The spur of the Moment

Complicated theory called “Love”

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:31:00 +0000

Few days back I came across a write up, which was apparently an answer to the question asked by a 16 year old girl, “what is love”? Mother of all questions which is yet to be discovered and answered and documented properly. It reminds me of the time when I was a young teenager studying in one of the town schools in Mumbai. I had a bunch of close friends and we all didn’t realise when our little innocent talks had wavered off to discussing boys. At the end of the school a school bus would drop us home and we, while passing marine drive would count the number of couples sitting their having a cosy moment. We used to wonder who would have initiated the conversation and how they ended up being a couple.
And then came the era of reading all romantic novels and watching all romantic movies. And obviously as thirteen year olds we were starry eyed and would discuss what kind of boys we would like to date and go out with. Not to mention our talks wouldn’t go beyond their looks, hairstyle, dressing sense and popularity. For us love meant going on romantic dates, candle light dinner, holding hands and going for long walk, talking endlessly, exchanging gifts and of-course there were ‘n’ number of feelings involved which was foreign to our body and brain. How naive and innocent it sounds now, sometimes I feel like going back to being thirteen again where love didn’t mean understanding and dealing with the complications of relationship, it didn’t mean waking up in the morning and making tea and supervising breakfast, lunch and dinner, it didn’t mean doing laundry every day or dealing with maids and buying groceries, it didn’t mean spending quarter of the month with plumber, electricians and carpenters, it didn’t mean fighting over who’s turn it is to switch off the lights or to get the newspaper from out, it didn’t mean keeping the house perfect and clean, and it certainly didn’t mean no matter how much you clean the bathroom and try and keep it dry you will always find it dirty and wet. The list is endless. I guess the subject love is a little difficult to understand and there are innumerable definitions to make it more complicated but yes when you are not scared of doing all the “didn’t mean” things mentioned above for someone unconditionally, you know you are in love and that is precisely love. Doing the easy and romantic side of love is simple but accepting it with all the baggage this four letter word comes with is not so simple and when that becomes simple you know finally, “what is love”?

Our segregated society

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 06:30:00 +0000

I don’t quite remember how it all started, the best I have off-pat is around more than a decade ago Archana Puran Singh in her patent style used to say in a TV show “sporting a bright colour this monsoon ‘very H.S.’ gossiping loud sitting in a posh restaurant ‘very L.S.” and I think it stuck with me from that time onwards.
I, with few of my close friends took pride in making a list of what’s L.S and what’s H.S. and obviously it was as per our convenience. What ever we did, wore or spoke became a landmark and very H.S. (high society) and things that we didn’t approve of became very tacky, down market and L.S (Low Society).
With time I have matured and I would like to believe that I have turned into a very gracious and a well mannered lady. Back then it was all about dressing up, kind of people one hung around with and petty little things that decided the demarcation that we drew for H.S. and L.S. but now I have moved on to things which are universal.
Certain behaviour traits which is very infuriating and it’s demonstrated by people who are otherwise well turned out and very polite… for e.g. (this list is based on my personal experience)

Going on about their income and the kind of bonus they make or asking others about their income.
Bitching about their mother-in-law or in law’s in general.
Putting down someone on their face with tacky comments.
Showing off their recent purchase, which is not bad, but going on about the price without being asked certainly is.
Arguing with their maids, drivers in high pitch voice.
Discussing one’s sex life in detail.

I think I will go on forever so I will take a break but not before mentioning one more thing. I think the tackiest of all is girl’s going on a shopping spree on their boy friend’s expense. I was reading this month’s issue of Verve (I normally don’t read this regularly but this month’s issue was on bridal collection therefore I bought it). They chose Amisha Patel as their muse. No doubt she was photographed in some very pretty couture and jewellery, which I enjoyed looking at, but in her interview she went overboard and it presented her as not only snobbish (which is an understatement) but also very tacky and downmarket.
She went on raving about how brand conscious she is and how she loved to shop at France and London as a child which was still fine. But it almost got unbearable when she went on about her “poor boyfriend” that how he went mad locating a limited edition Dior ‘Jazz’ bag in pink for her birthday. And when asked about if they are a good match, all she had to say was, ‘we have similar Dolce & Gabbana and Valentino belts, and have matched them with similar colour t-shirts and shirts.’ I mean c’mon, I am sure there is more to that man than some belts and shirts. If anything else all she mentioned was how he took her for a holiday to the Maldives or showed her around the hotspots of London in his Ferrari with a personalised yellow number plate.
As if almost on cue the poor guy called her up to say I am happy to get married to you in a jeans and a t-shirt (mentioned in her interview).I am sure there are lot of us out there who can afford lot of things in this world but going on about it in this manner is really L.S. and downmarket.

