stop beating any time, and the silence has started to sound ominous. I am finding difficulty even in washing my face. The moment I close my eyes, a set of specific horror scenes start to flash, smartly numbing my senses and I get desperate to open them asap. While I am secretly cursing my sister and her husband for agreeing to satiate my demand of horror, I have taken an unbreakable oath to not to watch a horror movie again. Ever!

Anyways, keeping creepy ghosts and the brave air hostess aside, let's talk about PKP 2. Yeah I said it was an okay type movie (which is true) but there is this scene which is totally outstanding as well as a cutting edge truth of this so called cool generation. I had a real hard time in finding the clip so watch it before I speak any further:

 

Pyaar ka Punchnama 2

How about callin' marriage a picnic?

Just yesterday two of our good friends got married to each other. While hubby got the opportunity to enjoy the whole of gala, I am happily spending time at my sister's house eating, chatting and watching interesting movies (and now writing :) ). I could not manage to the marriage because of some reasons and hence, missed the fun. But no complaints.

So this morning, I congratulated our friends-turned-couple over the phone. When I talked to the groom, I asked -

"So? How was the marriage? Everything went good?" (Since we are a group of close friends, I can always ask such questions without any perturbation.)

He - "Oh yes, bhabhiji! It was wonderful! I felt more of coming onto some picnic!"

Picnic?! I was highly amused listening to the expression of his experience. I goaded further.

He - "Yes! It felt like we all have come together at one place and I am eating, chatting, enjoying with everyone." Well, he certainly forgot to add - and getting married to someone.

I grinned. So far, I have not come across anyone who has described getting married as 'coming to a picnic' but addressing marriage a sort of a picnic is well justified where you get to meet and greet several people you know, sing and dance along, eat and chat together, work and more chat together, get tired and again do more work together. Everything just at one place catapulted into a single phase of time.

So yeah! Marriage does resemble a well-planned, perfectly embroidered picnic; a fun picnic but only with one difference - you get back with a person for a lifetime to live with along with those empty baskets.

'bout Facebook 'Reactions'.

Sometimes I feel helpless admiring our very own FBI (facebook inventor), Zuckerberg's creative side of brain. When Facebook was introduced, it was nothing more than just another social networking site to help people get connected with other people they know as well as with unknown. Slowly but steadily, it made its way to the top of the league beating then insanely-popular Orkut and still continues to give a challenge to the likes LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Now Facebook is nothing but a ubiquitous winner of all time.

RIP Orkut. You were truly wonderful.

With Orkut, things were contemporary but with FB, everything got revolutionary and as time grew up, somehow it transpired into more number of Likes and mix bag of cries for the freedom of speech. And whenever my imagination crumples into thinking what more Zuckerberg can play with its toy and introduce new gimmicks, just then he proves me wrong. The latest in fad is - Reactions.

कवि का राज़ .

गिर के खुद उठने में जो मज़ा है

वो किन्ही और हाथों के सहारे में कहाँ ?

नम आँखों की भीनी तरलता को 

अपनी बाहों से मिटाने में जो बात है 

वो किन्हीऔर उँगलियों की तत्परता में कहाँ ?

गिरे कभी नीचे तो धरती को देख लिया 

पैरों के नीचे रहकर भी आसमां छू लेती है;

उठ कर हाथों की धूल झाड़ते जो ऊपर देखा 

पूरा आकाश भी कुछ मंद मंद मुस्कुरा पड़ा;

आत्म-निर्भरता की कड़ी धूप में जो नरमी है

वो किसी स्नेहपगे आलिंगन में कहाँ ?

अकेलेपन के एहसास से लरज़ते लम्हों में भी
दिलों को बांध लेने में जो मज़ा है
वो सन्नाटे को चीरती खुशबू में कहाँ ?

ज़िन्दगी के संघर्ष से स्वयं दो-चार ना हुए तो क्या किया ?
दिल का सुकूं ही काफी है मुस्कुरा लेने के लिए ;

कवि होकर जो खोलूं मैं एक कवि का राज़ - 

जो स्वाद ह्रदय की अंतहीन गहराईयों को
मर्मभेदी शब्दों से सींच लेने में है 

वो किसी और दिमाग की मधुर उपज में है कहाँ ?