60 hours

Mumbai terrorist attack, 26th -29th Dec 2008

Millions of people around the globe watched a few young, angry, full of hate men kill Innocent people without any remorse. What was particularly perturbing was the fact that they seemed to really enjoy it. After all they were going to be Hero's for all those who follow the same cause of hate.

These young men were clearly remote controlled through the 60 hours of battle. They were constantly on the phone with their mentors in Pakistan. They were following directions to the T. For the youth had passion but not the intelligence that came with age.

Did they do this because they were promised a glorious after life, I think not. It was their ego that was played with, they were promised a Heroic life. The jaded older men who are so full of hate, used these foolish young men. Maybe they promised the boys that they would come back as Hero's, that their dark world will look up to these men. Clearly they were not prepared to die...they were here to earn a rewarded heroic life.

Hero: Why is it so important us humans to be hero's?? what is it that exists in our genes that makes us desire to stand out and be revered. The animal species only kills either to feed or in self defence. What mutated in our genes that we want to kill just to become hero's? While our brain expanded and grew over 1000s of years it also developed these "feelings" that can be enhanced or played with.

We are the only species that walk the earth, who kills for pure pleasure. Is the very brain that grew in order for the man to protect himself, be the very reason the species might end one day??

Seed for thought?!!

I wept!

After 48 of terror in Mumbai...finally i broke down and wept

I wept for all those who died in such a brutal act of terror
I wept for the police men who died in this senseless killing
I wept for the brave heart civilians who died trying to save the guests of their hotels
I wept for the people who were waiting at the station wanting to go home and will never go back
I wept for people who went for a meal to a hotel and it turned out to b their last meal
I wept for the NSG commandos who died in the encounter, saving the hostages
I wept for those families who will never be able to hug their loved ones ever again
I wept for those who will live with this horror for rest of their lives
I wept for the children who will never know a life without terrorism
I wept for those who will now live in hate

Most importantly, I wept for my Country, for it will never be the same!!

Unattainable

Have you noticed how in life we want something we can't get..the more it is out of our reach the more we yearn for it. Is it that we truly need it or is that our ego or id doesn't allow us to accept the fact that sometimes things in life are just Unattainable.

The love that we can't attain leaves us hungry for more. With no care about the hearts that might have been broken by us. Is it our ego that pushes us to no accept the fact that we got rejected.

We all walk away from various friendships in our lives...and will continue to do so through on our journey on earth. But why is that relationship when some one else who walked away hurts the most. Is it really our heart that is broken is that the pain of hurt ego.

The promotion we don't get, the dress we can't afford, the car we can't drive, the house we can't buy, the shoes that are too expensive, the painting that can't be hung in our living room. The Friends, colleagues or relatives who hurt us are remembered more than the people who have stood by. The relationships that don't work out defines us rather than the ones we have nursed since childhood.

We spend most of our life either looking behind or ahead. We forget to look beside us and see all the people and things that have withstood time...they have been standing next to us, side by side all this time.

Are we selfish so as to lust after the unattainable...seed for thought??

Perfect 10

You nag me first thing in the morning for sleeping late and then tell me tea is ready...You know I love sleeping late and don't drink tea first thing in the morning. You tell me the house is not clean and nag me all weekend long. All you can obsess about is the dust bunnies and my magazines trail all over the house. My room is a mess while you study is all neat and clean. I listen to the Cd's and leave them out of their cover while you are fanatic about the CD's being filed in a proper order IN THEIR COVER. I like the geyser on for at least half an hour but you think the water gets hot in exactly 15 minutes. You get into bed at 10 pm while I potter around and get into bed by 11 pm. You like reading dark books and I love my Chicklits. You though "Kite Runner" was awesome, while it put me in depression for a few days. You like to be out and about in our holidays while I dream of slumming it on my off time... you think I talk too much while I think you talk too less. You go to the gym to get checked out while I go to the gym to check out!


In spite of all this you are my Perfect 10!


You wake me in the morning with a warm hug and my tea is in the thermos. I crib and crib while I clean the house so you always surprise me when I get back from a business trip with a neat clean house. Not only do you clean our house you also set my cupboard straight. To make it interesting for me you suggest I use my makeup brushes as dusters ( I love mixing fashion with dusting!!). Every month for past 10 years you buy me the Cosmopolitan, in spite of the magazine trail I leave all over the house.You put the CD's in order and always help me organise. You put off the geyser in 15 minutes but always let me know its been half hr. Although you nod off to sleep by 10 you always turn and hug me when I get into bed by 11. To make up for "kite runner " kinda books you make me read, I get a Chicklit in gift. I get good shopping time as compensation for the "touristy" stuff I do on our holidays. When I am away from home you call me 50 times coz the house is too quiet and you miss my jabber. While you are getting checked out in the gym I realise you are checking me out!! ; )

What can I say, YOU are my PERFECT 10!! Seed for thought?