Wedding Bells and blues

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 10:03:00 +0000

I am getting married this November and I am quite looking forward to it. Most of my friends are married save one or two and few have gone ahead and are done with their family planning stint as well so taking all this into account; I have a long way to catch up.
Sometimes it amazes me that i am actually getting married (its actually taking its time to sink in), I had started believing that all good guys are either taken or gays but sad our lovely Madonna was wrong (she was the one to quote that, isn't it?).
I came across a nice guy and here we are, though at times he is a devil (and there are moments when i really want to hit him but so what?) like when I am in a secluded corner (called kitchen cooking something for him) he switches off all the lights, hides in a spooky corner and poor me (who is unaware of his devilish act) go out looking for him saying, 'honey, just taste this and tell me how is it?' And before i can even complete my sentence he jumps from some where behind and scares the hell out of me and I end up crying (sometimes, not always). This really gives me creep so much so that I even avoid going to bathrooms if he is around (i know it sounds like one of those Ramsay horror story idea but i still get scared). Funny isn’t it but not for me.
Anyway, I was never in favour of a lavish wedding, or so I would like to believe now (well, registry wedding was what I kept driving my mind towards) but to be very honest there was this small very tiny voice which kept ringing in my head, ‘are you mad? After all you get married only once’ (Ekta’s K series are an exception though and I can vouch that no one leads that kind of lifestyle even the bollywood stars and the crazy socialites, huh!). Well so where were we? Yeah my wedding plans. So from a registry wedding it went up to having a wedding ceremony with a small party (count 300 guests) at a suburban five star hotel. But again I am being honest here, I have nothing to do with all this, we are merely puppets and the strings are in the hands of our respective parents. I just kept nodding my head and from a simple wedding it went up to a not so simple wedding. But, what the hell as I said earlier we get married only once. I am actually quite enjoying myself planning, shopping, organising its fun and its all the more fun when you are crazy about the person you are getting married to. I really feel blessed right now. Anyway it’s getting quite emotional and I should probably stop now.
And amidst all this lot of people kept asking me something about the wedding blues and I kept saying no blues and greens for me I am happy and quite excited “touchwood”.But after being asked so much, for fun I read an article on pre-wedding blues which asked to list down habits of your fiancé which irritates you or scares you or makes you feel anxious or really annoys you. I had already listed around five points in my head while reading it but the next sentence read something like this, ‘not accompanying you for shopping of clothes, bags, shoes, accessories, cosmetics and jewelleries or not showing eagerness to watch a romantic movie etc are discounted’. Now what else could irritate me except that the article for sure was written by a man? So I stopped reading any further and decided I am just one lucky bride to not get any wedding blues.

Jaane tu...ya Jaane na

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:49:00 +0000

I haven’t watched anything in a very long time now that took me back to my college days. I know I am a little late in writing a review for this movie therefore I won’t. I’ll just talk about what memories the movie left me with. Well no doubt there were few tit bits here and there which were totally filmy but then c’mon, what do we expect, it’s a Hindi movie. But in the end it was super fun. It just reminded me of the time before I started going to college (which was long, long ago) about the long cherished fantasies I had in store about college, like:

Finally, I can get rid of my school uniform and can step in something sexier and smarter and can wear make-up without anyone questioning my act.
I don’t have to attend college and can spend the entire day in the canteen.
I officially can start dating and will end up meeting somebody really cool and happening and he will have eyes just for me (like shown in so many hindi movies).
I can go to night clubs every weekend and dance till wee hours.
And so on and so forth. Well, I was disappointed. None of the above came true. But it was fun, nonetheless. We did bunk sometimes, we did doll up once in a while, we did go to night clubs occasionally, and I did meet guys who were fascinating (atleast for the first few days to say the least, I shouldn’t be elaborating much on this topic since I am engaged). And this movie reminded me of all those countless good times that I have had back then and the memories were stored somewhere deep down in some part of my brain and I had no time to go and visit that part. Keep making such movies, we need more of Jaane tu…ya jaane na.

