Tuesday 21 June 2011

Romancing The Rains - Randomly!

The season of some delicious pakoras, bharer cha, home-made kichuri, tele bhaja, adda, golpo, gaan, romance and unforgettable  memories.  (Sorry folks! couldn't help but use such Bengali phrases, sentiments you know!). Yes, the monsoons are finally here!

After the much sweat trickling weather, it's now the season of the first showers of relief and happiness. A season of folded cotton pants/jeans and rubber chappals, Hilsa and fruity mangoes. It's a season of raincoats and umbrellas,  just for the namesake? Never mind! It's the season of water logging and floods.  A season of experiencing icy waters cutting right across your skin.  

Ever seen how the little ones of the poor go berserk with joy when they feel the first gush of cold waters seep through their skin? 

And finally the season of breaking some rules and walks.....It doesn't matter if you have to face your mother's wrath as long as you get the chance to be completely soaked. So what if you really make a mess of yourself or your home with the water dripping down the whole place for once? It really doesn't count, does it, if for once in the whole year you be imprisoned in bed with running temperatures? And there are always medicine shops running 24 hours for an emergency at the wee hours. 

Courtesy: Theallareequal.com
It's such an everlasting feeling to take that warm walk with your sweetheart, clutching his/her hand tight, sighing, smiling and laughing merrily, talking about everything so meaningless. A season full of never-ending romance.

A season of cloud blankets, cozy chairs, soft breeze, mug of coffee, day dreams, comfy nights, splashy dances and an amazing love making (Well, for almost all of us)! Whoa!


Ever noticed how difficult it gets to seek refuge for those who take shelter in the streets  - the homeless? Ever noticed how the season becomes a reason for some real extra earnings for the rickshaw pullers? Well, they are the only option left it seems when nearly all the cabbies of Kolkata just refuse you upright! 


The traffic suddenly becomes miraculously slow or to a halt. Ouch. Such a pain in all the wrong places. Your clothes become invariable damp. 'Nice 'n' dry' becomes a thing of the past. 


And there is nothing like writing something special on the window panes which remain misty all through. So, do you draw out your own name or your lover's? Or is it a a valentine heart? Or may be some comical pictures. If nothing else, all you do is clear it to see the incessant rain pour. 


My God! It's monsoons! It has it's butterfly days too and goes quickly as it comes. Some embrace it, others abhor it. For some it's love, for others it's pain. For some it's fantasy, for others it's a mere depressing reality....


 What's your take on it?

Thursday 16 June 2011

No One Is Perfect. Deal With It.

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." - Marilyn Monroe

Absolutely. We often criticize other people. And yet it we lose lose faith in ourselves when we find others doing the same to us.  Ok, hold on! Take time and contemplate..... 

We all make mistakes. We all commit the wrong once in a while. We all fail and we get up to fall again. We all stumble. We all get out of control .We all go through some catastrophic emotions. We all can make hell break loose. The important thing to remember is that 'we all' do it. 

We all are imperfect. Yeah we are! So what! That is what makes us unique in our own ways. Don't you think life would get boring if everything and everyone was perfect around us? Most of the times relationships get complicated because we are not able to accept our loved ones for who they are. 

We want them to change, to start living the way we want them to. We always want them to be our own image. And we want everything to be perfect in them. But why? Why do we need them to change to love them?  Do you think it's fair? 

Courtesy: Anonymousfatgirl.com
Let's not make it complicated. Let's just accept our loved ones for who they really are. Let's try and love them with all their imperfections. Consider your own self in their shoes. Ask yourself if you are a born perfectionist? When you are not then why demand others to be too?

No one is the perfect idol. They don't have to be. But if there is anything that can be perfect, that you should make perfect, is your feeling towards the person. Love, care, hold and hug perfectly. Give your loved one the feeling of security. A feeling that you will always be there, will always cling on to the very last. That's all that matters in the end. 

You need to know the right way to handle and deal with the dear ones when they grow difficult. Don't lose patience. Remember the times when you behave abominably and how does the other one finds ways to deal with you.  

Perfection is a myth. So, if you can deal with your loved ones at their worst. You definitely, any day, deserve them at their sublime best. Period. 


Tuesday 7 June 2011

Classroom Revisited

"When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn’t the old home you missed but your childhood." - Sam Ewing

So its been ages since you must have finished schooling and grads. It's no more that fun-freaky-crazy student life. Its no more a time when breaking rules was amongst few of those real things that mattered to you. It's no more a time of reveries, paper balls, canings, kneel downs, morning prayers, talent contests, sports and science labs. It's no more a time of cheeky proposals, stupid infatuations and one day crushes. It's no more a time of silly fights, unity and friends.....And of course it's  no more a time of late night group studies (did we actually 'group study'? I wonder sometimes), last minute preps and a final helping hand in the exam!

How often does all this cross your mind? You must be too busy to think of all the lost days of a classroom. You must right now be in a another place, another time...It's seldom that you recollect the bygone memories of your second home..... But when one day you relax on the couch of your study, with nothing but just a hot cup of coffee to accompany you, I bet you revisit over and again that old classroom, where you spent nearly fifteen years of your life my dear reader! 

It is this classroom where you had learnt all the naughty tricks. Where you had learnt all the good things of life. Where you had learnt how to suppress witty laughters and hold back your tears. It is this class room where you have been insulted, embarrassed, praised and appreciated. It is the same classroom where mending things was the easiest thing to do, along with the stupid fights. It's the same place where you sent anonymous love letters to your 'sweetheart', and saw them get torn in front of your eyes.  

Courtesy: Lankangirl.blogspot.com
It's this classroom where you had always defended your best friend against accusations made by a teacher and it's the same place where you last talked to him/her because things went so horribly wrong between you two. It is this room where the same friends became sudden enemies for a couple of minutes in house defense. It's this room where you nearly got detained together. It's the same classroom from where you made narrow escapes.

