Petrichor

It feels like the first dark clouds have started appearing on the horizon.

The dark famines have left deep cracks in the Earth, yet the focus is on those dark clouds. 

They have come with a calm, soothing promise.

Not like its wild sibling, Hurricane,

Who made me anticipate the rains, but laughed and ran away while I day-dreamt.

This calm soothing breeze looks at me with her promising eyes.

She promises me the sweet petrichor, and the tingling wet sensation on my skin.

I want to believe her, but the betrayals have made my faith skeptical.

I stare at those dark clouds to reassure wether they were really staying.

She smiled down at me.

And as I felt the drops on my cheeks and lips, she said, this is the law of nature my child.

The most beautiful shower comes after the driest famine ever.

The key is not to focus on the cracks, but to keep your eyes on the incoming dark clouds.

Because, if not today, they will definitely come tomorrow, 

For that is the law of nature, and nature never forgets.

Saying NO !

When was the last time you said NO to somebody ?

When was the last time you said NO to yourself ?

Saying no is an art. Its an art I wish I possessed. Because the dumb, kind, oh-let-it-be person that I am, I tend to just let things be... or simply allow myself to be fooled into saying yes, when I really want to say no. Saying no is as difficult for me as it is for a chain smoker to quit ciggies. They know its bad for their health, they know they must stop, but just knowing and thinking about it doesnt help an ounce. To actually quit your smoke-pot is a different ball-game altogether. Just simply saying no, eases your life of so many troubles which you later might have to go through. The problem again is my diplomatic nature. I just cant say no easily to anyone... hell, not even to myself !

I see a gola-wala...yeah, those flavored ice sellers, and think to myself... no, its not good for my health. And the very next moment I find myself asking for a kala-khatta flavour with extra spices on it. A friend asks me to do the extra work with a puppy smile.. and I think to myself, no way I'm doing it again this time, and to my own surprise I find my head nodding with a smile. Dont mistake me for a door-mat... its not like I let anyone or everyone take advantage of my helpful nature. But there are a few people you just cant say no to. And with those certain people I just dont seam to learn!

Saying no is such a necessity in our world now... because no matter what, you ought to be what you ought to be. Being good is good, but only at certain times... rest of the time, there is no harm in being a bitch. Because the people I cant say no to, often say no to me when I expect a yes from them. Maybe its my fault. I expect people to be like I am with them. Its like a expecting the tiger not to eat you just because you didnt eat him! Silly me ! Maybe being a herbivore is a thing of the past. Today, if you want to survive in this big bad world, you ought to go carnivorous.

A close friend of mine always told me to forgive and continue being good, irrespective of what you are getting in return. She always said, if we too start behaving like the ones we dislike, what is the difference between them and us? True, that was some food for thought. She was the one who always cooled me down everytime I got into a fight or one of my temper-attacks got the better of me. She pacified me with the same words every single time, and somehow to the libran ears it sounded convincing enough to cool down and apologize for my rude behaviour. But life is all about the middle paths... and same is the story in this case too!

Yes, true, middle path is the answer. A balance of yes and no does the trick. But to attain that perfect balance, is a lot of hard-work.

I read something in the newspaper today and loved the sheer beauty of the sentence and its meaning...
                     "  Firmness today, is the way to avoid confrontation tomorrow  "
...and so much has been said and meant in these few words. Saying this, I strive to attain that balance between YES and NO...

PS - Happy Earth day ! :D
CHEERS !

MISTAKES !

"History tends to repeat itself  

if you don't learn from it."

One of my strongest memories from school days is wondering why do we have to study history. The logic I often applied to it was, the people in our history textbooks have done great work, agreed, but they are dead now, and it is all past, so why should we study about what people did back in those days? Why cant we study about people who are still alive and doing something worth-while? And my teachers often told me that we study history so that we don't repeat the mistakes our fore-fathers committed. But I remember arguing that we live in a completely different world altogether, neither are we going to construct temples like the Cholas did, or are we going to have another war like the mughals did, nor are we living in a colonial world now so as to learn how to get rid of the Britishers, so we wont be needing the satyagrahas anymore too! That was me when I was in school...I was naive, just like everyone in school days is. We are too naive to understand the realities of life. We tend to take everything on the face value. But that was forgivable as we were still kids!

Now when I am growing up, I understand the importance of history. Not just the history text books but also our own history. Now I understand how powerful history can actually be ! It can teach you so many lessons. They say, life is the biggest teacher, but I'd say time is the biggest teacher. Our past can teach us way more than we can readily grasp. Our past can show us those hidden mysterious paths and lead us to the other end of the tunnel. It is so strange in itself, the fact that your past can make your future, such a paradox!

Off recently, life has been testing me. Many incidents from my past started reappearing in my present, and it was my decision whether I wanted to carry them to my future or not. It is always our decision whether to carry our past into our future, we just don't realize it most of the times.