Those Geography lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:44:00 +0000

We all have our share of funny and embarrassing moments in our lives. I remember few in particular which were funny as well as embarrassing and are worth sharing and there are some which I would like to bury deep with in me, I might be able to get over them in another thirty or forty years, and no way, I am never telling them to anyone.
The one problem I have always had is studying geography back in school. Well, looking back I feel its not only geography but damn chemistry too that used to get on my nerves; I could never balance the equation and nor could remember the chemical formulas. Physics was worst I better not talk about it. I could never understand what the hell Newton (with all due respect) discovered and why there are so many laws and mathematical problems based on that. And yeah mathematics, I barely managed to pass in that subject in my high school and swore to myself that never in my life I am studying math again. Well, lets get back to the topic now. All the subjects were boring and difficult but I used to hate geography the most. I still have problems (my directions are so poor). Anyway I am drifting away; I should stick to the topic (now that you all know about my academic performance).
Back in school (6th Grade) in our geography class we were playing boys’ v/s gals Antakshari, the only difference was instead of songs we had to take name of a city and explain a bit about it. We girls had to think of something starting with ‘W’ in 10 seconds and very proudly I said Washington and also managed few tit-bits like it was the Capital city of America and the President of the country lives there in White house, all of a sudden I hear the guys replying Cairo and with all the energy I could muster I started yelling on top of my voice, “you have to say something beginning with N and not C”. Some gave me puzzling looks, some confused and some agreed with me. Then suddenly the most intelligent guy in my class who always came first said in a small voice, “Its ok, we all know your geography is a little weak. It’s Washington D.C”. Bloody Hell.
Once my fiancée and I were discussing the places to visit around the world and god knows how we landed up discussing Iceland. And suddenly he asked do you know where exactly it is located. Those were still early days for us and I was cursing my bravery to discuss something about which I had no clue of, half wishing that the conversation should have taken place over the phone atleast I could quickly turn to my faithful Google for my rescue. “Ummm, actually I am not sure”, I managed. Damn, is it a country or just a name of the place? How could I be so stupid? First thing I am doing today is learning all the names of the countries, their location and with some luck their capital’s too. “Not sure about what”?
“I am not sure about its location”.
“OK, atleast try in which continent it is located, well forget that tell me how many continents are there”. What the hell. I couldn’t understand his fascination with the location and continents and why were we having that conversation in the first place, it was time to be honest with him, wait I did know how many continents are there and I could name them all in my mind. Those mugging up sessions back in school came in handy. So I named them all and with a sheepish grin I managed may be it is located in North America or Australia, I don’t remember, but he was laughing his head off and I planned an immediate revenge. Never mind. He explained to me all about Scandinavian Countries thereafter. Now, I take a lot of interest in geography and keep updating myself every now and then.

SHAME

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:15:00 +0000

I just finished reading “Shame” a book by Jasvinder Sanghera (the fact that I am an avid reader I must start another section on my blog for book reviews). Well first things first, the book really made me think about the horrendous life some of the girls lead even in a progressive country like the UK.
I can’t even begin to imagine the plight of some girls; their upbringing makes them so submissive that they are never able to voice their opinions. On the other hand we have been taught to express ourselves, to tell the difference between right and wrong, to make our own decision.
This book is a true story of a Punjabi girl whose parents migrated to England back in 1950’s. Still nothing changed for them, they never made an attempt to know any one outside their Punjabi community, never tried learning the language spoken there and sent their daughters to school just because the laws were strict.
They did everything to pull down their spirits to remind them where they come from and what is expected out of them. A boy in such a family is always considered superior given all the luxuries and the freedom even if he is the least deserving of all. And the girls are expected to get married to strangers (as it is not considered proper for them to meet the possible suitor before marriage).
Jasvinder tells the horrible tale which is heart wrenching and sends a chill down your spine. It made me realize how lucky and privileged I am to be able to lead a normal life. The book made me cry, the one thing she ran away from was her family. I wonder if in time of need your family will not stand by you then who else you can trust and turn to in this whole world.

