The spell of the Holi spirit

The year is racing past and before I can sit down to retrospect, I see it is March already. This month has brought along some March hare madness. I diagnosed the first symptoms a few days ago when I felt a sudden longing to play Holi. Yeah, I guess that doesn't quite make me fit into the mad as a hatter category of people. Holi has always been one of those Indian festivals that are celebrated with great fervour and hype. But for me, the enthusiasm about Holi got over with school. I am more of a Diwali and Christmas person. For a wide assortment of reasons, I haven't played Holi properly in the last four years or so.

No, I haven't suddenly experienced a shower of good tidings. No unexpected achievements or surprising encounters have happened. There has been no impetus at all for this sudden desire. But I am still determined to celebrate Holi as wildly as I would when younger. Indeed, it seems that the Holy(i) spirit has cast a spell on me! Back in time, relatives and friends would come over to our place. There would be dry colours, there would be the more dangerous wet colours.. I remember upside-down-bucket attacks vividly. We would tell people on the road that we would just wish them a docile and quiet Holi but some pranksters would catch them from behind and there would be no escape. True to the bura na maano Holi hai spirit, no one really minded.Though washing off the colours would be a Herculean task and some traces of the day's escapades would sneak at me from behind the ears and under the nails, but it would seem completely worth it.

Holi would be a time for the family to come together, for the neighbours to get closer, for friends to have a blast. This year I am hell bent on exploiting the time to the hilt once again. My friends will get the shock of their lives when I won't lock myself up in my room on Holi morning. Get prepared guys - to colour and to be coloured. ;-)

The Little Star..

Sky watching in a solitary moment last night, I couldn't help but be fascinated by the sparkling stars.. They have been extolled, been sung and written about and are indeed worthy of all the attention. Whether they hide behind the clouds or get lost somewhere, they are very much there.. and always will be... That's more than we can say for the majority of the people in our lives.

Over the hills in the sky so blue,
Gleams a star so pure and true.
In royal company of the majestic moon,
She waits for night all through noon.

In days glorious, she fails to gleam
A mere speck, in the sunny beam.
She envies the sun, his might vast
Reign supreme, forever to last.

When night falls and the owl screams,
The world sleeps, with velvet dreams
Croons the star, in a sparkling lilt
With rainbow jewels, a blushing tilt.

All night through, she smiles and sings
Jumps about in her dazzling wings.
Her friends then dance, fingers entwine,
A constellation they make, a sight divine.

When the sun comes up, they flee for life
For the furious being, teems with strife.
Assures the star, "There's none to fear,
Again we'll shine, when the night is here...”

That sad pair of eyes..

As that sad pair of eyes kept looking at me through the window of my car, I felt a sudden pang of helplessness which refused to go away until much later. She was barely 6 years old - deprived of education, deprived of love and care, deprived of that easy going childhood we take for granted. Resigned to this fate of beggary, she is forced to spend her days waiting for vehicles to stop at traffic lights.

Some of us offer a little money, most make a face and wait for the lights to turn green. We are instructed to ignore the little 'mites', for they are more often than not feigning poverty. They are supposedly involved in chains and scams... Leaving all that heavy duty stuff aside, she remains a little girl whose childhood is nonexistent. Why is there so much disparity in our country? How on earth can anyone complain about not getting a better flavour for their ice-cream when someone doesn’t even get one proper meal a day? I am not passing judgment on anyone; I do the same. All of us, at some point of time, consider our private sorrows to be among the deepest in the world. We complain about the colours of our clothes, about the taste of our food, about the blandness of the weather. We never realize that there are people for whom concepts of colour and taste are non existent.

If we can't make a difference to the state of things, we should at least try and cut down on complaints. Count your blessings for life is too short and too unpredictable.

A new year - 2009

Well, so here we are.. in yet another new year.. the year 2009. The year begins on a pleasant note for me as it brings some well deserved set of holidays. Last month had me slaving for exams. God willing, they have hopefully gone well. Before I start anticipating the results, I am in the mood to unwind. New year celebrations escape me as they come at the wrong time. But I see no harm in celebrating a little delayed new year. So here's hoping 2009 brings us all happiness, love and prosperity. Cheers! :) :)

December Tales

If there was an award for the most multifaceted month, it would surely go to December. Never does such a huge sequence of events come together as it does now. The month begins with the wintry sensation.."Oh it's begun to be cold!" As warm clothes replace our summer outfits and quilts fill up the bedside, December silently smiles.

