Ode for my hands

Sitting back on the rocking chair
As my gaze abates
Stained with ink the ten soldiers
Lounge away rocking on the chair
High does it stand, transcending vision
Holding a pair of pans
Dispute for justice sways in the air
With black and white populace
Craving for eternal happiness, world soaking in sorrow
Never do the eyes of my soul close
A hand to serve, a hand to soothe
Creatures and mankind
Aspirations and goals escort our lives
A clap or two inspires
Never does the clutter stop
As life goes on and on
As two hearts unite, love young and strong
Hands that give warmth to build the future together
As we walk holding hand in hand, memories stream along
Wrinkles dawn, death beholds
Never does warmth simmer down
Oh hands, how do I love you
How do the two share a bond
Oh hands give me a pair
To wipe my tears and hold forever
To the eternal power

RHYTHM

Drops of rain trickle down my window, tracing a curvy path,
travel does the time, holding hand in hand
tick tock goes the clock, with regular hiatus
as eternal rhythm conquers universe.

Traversing through the limitless desert,
wind wafts caressing my face,
Breach into my eyes the granules of sand,
never does the counter stop, as my lids flutter.

Taking the weight off my feet, glued to the horizon,
waves impede the view, knocking my eyeballs,
offers me a shell or two, three, four
Never ends the count from the ocean benign

Sign of naissance, as mind adorns soul
Respire do we, till it embraces death,
tick tock goes the clock, with a regular hiatus
As eternal rhythm conquers the universe.

F(P)estival at its best!

A kid comes back from school brimmed with excitement for the upcoming holidays. With twinkling eyes, he says, “Mom…we have holidays from tomorrow on account of Diwali!!”. Mom smiles back, gives him a hug and plans for the joyful days. Festivals are of a great importance in our Indian culture. Every time we look forward to celebrate festivals which bring people together .Festivals are either celebrated with masses or as a private affair. Do our celebrations really pose good to the society? I am going to highlight Diwali here.

Let me explain Diwali. Diwali is a festival of ‘lights’. It marks the victory of good(light) over evil(dark). A fragment of people consider it to be return of Rama post-victory over Ravana while some consider it to be the day when Pandavas returned after the exile. Either ways, I see it to be a day to be happy and spread the same. We brace ourselves to clean the house, hand lights, draw rangolis, prepare sweets. Most importantly,  wear new outfits and try to look best!  Amidst these, we forget to spread happiness where there isn’t one.

I happened to visit our local market to buy some diyas. I could see people arduously walking with ‘no hands unturned’. Festivity bloomed as I saw lanterns hung in harmony. As I stood watching the ironic beauty of crowd, someone touched my shoulder. With an impulse I looked back. There stood a skinny old man with a shabby look, wearing torn clothes showing some gestures which said he was hungry. Like any other person, I handed over a coin instantly. He blessed me  and moved ahead.

But I couldn’t come out of this incident. The crowd which seemed to be a beauty sometime back turned dreadful. The crowd seemed to be like a bunch of selfish people craving for surfeit. I couldn’t stop thinking why the lucrative pockets of India will not be able to make their counterparts smile. My head hung in shame for that coin which popped out of my wallet. Where is Diwali for that old man?  When will he chip in the festivity? When is he going to smile in par with society? It is not impossible to bring smile in at least one face this Diwali. For the colossal number of heads wandering in market, it is definitely going to encompass all the deprived. I am dreaming of a day when I don’t have to jot this down in my blog.

Next comes the Crackers. Well, crackers comprise of all lighting products like sparklers, flowerpot, wheels, rockets etc. in addition to its definition. Above all, we have bombs, considered to be the star of crackers. Have you ever felt a thump in your heart? I do not remember reading anywhere that Diwali is about making you miss a heartbeat. Here comes another factor which turns festival into a nuisance.