I am just being Honest

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:52:00 +0000

I have been spending lot of time online of late. No, I am not researching anything fancy like:

tips to tone your legs in just 5 minutes, gosh is it possible I must be dreaming
ten best things to say to your boy-friend
how to curb an irritating colleague who also happens to be smart and bags all the good projects
what’s hot this winter
how to increase traffic on your blog

I am sure I can just go on and on about it but I won’t since I need to talk about why am I or rather how am I spending my time online. I have been breaking my head on Naukri.com looking for PHP programmers. It’s more like a favor I am doing for my brother (well it will be wrong to call it a favor coz he said I can (or was it must?) bill him at the end of the month and the agony I am going through I have every intention of doing that) who is running his own business and doing very well for himself.
I was so tired of hearing, ‘let me think about it’; ‘I will call you back’, ‘I am not interested’, ‘I have just changed my job a month back’, and then I had had enough to call it a day. Who says unemployment is a major problem in India? Nobody seems to want a job. I keep calling every prospective candidate rattling same stuff, “salary is not a constraint for the right person, and we are conducting interviews even on Sundays” so much for inducing people to come for an interview and still no one seems to be bothered.
All this takes me back to the time when I was working and busy meeting recruitment targets. It makes me wonder that how I could do something for so long that bored me to tears. Quitting my job last year was the smartest decision I have ever made (infact I feel like treating myself to something nice for not finding another job as I was supposed to be on a short sabbatical and return back rejuvenated but never mind) and I am proud of the fact that I don’t get Monday blues and I don’t have to drag myself to work.

Buddha and Varanasi

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:33:00 +0000

This picture was taken in Varanasi at Sarnath. It is the place where Buddha gave his first sermon to the group of five suffering monks. I am not a staunch follower of Buddhism but I believe in lot of his teachings. I have read four noble truths and it did inspire me and changed my perspective towards lot of things. The four noble of truths were spoken in his first sermon which are namely:
Suffering exists
There is a cause for suffering
Suffering can be ended
Ways to end suffering

My visit was due to this holy city (Varanasi) for a very long time, I was born there but had never been there to look around, may be few breezy visits when I was a kid but nothing more than that. Another thing that fascinates me about this city is Ganges and the Ghats and thousands of temple overlooking the river (Ganges) with remarkable architecture.