The middle of the month brings Exams, that too my final terms. Now this isn't the most laid back event of the world but when the exams begin, they bring the assurance that they'll soon be over. The peace that we feel on the last day of exams is unparalleled and completely tranquil. (Given that the exams have gone well or else its time for big time guilt-trip. God forbid.)

The month progresses bringing changes in the landscape. My cats find snug shelters in corners and baskets and can be seen sun basking as long as the sun's warm. The sun, now, is another story. He is sometimes bright, at other times merely existent. He enjoys this game of hide and seek to the hilt. There's nothing like a day in the armchair, with the sun on you, a book to read and music to listen to. The sea can be an added bonus but not being fortunate enough to live near the coast, I find solace in the day dreams and the occasional beach holiday. Ah, if there is bliss, it is this, it is this!

Then comes the day which features really high in my most awaited days list. Yeah you got that right - Christmas! I love the aura, the trees, the gifts, the wishes and the blessings. I adore Santa and will continue to love the legend, no matter how old I become. He is just supremely cute and lends everything an it-will-be-all-right-hoo-hoo-ha-ha air.

The month ends with a promise of a fresh year of fresh resolutions and all new good times. As we close the year with a final cheer in a new year eve bash or even quietly at home, we all have hope in our hearts. It says -"No matter what the times gone by were like, the times to come will be happier."

December gears us up for all sorts of challenges - trust me, even having fun is a challenge for lots of people I know. It is a month for being thankful to our blessings and being sorry for things gone wrong. As the saying goes, in the end things are all right or else, it isn't yet the end.

On dreamy wings - hey presto!

Lights, camera, action! Welcome to a whole new world. A world where the woes of reality dissolve to give way to a spectacular canvas where all is novel, where all is magnificent. In times as troubled as today, don't we all wish for a gadget that could take us to the past or the future as we desired? Say something on the lines of Ramayan's Pushpak Viman or a lift from "Back to the future"? Since the development of such a magic machine is still distant, movies, like books, seem to be a convenient source to travel to a new world.

But more than the numerous charms movies bring for the viewer, I am drawn towards the charms they hold for the maker. I remember directing a few movies in school. Its a different story that they were quite cheesy - one was a remake of the SRK hit Kuch Kuch Hota Hai but we did work hard on it and had proper rehearsals and takes. There was another one - whose name now slips me - for which we really went into meticulous reasearch. We wrote the song lyrics together, composed the music, wrote the script and the screenplay and actually enacted it. It was more on the lines of a play than a film as we couldn't afford cameras. No matter how childish, it gave me a lot of creative freedom and the mere spectacle of seeing people speak out dialogues you have written and virtually transform into their screen characters, is extremely special for me.

I am stuck into a career option totally different from things I'd like to do in reality. But these are dreams I would like to pursue someday. Life is not about restraining yourself, it is about letting yourself free. The day will surely come when I will be done pleasing the rest of the world and will please only one person - Me. Till then the dream is in the mists but I try to give it an outlet whenever I can. When I find time, I try my hand at creative writing. Currently I pen down some fictional scenes for TV shows. Nothing too highbrow, its solely for my enjoyment.
Care to have a look? See here :)

Dreams shouldn't convert into the mythical frog-of-the-well, after all. And who can tell, maybe one day will dawn when I will be free to choose and not merely adjust.

Wintry Charms

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!"

Um hum. I might have to leave that carol aside for the meantime as there's still a good 38 days left for Christmas. But the magical season of winter is surely on its way.

I am fond of winter for more reasons than one. I love how the days get shorter and the nights longer...how it gets dark at 5 PM - around the same time when the sun shines on fiercely in summers. Mornings dawn foggy and chilly and the fog is so dense it lends the ambience a queer mystery. The bonfires and the dances, the quilts and the shawls, the reassuring winter sun and sitting out on the terrace in the afternoons, the much awaited for fried peanuts seller, the cozying up earlier at nights, the cool and scintillating winds, the sudden and freezing rain showers, the preparations for Christmas right until the D Day, the New Year and beyond...I love it all!

While Mom is off to the market to buy me a new set of stoles, I better go and tell her I want violet. Violet, I heard, is the most happening colour this season. Even otherwise, I like the certain serenity and stability that the colour represents for me. So long!