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise” goes the saying and so do the birds follow. They happen to happily go back to their isles as soon as sun bides goodbye and wake up with sun. But do we really let them sleep? Do we really bother about their emotions? Have we ever thought how it would impact them? Dogs are known for their brawny hearing sense. Imagine the impact they would have due to the disgusting bombs and crackers. Neither do they have any shelter to protect themselves from the torture. What kind of a festival is it which makes creatures unhappy?

There has been a lot of hype regarding saving the environment and living and eco-friendly lifestyle. But majority of such population miss out on tagging along their statements. They tend to join all sorts of awareness campaigns around holding placards but fail to dispose off them at the right place

Bottomline:

Night Musical band  -NO

Crackers/Bombs - NO

Probably I have too much to say and concerned a lot about my non-human friends which is why I am finding it hard to put it on words. Please try to be eco-friendly in every action you perform. Let not your actions physically harm a soul on earth. Every creature has a right to live their life. So live for your happiness  and may your happiness lies in others’.

SARPassing Himalayas!!

I had never thought that I would be stepping on one of the biggest mountain ranges on the planet. Unexpectedly, Himalayas didn't forget to invite me with open arms. I could not hold back my excitement and was all in smiles when I put my step forward for the trek. Totally clueless, I moved ahead to pack up stuffs which me and my friends could remember.

We reached Delhi and were shaken by soaring temperatures of the city. The trek was primarily to be kicked off at Kasol. Somehow succumbing to this excruciating heat, we booked our evening tickets to Bhuntar which was supposed to be the pivot for Kasol. I felt sordid to carry the clammy myself to every nook and corner. At the same time, ironically, my hoary thoughts passed a chill across my nerves. Vehemently squashing down the sun to sunset, we eagerly boarded the bus to Bhuntar. Hardly cognizant about how we passed the night, we woke up to find that we were already reaching Bhuntar. Alighting at Bhuntar, we immediately got a bus to Kasol. Thus, we were nearing our destination.

We were greeted by a view of tents pitched on a small flat piece of land adjoining which river Parvati was flowing elegantly. This was supposed to be the base camp. The ambience was really welcoming and soothing my carcass with cold breeze. It was totally an antithetical life I could smell. The snow clad peaks were constantly drawing my attention. We reported at the base camp and settled down at our tents. To my relief, there were no activities scheduled on that day. I decided that it was time for me to scour myself after all the dirty travelling I have been doing. But who can defy the freezing water running on the taps?! That’s when a suggestion was dropped by one of the organizers that hot water springs of Manikaran could be an option. All gritty about having a bath, we all set forward to Manikaran. It was a blissful experience altogether; bath, Ram temple and finally Gurudwara. After some tits and bits of shopping for the foreseen frost, we returned back to base camp.

Day 2 and Day 3 started with morning exercises which played a vital role later. It gave enough warmth to my taut muscles and made them slack grooming them for the upcoming trek. We also had an acclimatization walk, rappelling and rock climbing which were quite interesting and helped us in connecting with our peers.
Finally the day to depart the base camp arrived. We were all set with our rucksack which had all the necessary stuffs dumped. Weather seemed to be urging me to promptly see off the base camp. With an anxious heart, I marched ahead with the flow.

The way to Grahan was mind blowing. It was through lush green forests which didn’t seem to have much of flora. I could constantly hear the reverberation of the stream flowing parallel to our route. I didn’t bother to rush ahead in the group and my pace turned out to be a boon as I was completely fusing with my Mother Nature. My eyes were constantly hunting for my aerial friends but couldn’t find any (other than our typical wild crows with its peculiar funny caws :D). My mind bubbled with happiness every time a leaf rubbed off my cheeks. To add to my joy, we had no option other than drinking cool water straight from the stream! Slowly we started seeing small houses and residents smiling at us. Few kids passed by. I stopped them to ask their name. They giggled shyly and didn’t seem to have understood my question. I pulled their pink chubby cheeks making sure I am not touching their noses which had dried phlegm peeping out. I was stunned by their charm, tightly hugged them and offered mango candies. They were extremely delighted. I taught the youngest kid how to unfold the candy wrapper. He hopped merrily with sense of achievement of learning something new for the day and bid good bye with a sweet smile. Finally upon reaching Grahan, I happily settled down and drowned with the sunset.