Propose or no propose...I want to meet his Mom

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:55:00 +0000

I am talking about the time when I completed my MBA and took up a job in an extremely distressing organization, which made me work round the clock (ofcourse I was too gullible to realize it then) and surprisingly I enjoyed it.
My mum (who has always been worried about my social life) was silent for a year and then started hinting that its time I find a suitable boy to get married to and she doesn’t mind lining up few. Obviously, I ignored it and went on with my life.
I had no time to mingle around with friends (many of them had stopped calling me on weekends too) let alone relationships. Actually it wont be fair to blame them, whenever they called I used to be in office (sounding distracted and busy even at 9 in the night) and I got used to hearing stuff like, “get a life”, “what are you doing with yourself”, “do you even have time to spend all that money you are making”, and I used to give my standard reply “I’ll call you back”, which ofcourse I never did.
Anyway coming back to mum, she couldn’t bear it any more and started telling me about all the possible suitors (in the mean while, I met a wonderful man and was in a very serious relationship) so finally I had to tell her about my boy friend (I call him baabu) and that I was in a stable relationship and things might lead to marriage. Mum was very excited and then followed all the obvious questions like how did you meet him, his family, what is he doing, why you didn’t tell me earlier blah blah.
Well things were fine till the time mum heard that baabus’ mom is coming to visit him for a week. Now she wanted to meet her. I tried explaining things to her that we haven’t spoken anything about marriage yet so I don’t see a point in making our families meet.
She gave me a long look and said, “Is it another ‘college time pass affair’ or you two serious about each other”. I was embarrassed to the core. “Ofcourse, we are serious”, I managed in my weak voice.
“Good’, she smiled ‘then what’s the harm in meeting his mom, it isn’t that she lives near by, god knows when she will come next” (she lives in England).
Now, this was getting too much I had to explain it to her.
“Mum, I mean we do discuss about living together, (she gave me a horror-struck look and before she could take it in a wrong sense I corrected) after marriage ofcourse, but nothing is formal till now, I mean he hasn’t proposed.
Now she was truly confused, and looked at me as if I was talking French. “Hasn’t proposed? But just now you said you both are serious about each other and talk about marriage”.
Oh god spare me this, it’s hard, more than hard.
“Mum, I love him and he loves me but I would like him to propose, as in ask me if I would like to marry him” (yes… I have done it).
“Ok, so this is encouraging you to stop me from meeting his mom. Simple, if he has not proposed then you propose, in the end you both want to be together who proposed and who didn’t doesn’t matter afterwards”.
Well, she was right and gone are the days when girls would wait forever to be asked, I could do that but the question was if I wanted to do that? I was happy with my current arrangement for the time being and anyway why should I be the one to break the age old cliché who ever wants to do that can happily do it.
“No mum I want him to do it and I don’t think now is the time we still have some time to reach that stage”. Now she truly lost her patience, “do you see yourself getting married to him”?
“Ofcourse I……”
“Fine, propose or no propose I want to meet his mom. Let me meet her we can decide when is the good time for the wedding and all the other arrangement and then you both can take all the time in the world to propose each other”.
“What…???(I had a strange expression on my face). Mum it doesn’t work that way”.
But she had already stormed out and I didn’t want to argue more. Well I didn’t have much of a choice and I explained everything to baabu, who was very patient and considerate. I thought all sort of cultural difference would come in to play havoc but to my surprise it went well without a single disagreement.And I am safe till his mom’s next visit.

I promise I will go to the gym tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:04:00 +0000

The one thing that has been doing rounds is ofcourse being a fitness freak. And if you don’t feature in the member list of a reputed gym or practicing yoga under the supervision of some known name (Power yoga to be precise, that’s a new buzzword in town) you seriously need to do some catching up. I haven’t seen this madness for staying fit ever. Needless to say, I had joined a gym before all this euphoria began about being fit (which in turn became a status symbol) and even if it existed, before i could broaden my horizon to notice, I don't give a damn, and I am not going to go deep into it.
Ok, here is the story. While killing time on New years’ Eve (Dec 2006) as I had nothing substantial to do I started listing my resolution for the new year and suddenly my New Year Resolutions from previous years came back to haunt me which read something like this:
I will go jogging no matter what (New Year Resolution 2004).
I have to start jogging from this year (New Year Resolution 2005).
Enough is enough I have to get strict about my health and include jogging in my list of priority(New Year Resolution 2006).
If I term it as a "New Week Resolution" it wont be an exaggeration as every Sunday before hitting the sack I would mumble to myself, “I have to wake up early tomorrow to go for a jog” and diligently without any regret would switch off the alarm and go back to sleep. And obviously, how can I start something in the middle of the week? Monday seems more appropriate and come Monday, the same old story would repeat and finally I used to give up.
Therefore, I had my own reasons to join a gym and not because it’s a new fad.
I was regular and dedicated for a month, god only knows how I managed it, but I did. But then, I went on a short vacation, impact, I couldn’t go to the gym for a month. How could I? I had genuine reasons; I was snowed under at work and then the same routine followed, tomorrow for sure, Saturday is my day off I will manage some how, ok Sunday for sure… uhh… forget it I’ll start from Monday.
God only knows when will I finally set foot in the gym but I know one thing for sure I am not renewing my membership.

I love taking pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:19:00 +0000

I absolutely love these pictures. Both were taken (by me) on the way to Corbett Park. I enjoyed the drive as much as the fresh and clean air. Nostalgia creeps in each time when I look at these pictures. I had decided about that trip on an impulse to get away from the madness of this city. And I had a lovely time.