Nippy

I love this time of the year when there is a slight nip in the air. Its unbelievable how one can smell the change in the air...its musty yet sunny, its nippy yet warm, smokey yet freshness of winter is around the corner.

Today morning i woke up with a storm brewing. My bamboo chimes were loudly announcing the gale outside...i checked for the time and realised it was 4 am. With my head resting on my pillow i listened to the wind and the sound of the chime. Instinctively i snuggled into my better half, winters always brought us closer. Yes, winter was announcing its arrival.

Its going to get cold and we will all be tucked in corners either smoking, having a warm brandy or drinking cups of hot chai...either way we all will be huddled to get warm. I always felt winters bought people together. In Miranda House the gang would jump into one quilt and over cups of hot hot tea talk about our lives, our dreams, ambitions and fantasise about how FAB our lives will turn out. Then I moved to Pune. Winters always stood for drinking Old Monk Rum right out of the bottle and then attempt to drive my kinetic scooter home ...why bother with tea, we were too grown up for that!! Then the gang would gather at Prems and huddle together over a gazillion cigarettes and more Old Monk.

I am not very fond of the cold but i do like the way it brings people together. This winter I am bidding farewell to last of my girlfriends at work, its sad to see GOG ( gang of girls) end, I am optimistic that there will be new friendships formed. I have a feeling this winter will bring some new people together. I wonder who it will be...hmmm, a seed for thought?!

Enchanted terrace

One of my favourite books while growing up was Enid Blytons "Enchanted Wood". I loved the series...Elves who needed help and the kids who did the good deeds and get to see the enchanted tree..and the adventures began. My mind was full of beautiful images of the woods...it was very enchanting indeed.

3 years back I created my own enchanted woods. I was going through one of the toughest phases of my life and everything around me was falling apart. I got up and faced the world smiling and laughing and came home and broke into thousand pieces every evening. One day it became all too clear, I had to stop the dark side from taking over!

So next morning I woke up and decided to build me MY Enchanted Woods. This one place I will escape to and the elves are gonna put every thing back in order. The child in me recognised that the 30 yr old adult is pretty outta control and took over. Boy, was I possessed with the child pushing me to make a garden on my terrace. Yes, this will be my enchanted wood!!!

Neeri was in town along with Vincent and with their gentle support I started going from Garden Nurseries to Terracotta bazaars. We bought a dozen beautiful terracotta birds from Dilli Haat, lamps from Saket roads, a few flower pots from Sondha. I started sowing flower seeds in pots. A bird feed and water bath for the sparrows, pigeons and the squirrels. In the hustle bustle my better half had joined in.

Before I even realised my enchanted woods had grown and taken a life of its own. The child had kept me so busy with building the woods that i had stopped thinking about anything else. The adult was distracted from the pain and child was having so much fun.

My woods are lovely, with different flowers, plants, creepers. Nearly all of them have been grown from a seed i had planted 3 years back. The birds come in the morning chirping loudly announcing their arrival, butterflies flutter from plant to plant, pea hens with her chicks have been spotted, we have our migratory robin that comes every year and not to forget my fish pond( thanks to Chirag!). Just a few weeks back my guppies gave birth to 4 fries. I sit in my enchanted woods every sat morning and thank it for giving back my life to me.

I think the child in me forgave the adult I was going to become and stopped the devastation before it took root. Giving back my life ( a Happier and more Full filled One that too!) and reminding me that the child in me hadn't abandoned me. I just have to look for her when I am lost...hows that for a seed for thought???

Monumental Defeats

Isn't it amazing how success can be rated as very successful...moderately successful...A grade celeb....B grade celeb, but failure is always monumental. No one is moderately hasbeen or semi failed business man etc. Failure or defeat is just that, defeat.

Like all, i too have lived life between success and failure. The joy of success can be as short lived as a day, an hour, a minute but defeats one remembers through lifetime.

My 10th grade below average marks will always overshadow the MBA merit list i topped, the interview I did not make through, the friendship I failed, the relationship I let down...

But, my most amazing discovery has been through those very monumental defeats...and relative no learning or life discovery through the success...it was only an ego massage...that's all.

Some of the monumental defeats that I will always cherish ( yes cherish as they are responsible for the subsequent success), are

1. Barely passing grade 10th. For the first time i realised it a dog eat dog world and i don't want to be eaten just yet



2. My failed high school relationship. It made me wiser to what I DON'T want in a relationship. I lost a boyfriend but made a friend for life.



3. Not being there for Tiks when her dad passed away. Today I might miss a celebration but I will never not be there during a personal loss

Today I can look at life and say yes my defeats have made me who I am and the medals have reinforced that life is learnt through those monumental mistakes. Seed for thought???