Next day, we ensued our way to next goal, Padri where our next camp was based at. Route seemed to be much better as we got various plains to walk through. I loved the cool breeze which was constantly shivering me as the sun was still hiding behind the hills. This route mainly comprised of different facets of rocks. Also we had to traverse through massive tree trunks which had traced a crooked path making us mould into every shape possible. The forest-like ambience suddenly opened into vast plain grassland with small tents erected in the centre. My mind boggled with happiness when I saw a big herd of cattle grazing all around. I flung my sack inside and rushed towards the tiniest calf present. It wasn’t ready to budge away from its mom even for a moment. Padri seemed to be a dream to me; a place which I have always been dreaming about. Snow clad peaks were still drawing my attention which seemed to intensely beckon me. We were asked to rely upon a gentle stream flowing in the frontage of the row of tents for washing and drinking. It was a pleasure to share the possession of cattle that also use the same current. All of a sudden, I happened to hear few feeble bleats. I turned only to find a huge herd of goats proceeding towards our tents. I was ecstatic and tried running behind some of those but sadly none of them paved way to my love L (Wish I was a shepherd!!). To add to my woes, the day at Padri was almost reaching to an end. Half-heartedly, I curled inside my sleeping bag and dozed off.

Next day, the journey to ex-Ratapani, Minthas(spellcheck please!) began. Personally, it was quite tiring for me as we encountered few steep uphill. At lunch point, traces of snow began luring us to play. The entire group started bringing piles of snow and began the most awaited snow fight. It wasn’t really a snowy region but the temptation leaped out. After spending sufficient amount of time, we proceeded to the camp. Due to an altogether tired trip, I chose not to drain any more energy. I chose to stay back in one of the corners of tents and slept peacefully.

Here comes one of the best trips of all, the trip to Nagaru! It started raining a bit with heavy storm. It would be wrong if I don’t mention about our guide who was our moral support. We had lot of steep uphill and lot of snow to be crossed. Without our guides nothing would have been possible. After long and tiring climbing trip we reached Nagaru, the land of snow. It was a totally exciting time in Nagaru as we were already feeling on the top of the world. I could see myself rubbing shoulders with many of the peaks present in the Himalayan ranges. . I was tremendously curious as to what SAR pass would be then! Surprisingly, I found few tiny birds looking as cute as and sounding as sweet sparrows. It would be really great if anyone could get their names right. But this doesn’t mean we were left without crows. They still accompanied us with their hilarious caws. We were instructed to set off at 3.30 in the morning to SAR Pass when the snow was hard. I could hardly sleep the entire night. It was almost 4.30 when we moved ahead for our final destination. Things weren’t easy for me. The cold winds of dawn proved to be a nightmare. I was almost on the verge of getting carried away by the wind. The nightmare went on for about an hour till the sun showered some rays of hope on me. The snow was shining golden. I couldn’t take my eyes off from the beauty. Struggling all the way through the steep paths, the guide pulled me and said, “Welcome to SAR Pass”. It was music to my ears and lo! Here’s a big white carpet put ahead in front of me. I sat in one of the corners, immersed into myself, connecting with the Nature. The view elicited the spiritual side of me. I experienced Oneness!
Subsequent to a brief break, we were asked to proceed for the upcoming slides. Slides were truly a compensation for all the hard work we had done and definitely the best inference a trek can have. After all the sliding fun, we were at the welcoming doors of our Biskeri camp.

Our faces were still beaming with pride for having made it to SAR Pass. None of the odds at camp touched the light hearts present as we never bothered what next is kept in store for us. I felt lighter for the very fact that we will be moving downhill. Following day, we were offered two options: Bandak thatch or Kasol base camp. I was already contented with my SAR Pass and didn’t wish to spend a day more in tent. Following a lot of confusions we finally decided to proceed to Kasol. It was a simple downhill though rains made the route tougher. It was the longest journey we had wherein we walked for about 9 hours. Totally drained out, we finally reached our base camp Kasol. Amidst all the difficulties, we were still smiling and complimenting each other for having made through.