I never knew anything about photography ever. Though, I went through a phase in my life where Photography as a hobby sounded cool and the idea appealed to me. So I tried my hand at my brother’s “Very Technical” camera. It took me days just to figure out and understand how you switch it on, how to zoom (before clicking and after clicking a picture), the different modes in which you can take a picture and so on and so forth. And as technologically challenged as I am (my sister says that to me often) I finally gave up. Like an amateur I used to take pictures and by fluke if it turned out to be good I used to marvel at myself. Though it will be wrong to call myself even an amateur photographer but then who cares. May be I don’t understand the technicalities but I love taking pictures and I do that often now.

De-cluttering helps... Trust me

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:55:00 +0000

I was reading a book recently which said de-cluttering has something to do with Feng-shui which will ultimately transform your life. I don’t know what transformation I am looking forward to but then I sat down yesterday to do this hideous task.
Of-course this de-cluttering had nothing to do with that book, I was meant to do that anyway. My mom had been nagging me for days and I too felt little short of space when ever I opened my wardrobe. So here I was.
Old trousers (some still hanging with the price tag on), Shirts, t-shirts, handbags, and jeans I don’t care about any more, may be they are out of fashion or I don’t fit in them anymore, but I strongly feel the former is true. There is lots of stuff which are still hanging there in the hope that I might wear it some where, sometime may be coz the time when I bought it, it was in fashion and you can still be seen in them (even though I am not comfortable wearing them) or some which I bought a size smaller (since I picked it up from a designer wear and that was the last size available) but it was irresistible and was a “must have”. I was sure, I would lose some weight in the future (not that I am fat but some stuff just looks good on “ftv type” models). And well the rest (stuff I should have thrown, if not 1 year than may be 6 months back) still could find a place in my wardrobe coz I just couldn’t bring myself to throw them away, out of love (or so I think), its still in decent condition (mum’s version), it will again come back in fashion soon and so on and so forth.
Well enough of those will be, would be, might be. Its time to discard everything, which is not touched in last six months. Phew, my wardrobe looks spacious and I will finally be able to shop for that new pair of jeans and may be few more t-shirts and obviously some more stuff which is in vogue, now that I have enough space to accommodate stuff. Seriously, de-cluttering helps. Every time I open my wardrobe it looks clean and spacious and nicely arranged. Every one out there must try. I guess I understand what they meant in that book by talking about Feng-shui and transformation. May be all they meant was you will feel clean, nice and will find stuff in your wardrobe easily and not spend hours finding something when you are hard pressed for time which results in last minute change in wardrobe making you further late.

That’s what I call a vocation…

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:37:00 +0000

A very annoying question which each one of us has to answer when asked back in school/college is about choosing a vocation. Right from your friends, parents to your teachers to relatives to all sorts of your parent’s friends seem to be asking just this. It goes on until one day we can’t take it any more. We want to tell them to stop. But then we were only kids or may be some unwise teenagers and were meant to give answers like, “Doctor, Engineer, scientist, or an IAS Officer. Actor, writer, choreographer, model, stylist, fashion designer all this was unheard of. People choosing such fields were termed as duffers and academically not sound.
As a child I used to write short stories, when the other kids my age were busy playing hopscotch or chasing butterflies or learning to skate I was picking up Nancy Drew, Enid Blyton series, Sherlock Holmes, Malgudi Days and reading them. Not that I have not done all those fancy things kids do but was somehow more inclined towards books and I always knew I had a penchant towards writing and the realization never came until few years ago. But it’s better late than never. The first real compliment came my way when I was eleven years old and was in sixth grade and my English teacher read my essay in front of the whole class saying, “Here, we have a future writer among us”. And I remember gaping, blushing and cherishing it forever after that. And that’s how it remained for a very long time. I think it didn’t even occur to me till very recently that I could do that seriously.
I remember it was a fun game for us as kids, when we were constantly asked by our friends and we asked them in return. I remember my kid sister saying, ‘mommy’ when asked what would she like to become and we all laughed our heads off and instantly she knew something was wrong.
Whatever, kids today are better informed about different profession and most of them know very early-on what they want to become or do when they grow up. I took twenty-five years to realize what I enjoy doing the most. And may be one of these days I’ll have a column of my own in a leading news paper or I might publish a book, it doesn’t matter, as long as I am doing what I love doing and that’s what I call a vocation.

