My Filmy Life (P4 speech for TM Club)

A dramatic side of me had always wanted to live life like our Bollywood movies, in exotic locations, dancing to the fimy beats romancing away with the ‘Raj’ of my life. Infact, I had spent countless number of nights (and days) dreaming about myself as ‘Anjali’ from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and sometimes ‘Simran’ from Dil wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. Though life did not give me a chance to be like one of those leading actresses, but I did manage to relive few moments from some of my favorite movies. 

Ladies and Gentlemen! Brace yourself as I am about to rewind back the time to exactly 38 days from now

So, are you ready?

Here it goes the “Two Movies One weekend”

SHOT 1 TAKE 1…Action!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara starring Swapnika Singh and Rashmi Khatri (my roommate). Adrenaline rushed through our blood streams and loud thumping of ours heart beats gave us shivers down the spine. But then, it had to be done. Scuba Diving had to be done!

As boat reached the location where we had to get off; we were ready with our Scuba Diving costumes, Fins, Oxygen Mask and stones which were tied to our waist. And before the fear of my heart could over power the sanity of my brain, we went inside the Arabian Sea with a ‘Budok’

The first few seconds were as if someone had attempted murder on us! But after some time what we experienced was beyond words.

As they say the undersea is like a whole new different world! Beautiful green water all around with a warmth so therapeutic that healed my soul to the core. Though my ears hurt owing to the pressure of the water, I could equalize them to feel comfortable. However the silence, the silence was magical and I could literally hear each and every breath of mine, a truly yogic experience in itself.

All what you see out there is so surreal! Corals, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, cute colorful fishes made me pat my back for not backing out of the fear and indulge myself in the magnificence of the Mother Nature

After this Magnificent ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ experience in Tarakali which was around 500 kms from Mumbai we headed to our next destination hardly 160 kms from there on.

SHOT 2 TAKE 1….Action!

The ‘Dil Chahta Hai Spot. Yes! Goa!! Or may I call it ‘The Goa’

A paradise for all young Indians. A dream destination ever since Akash, Sid and Sameer drove down to Goa on their Mercedes. Though we didn’t own a merc (Off course!) but our hired activas were nothing less either. Driving through the shady trees, along the paddy fields and overlooking the country homes is really refreshing.

Our first stop at Goa was the famous Basilica of Bom Jesus, a very old church with sacred Relics of St. Xavier. We offered or prayers thanking God for letting us survive through the Scuba Diving ordeal. This  added a tinge of spirituality to the otherwise wild trip. By now we had invested a fair share of time on peaceful or rather self-rejuvenating activities like Scuba Diving and praying, but now it was the time to let ourselves loose!!

We decided to put on the best of clothes and let our hairs down at the most happening clubs and discotheques of Goa. We decided to hit the most happening party spots of town: Club Cubana and Titos at Baga beach. Post the crazy dancing sessions it was time to fill our bellies with good food. Savoring amazing sizzlers by the beach side under the moonlight is something you don’t get to do every day.

That was about the nights at Goa, the days were spent absorbing Vitamin D at various beaches. We ensured that we soak in very bit of sun from our otherwise Air Conditioned lives. The rustling sound of the sea sweeping the shiny shores of Goa was a stunning view of all times! One thing which reminds me of my mortality and my insignificant size is the vastness of the ocean. Every time I visit a sea side it leaves me feeling extremely humble and humane.

As we watched the sun go down, the horizon was filled with brilliant hues of lavender and rich blue wisps of clouds. The jaw dropping beauty of nature’s impressive light show reminded me of lovely verse written by M Vicent:

“I watch the sunset as the day turns night

The western sky is filled with fading light

With colors of pellets all aglow

Peace fills my soul as darkness starts to glow”

Indeed was the best possible closure to our unforgettable vacation. We returned to Mumbai that night and back to busy daily schedules, but with our hearts filled with awesome memories.

Friends, lets not forget the real ambition of our lives in the daily hustle bustles, the real aim of the life is nothing profound, but a very simple one and it is to be HAPPY!! So at the onset of this new year, lets all make resolution to enjoy our lives to the fullest and do what “Dil Chahta Hai” as “Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara”

Wishing everyone a very Happy New year   

 PS: THE POST IS HIGHLY DRAMATIZED AS IT WAS PART OF MY TM CLUB, P4 SPEECH....hope you guys enjoyed reading it :)

Cheers to the little angel!!

“Yes, she has survived, but what will be her future?”…..Let me take an opportunity to answer this much talked about question

She will be discharged soon (provided we continue praying for her), she then will join back her school (provided the principal doesn’t decide to chuck her out on the basis of ‘bad effects on other students’) . She will go out and play in the same playground of her society (provided this time the watch man is alert and on guard of the innocent kids).