To conclude, it was an amazing experience for having climbed 14000 feet, being so close to nature and experiencing temperatures that squat as low as possible. Rest I would leave it up to your imagination!

A fictional village memoir

Walking past the crowded lanes of Mumbai, I was compelled to disembark from a place which kept me away from listening to abuses on top of the voice, the shoulders which constantly rubbed mine, the drops of sweat which were never fortunate to the touch the earth.  I wanted to be away from the visible signs of discrimination where you can see palms bearing 2-3 coins stretched in front of a place called mall where these 2-3 coins hardly make any difference. I wanted to be in a place where I could walk barefooted without grimacing at the spittings or escaping from the scorn talks, a place where I could connect with Mother Nature.

Dumping my stuffs into my bagpack, I embarked on a journey to my destination. The crowd of this city only brought smile into my face reiterating the fact that I am undeniably departing to a better place. Even the multi-wheeler I was travelling seemed to have a grimace on its face and was as eager as me to reach the destination ‘green’.  The crowd and dust gradually was petering out replacing them all with green.  Sunflowers were ogling at the sun with much of admiration. I wondered if humans could stare at the sun even for a second. May it’s the intense love which brought the unison of these souls. I couldn’t wait to get down from the train and adhere to the new world. I closed my eyes firmly so as not to leak any surprises that nature has kept for me. I suddenly could feel a shake on my shoulder. My co-passenger informed me that I had already reached MY place. I eagerly grabbed my stuffs and jumped out of the train. My happiness knew no bounds.

As soon as I stepped my foot, nature gave me my first gift by means of a crow, a white gum!! I smiled and thanked for whatever it gave me. After all, it’s nature, the gifts ought to be out-of-the-box. The crow flew right away. May be there are many people waiting in the village to receive its gift. Meanwhile, I could listen to some feeble bleats. I couldn’t stop myself from moving towards the sound. Closer the sound came from the happier I was. But the scene brought a frown in my face as I saw a goat trying hard to pull its leg from an entwined wire of fence.  I immediately freed it. It gave me a second’s gratified look and hopped away merrily. I felt as if the flower bud in my heart had blossomed.

The avenue to the destination-less destination wasn’t one which could let a ball roll freely. Nature had beautifully spread out the red carpet comprising of stones and thorns. Every stone which scratched and every thorn which pricked brought me closer to the beauty and augmented my smile. All of a sudden, a leaf settled on my shoulder, all one of the trees I passed could give me. I softly kissed it and admiringly gazed at the tree. I silently thanked for endowing a shield from sun and tightly hugged its trunk. Is there another place called heaven? I wondered.

This shady path led me to an open land under cultivation. To one of the concluding trees was tied a cow.

It had black and white colours artistically used and a white mark on its forehead. Its long hairy-ended tail was constantly swaying. I had to give a hop just to escape one of its sways. The small bell tied around its neck produced sweet, light tinkling sound which overcame the existing silence. I didn’t miss a chance of caressing it, especially its marked forehead. My caress least bothered it. But something bothered me. I could hear an additional tinkling. I went around the tree only to see its calf resting and an irked mother proceeding towards me. ‘Mother’, the embodiment of love, the word that rules the universe!

Initially, I hesitated a bit to get into the open field as the sun was acting too harsh. Standing under one of the trees I glanced though the crops. A small temple built under a plant caught my attention. Disregarding the scorching heat, I ran splashing the water let out for irrigation. It almost doused my bagpack.