Hydrophobic…No more

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 12:20:00 +0000

I had never done rafting before but somehow my friends talked me into it. I was never a water baby and that reminds me I had bunked all my swimming sessions in school too. When ever I went close to the pool I used to go hysterical. All this time these phobias and manias, i.e. my panic attacks, kept me miles away from all sorts of water reservoirs, not that I missed it.
But the moment I saw Ganges it had a very soothing effect on me. The water was so calm and peaceful. I stood gazing at it for quite sometime until I heard all my friends shouting in excitement. The next moment I remember we were all set with our life jackets, helmets and paddles to go rafting. I had heard all the safety instructions carefully and I was watching my every move. But here I was, carefree and excited already rowing my boat and looking forward for my first set of rapid to come. And our guide Jitu was one hell of a smart fellow. He did not back off at all from the job of scaring us, if the icy cold water of Ganges did not put a lump in our throats, our guide certainly did. “The next set of rapid would be the toughest and if you all don’t synchronize your rowing then… there was never an incomplete threat and a “god help you” look used to come on his face with a nod which finally used to confirm we have no chance if we all don’t get our act together. And then a story would follow, “did I tell you guys what happened last week with those bunch of people who had come down from Delhi?” We would all nod our head in “No” with an anxious look on our face and he would flash his vicious smile and we would all breathe in relief.
But as we progressed, to my surprise I was enjoying it even though I did not know swimming. Our guide was very patient with us and we were too behaving like good kids and would follow all his instructions diligently including his “all forward” & “all backward” which he said often. And it was not so bad infact it was easy and fun. All the set of rapids we came across had funny names and it was all the more funny to link the rapids with their names and derive the connection.
After going twenty kilometers down and being in the water for close to three hours right under the sun we were starving for more. For once we had forgotten all about getting tanned and were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.
And precisely at that time no one could make out that how hydrophobic I used to be once upon a time or rather was sometime back.
Guess I have left that behind. It was in another era, another lifetime.

Superficial World

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 12:49:00 +0000

Nothing disappoints you more than a shallow person. Nowadays people around find it so hard and difficult to stand up for them selves and let the world know, that what sums them up. At times it looks like that life is all about pleasing others. Right from the time one is born till they die, all they do is delight everybody’s quandary. A child tries pleasing their parents because of some candy or toy promised to them. A student is trying to please the teacher, an employee tries to please the employer, wife wants to please the husband and so on and so forth. In this bargain we forget ourselves and by the time we reflect back and ponder we realize that time has passed and it’s too late.
Now what makes one do that? How come a child learns so early in his life that pleasing makes way? Is it the human nature which is imbibed and just requires polishing over the period of time? And suddenly a day comes when we want to get into an evaluation mode and feel we have achieved enough, seen too much, gone to too many places but now what? At the end of the day if we take a stock of the real people who matters and can make a mark are very few or don’t exist at all.
When will the time come when people will learn to stand for them selves and won’t feel susceptible by their very own existence? Why are we afraid to ask for something that we deserve and always want to play safe?
The answers can be various but is it worth it? That’s one question we need to constantly ask our selves and we will be surprised to know that we all have the answers but seek an indefinite plurals of life and its underlying meanings with a smile on the face..

Bare Emotions

noreply@blogger.com (Anandita SIngh) — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:47:00 +0000

He looked at me with those twinkle in his eyes
For a moment I suspected he will smile
But his sad eyes were bare of all emotions
Which kept me thinking for a while,

I wanted to reach out to him
But the invisible wall stopped me,
I wanted to understand but the efforts were futile
Something that he wanted to show but I could not see,

So caught up I was in the realm of life
That I could not see the growing expanse
Now when I look back and reflect
It puts me in some kind of trance

Wish I could turn back the time
But wishes seldom come true
And I realize it’s not good to hold on
This feeling leaves me broken and blue

Broken between the mixed feelings
I stand there gazing at nothing
Upon realization I find myself alone in the crowd
I wipe my tears and smile that I learnt something worthwhile.