It's the same classroom which helped you hide some of your most precious things under the desk. It's this place which supported you through all your nightmares (maths exam for example).  It's this place where you always laid your head down to sleep during those boring class hours, or hide your face while you have been hurt. 

It is this place where you had experienced some of the worst beatings from your least favorite teacher and it's place where you had the time of your life with the most favorite one. 

Water splashes, bottle battles, fractured noses, broken class doors, torn uniforms, dirty shoes, late to school, forgotten books, incomplete home tasks,  dancing in the rain, and bunking chapels were a regular affair...and so much more....

Classrooms stay forever. It's us who leave them behind to move on to another life altogether. Yet, when you step into the empty classroom you can still hear friendly echoes. You can still get the feel of the warmest moments spent.  You can still feel every heartbeat. You can still hear joyous screams and the shrill rings of bells. 

And if you listen a little more intently, you would definitely hear a loud cry of the helpless classroom calling out your name and asking you to come back to it yet another time. Just another time....


Saturday 4 June 2011

Broken Crystal...Shattered Glass...

When it seems that someone has shattered your dreams....pick up even the smallest of pieces and use them to build bigger and better dreams.” 

A being...

Colorful walls of skin....furnishing emotions....garden full of blessings....rides of the heart...ripple of hopes.....tree of smiles.....waves of joy....

And then there is broken crystal...shattered mirror....scathed glass....

After all, it's a dream....bound to get shattered...after all it's a heart bound to get broken....

When a thing so beautiful as crystal, glass or a mirror accidentally slips out and shatters on the floor, what you find is a million small pieces lying still for you to pick each of the them up and finally dump them into the trash bin. Oh well, it might have been one of the most precious things for you. You might have got it as a gift from someone special in your life. 

Courtesy: Hongkiat.com
So for some days you grieve and moan and are utterly hapless all the while. But it's just for some days. Then you slowly forget about it, right? Or may be to replace that you buy yourself another one such stunner. After a couple of months while remembering it, don't you get this 'it-happens-so-what' feeling? 

It's exactly the same with life. People come and go. Things happens. Much doesn't! Some live the dreams with you. You live your own wishes. Some would never break your heart. But most of the times you would get your heart broken as if it was a mere crystal or get your dreams shattered as if they were nothing but dyed glasses. 


Each one of us have a tote bag full of unique dreams and wishes. They vary from a person to another in every way possible. What does one do when one of these are not fulfilled? 


Let's ask ourselves then, do we stop living after that? Do we tend to lose all meaning of life? Do we lose faith and belief? Do we stop wishing? Do we not begin again? Do we not start afresh? Do we not figure out the next chapter of our lives...?


Even as I jot these words down I feel it's funny to write such because we do tend to break down, tend to be traumatized, freaked out and in a trance. But you see life can't always be a 'Cloud 9', can it?


Certain situations and circumstances change us and we are never the same. We are hurt and completely at a loss. Yet, we rise with every new dawn so as to wake up and find sunshine awaiting us.  Most importantly, you can never get a rainbow without a little rain...


Just like as it's not that easy to  let go of a dream or anything else that you have lived for a long time, something so close to your heart, at the same time you would never find anyone talking of it being an impossible mission. 


"......pick up even the smallest of pieces and use them to build bigger and better dreams.” 



Thursday 2 June 2011

..And You Still Talk Of Growing Up?

"I've heard that it's possible to grow up - I've just never met anyone who's actually done it." - Meredith grey

Oh! I have grown up haven't I? I am exactly 21 years 7 months and 2 days old. I wish I could count the minutes and the seconds too but...never mind..As the years would progress,  I would be frantically making every effort to hide that single strand of grey hair. I would become more obsessed than ever to lose weight.  I would complain about knee pain, tooth ache and poor vision and the list can go on...

One day I might start wishing about getting at least two decades of my life back and relive it differently. I might also grumble about the things that i have never received and  the things that I have sacrificed.  The fact is that I would act just as any other normal human being would. 

But still we all grow up and we die to. We can't wait, can we? To start gossiping, dating, working, voting, and of course all those 'hush hush' things which have been tagged as restricted and obscene.  Can't blame ourselves, it's all part of growing up. You know the 'fun elements' of crossing 'the 18 years old' line.Yyeeeaaaayyy!!!

But hey!can you try and fuel up your brain a little bit more and go back to ask yourself if you have actually grown up? Ask yourself the real meaning rather than just a manifested one. Being a little kid one of the main anticipations is to grow old....Just chronologically isn't it?? 

Courtesy: Swingerz.wikispaces.com
We are still the same even years after we have taken birth. The only thing that changes is the age factor. Here is why...We don't grow wise, we don't stop playing with the so called 'feelings'. We don't stop getting hurt (not exactly talking about the apparent scars, are we?). We forget what some people gave us but we remember to whom we have done. 

We grow up right? And yet, we still cry dumping our heads into the pillow weeping till all tears have been shed, finally bringing us some uneasy sleep (sshhh... no one knows it!).  We still fight over silly matters. We still want to cling on to things which we claim rightfully to be ours. We still don't want to share. We still make enemies. We still lose things. We still believe in dreams even if they get shattered later on. 

We still  crave, we still act innocent, we still try and mend things, things which are not that easy to mend anymore. We still laugh heartily as if it's as genuine as it used to be. We still are scared to live alone. And finally we still live, live and live even after the worst nightmares that have hit us...

We experience each of these and much more, just as much as we have sensed during our childhood years. The manner becomes just a little different. Think about it and you will be able to connect.

 And you talk about growing up??