A small idol smeared with kumkum sated the so-called temple. There stood a formless divine with a bowl of sweet waiting to be relished by Him. Ahh! Sweet! Where did this come from? I was distracted by a sound of cough. I turned around to see who it was. A dark old man with a cloth tied around his head was smiling at me. Sweat was dripping down his forehead which was being constantly wiped by him. He invited me to his house without even asking for an introduction. His house was a small hut which had a ‘stoopery’ entrance. I was mesmerized by the strong aroma of dal. He offered me a seat in his hanging net cot. I swung in the cot for few minutes and enjoyed. He brought a glassful of water, cleaned one of the stools and placed on it. Slowly spreading his mat on the floor he asked “so girl, what brought you to this place?” This was one question which had no answer. I raised my eyebrows, smiled and answered “No idea. May be there’s someone who loves me, other than my mom” He replied, “No dear, it’s the mutual love which connects two ends” I got his point and nodded in agreement. Meanwhile I didn’t miss to take few sips of water which didn’t taste less than nectar (though I haven’t tasted one). I couldn’t contain my curiosity. I asked him in a mild tone, “Don’t you want to know who I am and from where I have come?” He calmly replied, “none other than the devotees of Nature pay a visit. And any devotee of Nature is a member of my family.” His one-liner replies banged my heart and brain. He led me to the other end of his house which exited to a beautiful view of mountains crowned by clouds.

I was dumbfounded at their beauty. Both of us enjoyed few moments of silence which didn’t last long when a sparrow began loudly chirping searching its mate. It anxiously took few glimpses of us and flew away continuing its search. I could strongly sense a connection with God, a cosmic energy uniting the souls. I could feel the Nature within me and visualize myself in Nature. That’s when I understood the power of ONE. I requested him to lend me few minutes and immersed into a small meditation session. Every cell in my body resonated with the cosmic music, unbounded by time. My shoulder sensed heaviness. I opened my eyes. He invited me to lunch.

After having a sumptuous tasty, fresh meal, I preferred to go for a siesta in a cot kept on the backend.

Suddenly, his dog started barking (which was when I realized he had a dog. It had gone to hunt for food). My siesta broke but I sensed something was wrong. With the intention of finding out the reason, I set off the cot only to land upon something which didn’t seem like the rough ground I had experienced since morning. It was a snake!!! I missed a heartbeat. A shock ran through my nerves. Next thing I intended to do was ‘yell’. But I gave it a second thought and intently looked at this creature. It had life, the light within still glowing. It was a creature, just like me. I simply smiled, stayed away and let it go. It could understand the language of Love.

Dusk was approaching; the sun of excitement within also seemed to set. But an eternal peace had settled in my heart which wasn’t allowing sleep to conquer me. After much of battle, I finally decided to sleep.

Coke-a-doodle-dooooooooooo!!! There crows my cock! someone whom I had missed out to mention. Rays of sun tickled my eyes. I smiled at it and proceeded to my bagpack. With a heavy heart, I dumped my stuffs into it. I set out on the field, talked to the crops and revamped the scarecrow. I didn’t speak even a word to the farmer. But he could read my mind and feel the heaviness in my heart. I wondered how a person who had hardly spent a day with could comprehend!! I went up to him and said just ‘bye, thank you!’ I was falling short of words. I lifted up my bagpack n placed it in my shoulders. Tears had already started rolling off my cheeks. Tears swathed my eyes refraining from enjoying the beauty.

Oh my gosh!! I had forgotten to take pictures of all the beauty I had come across, especially, the man who acted as a mode of connecting me to nature. I immediately took out my camera and rushed back to the hut. But… but…but…, there was no hut, no man, no dog, only crops and mountains standing erect far off. I pinched myself and it was no dream. Then who was he? God’s messenger? Well, I again had no answer for this. Carrying all the beautiful memories, I ensued my way back to city. I appreciated my memory for not having reminded about the camera which would have definitely given a blemishing effect to my visit to the village.

