Children

Random website-hopping brought me to this beautiful poem by Kahlil Gibran- On Children.

If you have kids, this is one of those poems you should have framed by your bedside and read out loud every night, almost like a prayer.. I know that's one thing I would do for sure..

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Note to all parents: After a certain age, let your children be ! They are smart enough to figure their way out..

Fiction piece from the yesteryears..

Time: One of those unusual quiet Saturdays, 1:35 AM

State of Mind: Melancholic

Song on iPod: Tanha Dil Tanha Safar (maybe that explains the mood.. :P) 

I am browsing through my hard disk and reading some of the articles I've written in the past so many years- most of them have found their way to this blog, but there are some things which I never got around to posting coz they were too amateurish or silly.. Opened this little fictional piece I wrote many years ago- which is kind of inspired from a true life incident (as is all fiction).. Just brought a smile to my face because it's ending is the exact opposite of what I wrote about in my previous post..

Reproducing it here, in its unedited and unabridged form, four years after writing it.. :)

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Remember how we used to have categories of friends when we were younger- general friends, good friends, best friends, bestestest friends.. She wanted to know which category she belonged to.

"Well, if it bothers you so much, just ASK him.. Not a big deal. It’s not like you’re his pesky girlfriend", her mind told her.

True. But asking a question as silly as "So....where do I stand in your life?" would make her a "typical" female, a tag she had so consciously stayed away from.

But everything was so unsettling. She wanted to know. Maybe she was a typical.

"Penny for your thoughts!", he said, as he sat beside her on the couch, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hey! Done with your phone call?"

"Yeah, was a friend from work. So....who you thinking about?", he asked, that familiar twinkle in his eyes.

"Huh...no one re. Just watching some TV"

"The History Channel? Wow...you take TV - watching seriously mate !"

With that, they both burst out laughing, as she flipped through the channels. A few minutes passed by in silence- the comfortable kind, not awkward at all..

"Hey, ummmm....you wanna go for a walk or something? If you're not too tired with all the traveling and jet lag, that is.", he asked finally.

She looked at him, and suddenly everything was so clear. Her mind raced back to 1998- this was exactly how it had started. This very question, that walk, had marked their transition from “general” friends to “bestestest” friends. 

Of course, nothing had changed.. This time, geographical boundaries and education had come in the way. Soon, there'd be girlfriends and boyfriends, jobs, marriage, kids; but nothing; absolutely nothing could change what they had. Ever. Did she really need to define it? No. Because some things are best left unsaid....

"What's funny? Why are you smiling?", he asked, as he walked towards the door.

"Nothing. I'll just grab a pullover; I think its kinda cold in your London...."

**********************************************************************************

Sometimes Calvin and Hobbes just get you.. :)

 

Time: 1:58 AM

State of Mind: Still Melancholic

Song on iPod: Haule haule ho jayega pyaar..

Last thought before I crash into bed: I love Taani partner!

Why does everyone always wait till 3 ?

Sometimes the Youtube suggested videos come up with real gems- like this short film that popped up after a Grey's Anatomy song (go figure!)...



If you think about it- the story is very standard- a guy with a list of things to do before graduation, his girl - friend (the dash that makes all the difference!) who he also has a crush on, and how he gathers up the courage to tell her his feelings in the end..

All of us have those lists of things we want to accomplish before graduation or before we turn 25 or 30 or 50, whichever bracket you fall into..
All of us know the feeling of being secretly crazy about someone but not knowing how to say it because you don't want to "ruin the friendship.."
And hopefully some of us have gathered up the courage to tell them how we felt in the hope of leaving nothing unsaid..

In matters of the heart, more than ever, timing is everything. One missed chance, one wrong move, or a little too much alcohol (;)) can break your shot at the possibility of a great love. The funny thing though, is that you never really know at that point, if it was a good or bad thing. What seems like a lost cause then, could probably be the pathway to something even bigger and better in your future. The dots connect backwards- true. But at the same time, you can connect the dots only if you create them in the first place. Unless you take your chances, how will you know what you could get? Why does everyone always wait till 3? The right moment is now, not when the moon is in its waning crescent phase and stars are forming a heart shape in the sky.. :P

My second take-home message is this- I sincerely hope that none of you have to experience lost love, because no doubt, it is one of the hardest things you ever have to go through. But if it does come your way- then never go down without a fight. If you wallow in self-pity, then it's like giving the other person the remote control of your life. And that is completely unacceptable. Cry if you want to. But only for fifteen minutes. Love is not a battlefield, but bouncing back is.

(This post goes out to Aly- This is all I want you to remember, girl..)

No Title.

Yet another quote from Grey's Anatomy hits the nail on the head today..

"...And is it worth it—being responsible? Because if you take your vitamins and pay your taxes and never cut the line, the universe still gives you people to love and then lets them slip through your fingers like water, and then what have you got? Vitamins and nothing..."

Responsibility sucks. I never took my vitamins. I've made mistakes. But I've alwayd learned from them.
I never said I was perfect.
People matter. Love matters.
Life is weird.

Humans like to impose and demonstrate their power on other living beings like animals by killing them for food, pleasure or revenge. Basically they like controlling and manipulating others' lives. Survival of the fittest. I say, that is unfair. Which is why I'm vegetarian.

