Live It !!! or Die Trying..... Period

Disgust, pure plain and simple, is what I feel whenever I see people throw away their dreams so that they can afford a better phone, a better car maybe a better social circle. Seriously that's all your life is worth it? What's worse we have already trained our kids to stop dreaming very early on, so that they can get ahead in the bloody rat race!!!!!

 We are taught to consume mindlessly, comply mindlessly. When I take a walk through any crowded street all I see is broken dreams, broken spirit. All this reminds me of a broken horse saddled and harnessed with the blinds on. I am not talking about some random sample. I am referring to now and here, the state of our society. What’s more surprising is people actually compete to be better at this. From my perspective they are competing at not living. They celebrate ‘nothing’. I understand every man/women to his/her own. Then why in a society where a life’s dream is discarded whimsically, where living has lost all its sanctity, we expect our fellow human beings to value other’s life?

If you think this is some random drunken rant… go ahead with whatever suits you, but don’t you dare complain about the consequences of a society which has adopted this non-living lifestyle whole sale. We have not lost humanness; in that case we will at least live like an animal. Our case is actually worse… we have lost the concept of life and living and now we are turning on each other. We are living in a state of indifference, suppressing emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. All this for what? To get the approval of a society which didn’t give a damn any ways?  How demented are we to accept this premise and try to get on with this contorted living?

I value my relationships; I am passionate about my life and I live my dreams. It is possible to shun all social norms and be. I do not have special powers. My Dreams are non-negotiable simple. I have failed many a times. Then again I don’t play this game just to win; I play because I want to. My agenda here is of personal realizations, not to comply with protocols laid down by Dogmas of religion, nation or society.

Somewhere between checking out the latest out of your financial reach gadget on Flipkart and mocking your government for improper governance also think about living your dream, living your life and finding your destiny.

Damn the bloody society and its rules!!!!! Go live your Dream.

      

The rain song

And then she came, like the tears from heaven

Lamenting the parched earth

The first drop kicks up the dust

The bent stocks catching them on their brow

The sunbird perched high up on the fig tree chirping in joy

As she lashes on, soaking the ground

Earth runs red; the forest takes on brighter hue

Flame tree ablaze with their soft crimson fire

The cicadas have finally found their rhyme

The thrush has hit his happy note

She has sung life back into earth like a spell weaver

Her cloak has covered and nourished us

Standing out in the open with my arms spread

I am drenched in her eternal embrace

                                                 

A blue truck took me here

It is strange how more materialistically privileged one is, the more buildings and garbage that surrounds them. The most underprivileged have the best surrounding to live in, the best landscape to boast about.  These lines might not make an impact or even make any sense unless you experience it firsthand.

I have walked the filthy streets of Bandra and the breathtaking emptiness that is Danushkodi, both these places will extract a heavy toll if you want live there, but at the end only one will make you rich in a way you will never realize, the other will simply leave you empty.  One will take everything from you and help you find yourself; other will give you everything and make you lose yourself and your true identity.

The ruins from the 1964 hurricane

There are no concrete buildings here, all that protects the simple fisher folk from the endless wind is a thatched hut. Here the kids learn to count with the stars, they learn to fish before they walk. There is no electricity, no cellular network and no buildings here. There is simply nothing here. The endless empty expanse is strikingly beautiful.

Danushkodi village

Land here has decided to mimic the sea. The undulating dunes and faultless flats, to me it seems like the sea was frozen into solid earth by a whimsical god - One extending into another uninterrupted. The land and sea both acts like puppets in the hands on the endless wind, which rules this world absolutely. We humans will always be an outsider here... we will always be at the mercy of the elements here, a mere spectator and sometimes the victim of the constant war that is waged between the elements.  There are very few who can call this place home. Six hundred strong settlements in Danushkodi have some amazing tales to tell. Go find them, hear them out, if you can take time off from the busy schedule and see what it feels like to live on the other side of the line, on the other side of where your reality ends.

Thank you Jasdeep, you are an awesome travel companion. Cheers .

 Meetu thank you for this trip.  

Sojourn to Mowgli land

How do I make you understand the morning chill in a forest, the view of trees shrouded in mist, the call of a peacock, the tree pie, the cheetal or the sambar. They say a picture is worth a thousand words that maybe true but neither words nor all the pictures we clicked will ever do justice to the true experience we lived. I am at best making a futile attempt to describe the three most amazing days of my life so far.

This is how it all began, two people in similar situation wanting to escape the rut of their existence decided to travel together. One thing leading to another with a lot of ifs and buts three friends landed in a national park late one night with a lot of doubt and apprehension. My mom Meetu had done a great job of fixing accommodation in the vip guest house (that’s Indian for not open to general public).