When we see anything from our past, we run towards it either due to nostalgia or to find answer to some unanswered questions. Either of the case, we are drawn to it, without realizing that we are actually unknowingly letting or past enter our future. Unknowingly we make the same mistakes again, and thus the entire complex cycle of past-events-ruining-my-present-and-my-future begins! And once it begins, it is very difficult to put an end to it, trust me !

To know that building our future is in own hands, and we are the one who shapes it, irrespective of what shape it takes eventually, is the biggest hurdle crossed. Once you know that everything is in our hands, that you are the master of your own destiny, you have the master key that will fit any lock you want. Of course, it takes great courage to take the responsibility of your life on yourself. To be able to say that my life is like this because of my own deeds is not a joke. You need a heart of steel and courage as much as the air on this planet. Its not going to be easy, but who said life was going to be easy anyway!

I do not wish to complicate it at all. The conclusion is very simple, you wish to move ahead in life, you wish to make your life better than you had till now, you want to make your life a success? Then there is just one mantra, learn from your past mistakes, and more importantly, do no repeat them ever again. Temptations will always try to divert you from your goal. There will be many temptations. your past may tempt you to look back once again...just once, but that once may be the end of all story! 

By this, I don't mean to say, don't make mistakes...hell no! make mistakes, make as many mistakes as you want, but there is just one condition, make those mistakes just once. Never repeat them. Always remember, If you don't have margin for your errors, your errors will kill you.

Old Lessons !

An old Cherokee told his grandson:

“My son, there’s a battle between two wolves inside us all.
One is EVIL.
It’s anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies and ego.
The other is GOOD.
It’s joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness & truth.”

The boy though about it, and asked:
“Grandfather, which wolf wins?”

The old man quietly replied:
“THE ONE YOU FEED.”

  PS - Sometimes, all we need is a reminder to the old lessons ! :)

The way to gain anything is to lose it!

Recently I had an eureka moment, I had a deep understanding of one of life's basic fundas.... a very simple truth of life came to my realization  And when it struck me, I was awestruck by the beauty and meaning of the simple sentence.

   " The way to gain anything is to lose it! "

I realized that the only way to keep something is to let it go. If you hold it back, it will repel. Tying something to yourself is like ensuring that it will leave you very quickly. And if you let something go freely, be sure, it is yours. I have had numerous experiences working on the same formula, but the calculation dawned to be just now. It is only now that I realized that my holding on to things just did the opposite of what I wanted. The tighter I held onto it, the fiercer it fought to free itself away from me, and the more freedom I gave, the more it clung on to me. Freedom, truly is one of the most important virtues of life. To give freedom, is one of the biggest life's lessons learnt, and to utilize your freedom, shows your maturity.

Recently, I was in a great mental despair. I was almost depressed. It pained me to think that even after so much of yearning and wanting, so much of following and observing, the thing that I wanted kept going away from me. I didnt realize it, that it was me myself who was repelling it by my constant obsession with it. Day and night, my only thought was of the object of my want. I didnt realize that by constantly thinking about it, I was repelling it instead of attracting it to myself. My despair lead me to many sleepless nights. My mind was in a turmoil. It was a fight between my patience and my obsession. I was going through a rough phase, and I wanted the answer to all my queries. And then suddenly I found my answer, in the most unexpected place, with the most unexpected person, at the most unexpected time. It was a revelation  The result was enlightening. I felt like a fool. I laughed at myself for being such a big fool. I laughed at myself for being so naive and ignorant.

There are many times in our lives when we care for something, and cling to it, not wanting to let it go. But no matter how much we try to hold it close to ourselves, it repels and goes further away from us. The harder we try to hold it back, the more it struggles to go away from us. And if we let it go, it comes back to us on its own. Thats the beauty of freedom. Thats the power of patience. Ofcourse, it requires you to be patient...very patient, but doesnt wine require patience to grow old and good !

So next time you feel like tying something down to yourself because it is too dear to let go, try this - let it go, and wait for it to come back on its own. It will. Trust me.

Squeeze me like a lemon....!

Dear life,

There have been so many times when you have squeezed me like a lemon, crushed me like a sugar-cane, blended me like the coriander leaves and grated me like the onions, to bring out the best in me, and you have succeeded very successfully in doing that. And I am thankful for all that, yes I am! You've made me stronger and helped me grow like the coconut... strong, stout and hard from the outside, but soft and creamy from inside. I'm glad for that, yes I am! You've taught me so many things in all these 20 years that I can only be thankful to you. You have shown me success and failures too! There have been times when I sat in the corner and cried, but you have shown me moments too, when I proudly flaunt and rave about my achievements. You have given me many gold medals, and you have given me red lines in my report-cards too! You have shown me the good and the bad about various things in life, and made me wiser, and I thank you today for everything you have done and given me. There have been times when I fell down and scrapped my knees and shed tears that could fill a river, but you have also taught me that falling is the first step towards rising! Without failure there is no succes, without tears there is no happiness, and without night there cannot be a day.