Then, God or whatever you consider above all of us, shows us our place by doing the exact same thing to us. That is unfair too. But I said I was vegetarian. Shouldn't that account for something? A few brownie points, maybe?

Maybe agnosticism is the way to go- No expectations, no accountability.

I'm using the blog as a diary again. Damn!

48 minutes..

So I just put laundry in the dryer and have nothing to do for forty-eight minutes. I was just talking to a friend yesterday about how I tend to think through every post I write on my blog- it is usually an activity that spans a couple of days. So just as a fun exercise, I have decided to get as random as is possible for me, and pen down whatever crosses my mind until my laundry gets done!

Okay, that intro just took me two minutes, so forty-six minutes on the clock it is..

1. The title of this post reminds me of the "Sattar minute" monologue from Chak De... :) But Adtaalees doesn't sound as cool as Sattar !! :P
2. I love cricket!
3. I wish I could use fancy-shmancy words while blogging.. :P Or for that matter, write about fancy-shmancy concepts/ ideas..
4. I hate moving- even if it is to a place that is two miles away. More than the effort of packing and unpacking- it is the mental exercise involved in leaving one place you are familiar with and getting used to a completely new environment. This is the ninth apartment I will be living in, in the three years I have been in the US but I'm still not used to it!
5. Talking about moving- I think I've spoken about moving wayyy too much on this blog! :P But whatever...it's been an integral part of my life for so many days now!
6. Setting up a new place is also freakishly expensive man- I've spent 800 bucks in the past ten days already! Never shopped so much since Thanksgiving 2008, when I went to India for the first time..
7. I hope I can get my new apartment to be as nice as I have imagined it to be.. I am a nester at heart- that's such an integral part of me.. But abhi tak woh feeling hi nahi aa rahi..
8. One thing is for sure- I am going to miss my current roomies like crazy- I'll still meet them and hang out with them everyday of course, but it's going to be weird to not be living with them! For the record- they have been the best of the fourteen roommates I have had in three years! Honest to God!
9. Have you ever felt like thinking, speaking and writing in Hindi (or your most comfortable language) the whole day? I wish I could type this whole post in Hindi today.. :)
10. I sometimes wonder which place to call my own- I was born in Pune, spent five years in Mumbai, stayed for 9 years after that in Qatar, remaining 9 years after that in Pune again and now three years in the US. People always have so many stories to tell of their childhood in some Indian city- the primary school life, taking those NTS scholarship exams, teachers, sports meets, annual day functions, playing after school etc etc.. I have those too, but no one can identify with them because the environment was so different in Doha.. I loved my days in Qatar, but I also wish I could get a chance to experience proper school life in Pune or Mumbai..
11. I saw Hello Panda biscuits the other day at a frozen yogurt shop and it brought back awesome memories of life in MES Indian School though.. Maybe I like it that I have a different set of experiences than most people... :):)
12. According to me, the whole "let's-just-be-friends" concept is the most f**ked up statement in the whole world. There should be a limit on the number of times someone can apply it in their life..
13. Thankfully, I do not say the above from personal experience.. :P But I still think it holds true..
14. The next person who tells me that guys are uncomplicated is going to get one big rapta from me.. Guys are extremely confused people (just like anyone else..) They just know how to put on a good show of confidence! :P
15. Fourteen minutes to go.. :)
16. Thought for the day- "So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don't and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. No body said it'd be easy, they just promised that it would be worth it. Eventually feels a lot better than actually.." This is the reason I love Grey's Anatomy.. :)
17. September 9, 2010- It's funny how some days change your life forever.. I think sometimes we need to be pushed into the deep side of the pool to learn how to swim..
18. Koi engineers (specifically mechanical engineers) pe kabhi movie kyun nahi banata-- I know we cannot develop fancy protein sequences for viruses or wear fancy suits and sign controversial multi-billion contracts or have eccentric lives like artists or write code that can destroy the country's security system, but designing and building machinery can be cool too !!!
19. In the same vein, koi ladkiyon pe DCH ya ZNMD type movies kyun nahi banata! Do you think girls cannot take an adventurous road trip together without being bitchy or shopping the whole time!? That's so cliched! Step up to the challenge, film-makers!
20. I think surprise birthdays are super-awesome- even the ones that happen seven months after your actual birthday! :)
21. I miss the east coast on some days- not Rochester specifically- but I miss Gau-Soumya, RIT and New York City !!!
22. Funny how the smallest of things trigger memories of forgotten events and people- case in point- Honey Bunches of Oats Strawberry Flavor! :P Maybe someone should create a Pensieve where we can store thoughts that never need to be thought of again.. :)
23. I need to find an escape-spot in Davis- a place I can connect with and where I can go when I want to be away from the chehel-pehel of everyday life and just think, or maybe not-think and just be.. :)
24. I want to get a cat!
25. Does married life really change people- I hope not! :(
26. Guys should not talk (excessively) about girls (any girl, even actresses) being beautiful/ hot/ cute in front of other girls- that's just rude! :P I think Hum Aapke Hain Kaun mein aisa dialogue tha! It's true though.. :)
27. I love white chocolate mocha!
28. The mind is such a random instrument.. Never thought it could cross so many dimensions in forty-six minutes!

Alrighty- laundry is done. Now time to post and unpack... :)