We had a whole lot of animal sightings from day one, saying that I realize that would still be an understatement. The forest was teaming with life, at every turn every straight we had breath taking views. We lost track of time and every one of us went into a trance like state. Every minute sound was heard every falling leaf was noticed.  

In the night sleep eluded us with the constant rustle outside; noise of a breaking twig brought us out of our deep slumber. There was this constant excitement of another sighting, we were on the edge. Not the one which drains us, not the one which makes us hate every waking second. This seemed like our inner most being was dancing to the tune of jungle.

Then on the last day it finally happened, we spotted the tiger after a near miss. To begin with I came here seeking some sort of happiness what I found was ecstasy. We just sat and watched him, every move every muscle twitch, the yawn and the stretching, if you have not seen the tiger in the wild you have missed something really worthwhile in life. Our sighting lasted for a whole 45 minute and we were still very reluctant to leave the spot even after that.

All I could do on the journey back was close my eyes and relive every moment of it. Ro and Ila were happy high after seeing the tiger in the wild. On the last safari, about four hours after spotting the first tiger, we spotted another tigress. We had a close encounter with 'Big Momma', the tigress who successfully raised five cubs in a single litter and is also the star attraction of the jungle. Truly luck was on our side. After that point nothing else mattered, nothing seemed important, all the pain and sorrow I was carrying within for a long time was washed away. I felt light and appy again. This was my pilgrimage and I paid homage to the mighty beast of the jungle and I was twice blessed on the same day.

Thank ya Meetu Gupta :)

The change

Somewhere while worrying about job security, EMIs, credit card bills, fuel cost, general inflation, deadlines, work stress, ever increasing waistline and ever receding hairline we forget to live, we forget the meaning of love, we forget the sacrifices people around us make to put a smile on our face. We have pretty much replaced real relationships with the virtual ones. Most of us are insecure, lost, and alone. We drive away people, even the ones we claim to love. We all are running, not knowing what we are running from and not knowing towards what.

If you’re trying to justify it to yourself that this article is not about you think again. Getting sloshed (or whatever other myriad form of self-deprecating act you involve in) on every off you get is not living it is just a way to evade all those unanswered issues.

It is sad when any relationship goes down the drain when a person doesn’t have the time for it. The price we are paying for this madness is pretty heavy and the toll it takes on us is pretty grim. Yet we do it. Even people, who seem above it all, fall prey to this killer syndrome of ‘trying’ to make things work, while never quite getting around to doing anything.

This madness has to stop; we need to wake up before it is too late. Before all is lost and our life becomes just another unlived dream and the people that were once a part of it have moved on. We need to take time off every now and then to understand ourselves better, try and live life on our terms, and recognise and appreciate the people around us. Respect them for who they are and understand not everyone is interested in running this mindless rat race. This is a simple change, but it can make a world of difference

Maybe after reading this, if you feel something, remember there is still some amount of humanity left in you and there is still hope. Go back and undo some of your mistakes, make a beginning, probably tonight you might find sleep without the help that glass of scotch…

Cevil ... (yup.... thats the best i cud come up wid )

This one is a couple of months old….

We call ourselves civilized society and it is becoming a trend and very sad indeed that we continue to kill people without a trail, even if he happened to be the most notorious dictator responsible for genocide and oppression. We live in a world which is a little off its rocker.

 What is the difference between Muammar Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden and the rest of the so called civilised world involved in this war against terror and autocracy, if we just repeat the same shit.

I fail to understand the joy in killing and making a spectacle of it, I fail to understand the rest of the world society which turns a blind eye to it. We have been told that wars are fought for peace (how oxymoronic); all we read about is collateral damage and exodus. We are not civilized; we have just shifted our not so civil activities to god forsaken countries. We support the dictators and autocrats when it suits and remove them when they become more of a liability. That is the same reason for letting the Chinese and Saudi government to continue to rule. Is economic motive the end all, to all our problems and needs?

 If we are truly proclaiming democracy, we should stop trading with China and stop buying oil from 90% of OPECs. We are not ready to do it and more importantly cannot do it. This is getting really contorted. I know and understand that a lot of things we do is not simple and linear. But all I wish for is that deceit and denial was not a part of the non-linear pattern of our thinking process. I am happy that India is holding trail for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab. That is the only way forward. We live in a society and have the system of law and democracy for a reason. The end of this long drawn process might still be the noose for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab. It is still better and more humane than lynching and making a spectacle of it. Our country is not perfect we are taking our first baby steps in the right direction.

 It is not simple and naive faith in the system. It is just that the only difference between us and the oppressed is this system, which we simply over look when it becomes inconvenient.  We are the result of 40 million years of evolutionary success and it is time we start behaving the part.