I thank you for making me realize your value and importance. There are times when you have been unfair, unjust, rude and mean to me, or so I have felt, but you have always made me realize that with every bad thing comes a good thing. You have made me cry but you have made me laugh harder. You have pushed me into depression but you have given me tons of memories to cherish too! You have closed many doors on my face, but you have opened many new doors too! You have locked me in the dark room but you have also always slid in a candle and a matchbox to keep me company and get rid of the darkness around me. I have fallen many a times but you have always sent someone to hold me and wipe my tears and comfort me with good words and advise. You have given me many teary nights, but many laughter bouts too! You have given me a handful of enemies but a whole bunch of friends too. You have made me realize that it is not always the blood relations that really matter, relations can be build overnight with a complete stranger. It is not always necessary that whatever you do, people will do the same to you. Just because you are a vegetarian, doesnt mean, the tiger wont eat you! You've taught me to always expect the unexpected. You've taught me that no matter how perfect the lie is, it can never out-wit the truth. The truth, no matter how small and how well hidden, comes out of the closet at the end. You just cannot hide the truth, so better to tell the truth and skip the chain of lies. Thankyou for making me realize that lies never work, and truth is always the only answer.

I thank you for every little failure that you've shown me, I've learned so much from them. You've taught me that failures are not just failures, they are the must-haves for success. A person who has never failed, can never succeed. Success stands on a pillar called failure. So, the number of failures you have just means the stronger the base of your success, the only catch is to never lose hope and keep trying. Thankyou for holding my back, everytime I lost hope, and showing me that one ray of hope when everything seemed so dark. Thankyou for giving the best of everything I ever needed. The best of parents, the best of siblings, the best of guardians, the best of friends, the best of companions, the best of teachers, the best of everthing. I thank you today, because you've also shown me that, everyone in this world is not as lucky as me. Everyone on this planet is not blessed like me. You have not been so good with everyone like you've been with me. Though there were times I called you partial and mean and unfair, I didnt realise that you are way too partial and too good towards me. Thankyou for being so partial with me, and giving me all the happiness and joy and comfort in my life. Thankyou.

Life, you have made me the person that I am today. You have always showered me with surprises. You never cease to surprise me at every corner, every turn on my path. You've taught me that only change is constant, rest everything changes. We must not hold on to things, letting go is the nature and rule of life. Nothing lasts forever, one day everything has to go away...your friends, your lover, your partner, your parents, everything! Holding onto them just ensures that you cant progress in your life. Move on, enjoy the freshness of the new things around. Enjoy in the expectation of unexpected. This is life, and you must move on.

You have taught me that the only powerful moving force around is LOVE. Love everyone, smile at everyone. You might just make someone's day blissful and happy with your smile. So, smile all the time! Thankyou for teaching me something new everyday. A new experience everyday. A new adventure everyday. And most importantly, giving me a new day everyday! I feel blessed just because I'm still alive and happy! Thankyou.

But having said all this, I also have a request for you, dont squeeze me like a lemon, or crush me like a sugarcane, because..... Ouch! it hurts!!

I have learned.....

Hola everyone....!
I've been a bit busy lately, and have been more on a reading spree than writing something. Though I have been writing constantly, that I cannot live without, but I've not been able to produce something worthy of my blog! Yeahh, just like everyone else, my blog too deserves the best! So, like I said, I've been reading a lot lately, I stumbled upon a blog and found myself reading every post religiously. This is the blog, and every single post here is a master-piece in itself. I read many of them and hugged myself for doing so. Though after reading them all, I decided to share one of them. So here you go... and I hope you too will find it worthwhile!
Happy reading fellas!!
Cheers! :D




I’ve learned-
that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.


I’ve learned-
that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.


I’ve learned-
that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.


I’ve learned-
that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.


I’ve learned-
that it’s not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.


I’ve learned-
that you should never ruin an apology with an excuse.


I’ve learned-
that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something.


I’ve learned-
that you shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.


I’ve learned-
that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.


I’ve learned-
that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.


I’ve learned-
that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.


I’ve learned-
that you can keep going long after you can’t.


I’ve learned-
that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.


I’ve learned-
that either you control your attitude or it controls you.


I’ve learned-
that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.


I’ve learned-
that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.


I’ve learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.


I’ve learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.


I’ve learned-
that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.


I’ve learned-
that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.


I’ve learned-
that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.


I’ve learned-
that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.


I’ve learned-
that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.


I’ve learned-
that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.


I’ve learned-
that your family won’t always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren’t related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren’t biological.


I’ve learned-
that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you are to learn to forgive yourself.


I’ve learned-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.


I’ve learned-
that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.


I’ve learned-
that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.


I’ve learned-
that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.


I’ve learned-
that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.


I’ve learned-
that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.


I’ve learned-
that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.


I’ve learned-
that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.


I’ve learned-
that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.


I’ve learned-
that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.


I’ve learned-
that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.


I’ve learned-
that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings, and standing up for what you believe.


I’ve learned-
that people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.