Saturday, September 12, 2009

Broken words

At times I look back and completely regret,
the pain I took, the pain I gave.

At times I look back and completely rejoice,
the promises I took, the decisions I made.

He was the strength, he made me move on
the guilt I had, the justifications I made.

I was born with the result in my mind,
though whatever I did, I never mined.

I enjoyed the memories of being a restricted kid
I hated too must trust & freedom imposed.

The dreams once saw, were never seen again,
The unexpected made me follow and bargain.
Was I wrong?
Frankly, I don’t know….

I followed the heart, which took me to this depth
I want to grow, but with the same pace.
I want to learn, but with the same mistakes,

The carry forward nature of your deeds,
makes me reserve my needs.

The call for lined up questions,
and those situationistic answers

Leading to a dead end
and may be a marginal equation.


…………………………………………………….

Journey to Italy

This was my first trip alone abroad, and especially to a country where I am not acquainted to their national language. New people to know, new culture to familiarize with, new food to taste, new places to see, it was over all a challenge indeed. All I had in mind is to explore!!

All this started from the huge Mumbai International airport, were I met the first stranger of my trip who was from Iran. Hmmm..I am bad in recalling names & especially of foreigners. Even he took a while to pronounce my long name.
As he visited India for the first time; he showed me few of his pictures in front of the Taj Hotel. He was a civil engineer by profession. We talked about the expensive cup of coffee he just got than, the ‘mehndi’ (temporary heena tattoo) on my hand, about my journey and so on.
I am sorry my general knowledge is pathetic and so when he was talking about the world map and few places, I seemed to be blank. In fact I had a different picture of Iran, juggling it with Iraq. Our conversation broke with the interruption of his friend, who seemed to be enquiring about the flight. And that is when I realized that I was sitting in the wrong lobby as per my flight, and so I left. It was an abrupt ending.

Getting seated to the right place, I gotta know that my flight was delayed. I was busy observing & listening other’s conversation that were entirely different in backgrounds from each other as I assumed.

Further just roaming about to check the luxurious duty free shopping area, coffee shops & eateries. The separation of business class & economic class was so clearly felt.

While checking in, all I prayed is for a good partner to chat for my long journey, but unfortunately the opposite happened. Nevertheless I reached Istanbul (Turkey), and went gaga seeing the airport. Although I was literally running to catch my continuing flight, which was about to take off. And on my way I met an old friend from Bhopal whom I last met in School. Coincidences happen.

Alright! This time my partners couldn’t speak or understand English, the news papers were too not in English and so being numb was the only alternative. I started feeling the place. The Wine & Pasta in the menu card added the flavor.

When I was about to reach, the map of that island from that height was so beautiful to observe.

On reaching Venice, I waited long for my luggage and that is when an Indian approached me. Frankly I was in no mood to talk. I actually wanted to help myself. So I left.

I saw my friends waiting for me and felt relaxed. I lodged a complaint about my lost luggage which I got back in a day.

Everything was fresh for me, the roads, the traffic, in fact even the pets there, which I found way civilized than here. To be more precise the outer picture of that place to me was blank, where I heard no honks, no kids crying, no dogs barking, no one yelling…..way to extreme peace for me!

As per my motive to learn, find, observe & adopt, there were many things to ponder over. The passion to follow your heart, the beauty of love and romance in air, the genuine matured commitments in a relationship & the depth which could be seen in youngster's knowledge as well as in a fit aged was simply incredible. The welcoming smile with an icing of politeness, erased the barrier of language.

And all this made me way too far guilty as a 23 year old adult.

Honestly I learnt to live.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Ganpati Visarjan

This was the first time, when I went for the Ganpati Visarjan at the lake in Bhopal.
The enjoyment, vibrant colors, thrilled people dancing & shouting slogans on the roads with great spirits was exciting to see.The religious mood in the environment was beautifully felt at night. Every age group was equally thrilled & involved with all sizes of Ganpati idols to be immersed in the small lake.

Last year in Mumbai, I couldn’t dare to step out of the house on this occasion.
But there were many jingles heard on radio, we made a documentary & several NGO’s were working to promote eco friendly Ganpati. Also with municipal corporation’s efforts artificial ponds were built for the immersion.

Everything till last year was bookish for me to pictureize the water pollution, may be because I never saw the procedure.
This year with comparatively less crowed on that spot (Swine flu being one reason) the garbage seen was insane. For a moment I lost that image of the beautiful Bhopal. With so much being advertised about the alternatives to celebrate this occasion, year after year it remains the same.I lost that charm of festivity seeing this scenario, were the Ganpati’s idol was thrown from a height.

It isn’t about anything else but respect. Respect for your culture & respect of your city.Unfortunately both of the important aspects were missing.