An AWEsome episode of my life

One of the inevitable websites to be browsed upon as soon as I get hands-on on my system, Facebook, has always left a negative impact on my mind. It produces tonnes of extroverts who make me regret of having insulted the words ‘Friendship’ and ‘Life’. Friendship is a beautiful unison of two hearts that care for each other unconditionally. They do not need any medium to articulate emotions. But now things have changed. “I am ‘friends’ with you” doesn’t really mean it. Philosophies are at its superlative when it comes to ‘sharing’. Sooner did I realize that it was all fake. In the journey of hunting for truth, Facebook shattered my outlook. I could not stop frowning at my dilemma of having ‘follow’ed an addictive networking where ‘like’ ing someone was nothing more than putting your thumbs up. I somehow wanted not to run away from the loop but mould the loop into something beautiful.

Facebook has always been suggesting its users to get connected. Some happy faces keep appearing on the right corner of my screen that I happily ignore. But one fine day, a lady with a really beautiful and genuine smile caught my attention. I tried hard to ignore, but something seized my heart. It said ‘Gifts of ….’. Those dots aroused my curiosity and interest, persuading me to enter into her small facebook world.  Lo! I see it said Gifts of AUTISM. All these days, Autism was just an abnormality in my dictionary. But this phrase elicited a whole new meaning to the word. I was even more curious to know why I was so much towed. We had 19 mutual (online) friends, one of them being my mom. I quickly sent out a friend request. Within few minutes, I got notified about her acceptance. Happily I scrolled through the feeds and logged out.

My mind conveniently forgot this incident. Myself and Facebook had already repelled away like two like poles of magnet. My urge to serve the society still brimmed in mind. Working in an IT company never gave me the satisfaction of achieving. Outwardly I was proud to be a part of one of the best IT companies in the world and thanked God for it. But, map of my inner journey for treasure denoted that I wasn’t on the right path. I felt like riding on a bike which was constantly skidding off the route. All I could do is, plan for my future missions paving my way back to the right track.

Few days later, when I logged in to Facebook, amidst all those shared and unwanted posts, I could see a post which caught my attention which said ‘Yet another coaching on Skype’. It was the same lady whom I had doted. Believe it or not she was doing a coaching for Autistic children!! She was the founder of Gifts of Autism. Her deeds reflected myself. I leisurely began feeling close to my passion. I quickly expressed my wish to be a part of it.

My entire outlook towards Autism took a huge turn. I never knew anyone who was autistic. But our tête-à-tête dawned a new knowledge that autistic children look this world with a unique facet. They are supposed to be God’s gift. They were called as AWE-tistic by Gifts of Autism or spiritually awakened gems.

Human society is biased. Optimism is losing its place in people’s heart. Parents of these AWE kids(that’s how I am going to refer them henceforth) shed tears for having given birth to an incapable child hardly realizing the spiritual potential hidden within them. Outlook towards these AWEs should be tainted. For a change, let’s forget about their self-defined inability and listen to them like any other normal person. I am sure we will explore unimaginable paths where our guides are going to be none other than  these AWEs.

 Is discrimination so important? Are we always right? Firstly, are WE right? Who is abnormal, we or AWEs? These are some of the unanswered questions haunting my mind. Respect for every creature on this earth will ultimately result in harmony. Hoping to dive deep into this beautiful world of AWE-tism. Wish you, the reader, too join hands with me in demolishing the prejudice prevalent in the world.

Dewdrop

Golden rays in the west, give birth to millions,
settled on the pigment green, with aspirations abundant,
Twinkling pals nurture the tots which sop them up with love
Share their thoughts, play around with colors red and green,
Tickling the leaves, unruly laughter, the nature gleans joy.
The tiny sphere rolls off the leaf with fear crept in mind,
the rulers of dark, comabt the wind, salvage comes in hand.
Faded smile capers again as the east shows its shine,
Gone are the blissful pals, gone are the nocturnals,
leaves dole out deathbed, when rays roll up.
Life is like a dewdrop, with copious pals,
Capricious are the moments, when the journey takes warps.
Loner are you when born and loner you are in the end,
Glue to the unchanged, salvation will you attain!!!