Once she grows up, she will get married to an extremely handsome man (provided she is not reminded of so called breach of ‘dignity’ that happened with her) .She will grow up, study hard and become a stud doctor/engineer/lawyer/teacher/actor or a homemaker and bring up another beautiful daughter like hers (provided we continuously don’t remind her of the curses of being a woman in this country)….and yes, most importantly she will grow up big, grow up beautiful and grow up strong and kick the hell out of every such as%@^@% she ever comes across!

People, the onus is on US! We need to change our mindsets because she is a WINNER!! She doesn’t need our sympathies, an abnormal behavior or our hush-hush whisper talks about her future! What she needs is the assurance of her security and a fair unbiased chance to grow up and live this life to fullest!! 

So every time you come across victims of such heinous crimes, just take a second and realize the fact that they are NOT the victims, but are the real VICTORS who fought a battle and won it!! They are warriors who will win their life ….but the ones who need to worry about their futures are those beasts, let’s make their future hell by ensuring that they are jailed, punished, if possible publicly punished right away!!

 

Dreams follow You!!

Mumbai, a city that never sleeps is on pause today. Never in my life did I see all (literally all) the shutters down, a city that didn’t succumb to the Bomb blasts did stop to pay homage to their favorite Bala Saheb Thackrey (though I doubt if he was everyone’s favorite). It is estimated that around 20 lakh people had gathered to witness his Antim Yatra , this huge gathering was never ever seen before…People, please don’t get pissed am neither here to repeat what the media has been telling you all day long nor am I here to CTRL C + CTRL V of Wikipedia on the late B.S.T

The figure of 20 lakh people gathering on someone’s funeral had pushed me to wonder on how many people would actually be gathering to witness my Antim Darshan?  50, max 100…I might even win 200 posts on my Facebook account, but 20,00,000 is seriously a crazy figure!!

Coming back to I, me , myself…was trying to analyze that what exactly differentiates such people (about whom the world reads on Wikipedia) from us (about whom people hardly read, or get to know thru such self obsessed blogs/ fb accounts). I was told that that they follow their dreamzzzz , they are able to break the shackles of a convenient life and take the less taken path to do something off beat. But I often wonder if , Aishwarya Rai had a ‘dream’  to become Miss World (as a matter of fact she had dreamt of being an Architect), or Bill Gates ever thought of being the richest man on this earth, even Gandhi ji had no intention of being what he ended up being, he was lawyer, people like Hitler also never would have ‘dreamt’ of killing so many Jews in his childhood…..infact to think of it, most of us are too small in our vision or to explore the possibilities of our future and hence our childhood dreams are mostly pictures painted by our parents/ TV/ society at large. So how come some people are so different, they do so many things differently, this differently that they themselves would have never imagined of what their life ultimately turns out to be. A life that touches so many other lives, a life that calls for change in the way the forthcoming generations think or live, a life that is saluted even after its termination….

So why am I (or we) not able to be so different, at the superficial analysis of it I think that I have not able to break free from the bondages of a convenient life, a 9 hour 5 day week job and enough to eat food, but is that it? To be very honest, to be different requires so many things that I lack, ability to dream big (or different), and then guts (in some cases even the will power to work so hard), also not to forget : the ease of this stereotypical way of living (which has been taught to us)…

 That was about the superficial analysis: thinking deeply about it, I think if I agree to the above analysis, it will be sorta paradoxical theory coz in the my first para itself I had mentioned that these big people never dreamt of their ‘bigness’, so no question of then following the dreams….so how does it happen?? Its often said that Life is journey and not a destination and hence not necessarily at the start of the journey you would know where you are heading to, but during the course of the journey when one takes decisions on which turn to take at different different points, one comes across many different milestones that frame the entire route (which is less taken)

This theory also reminds me of many supporting evidences….like one found in Bible, where Jonah tried escaping God’s instruction, but no matter how much so ever he tried (thrown into the sea, eaten by a large fish etc.), he ultimately HAD to do what was destined for him to do, in present times one of the bravest soul I have known was Mother Tersa, this Albanian women am sure had never ‘dreamt’ of dying in India serving the poor, but look at we know her as now!! She had received ‘a call’ to do what she did….lemme be little secular here to prove my point…another lady we know as Sonia Gandhi, an Italian lady who had romanced a guy from the most influential family of India, is now his widow. But as matter of fact she is known to be having the remote control to control the world’s largest democracy!!

We can simply conclude that its really NOT about following your dreams per say, but more about the dreams following you….lets take the easiest example(you yourself)….did you ever dream of being what you are today in your childhood?? …at least I didn’t!!….I had never even known, that there is anything even known as planogramming in this world (which earns me livelihood now)

The Secret talked very convincingly about the power to attract things towards you, in the similar fashion, by every passing day you are also getting attracted towards what you are destined to be…it might be as simple as being a housewife, or as complex as being Sonia Gandhi ;) ….a verse from my favorite book, Bible:

“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

Romans 12: 6-8

So while we all have gifts, they differ from person to person….but at the same time we all should and must make use of our gifts by fulfilling the tasks we are assigned for our life (no matter how small or big)

Just to conclude: am still to know the task I am here for, but truly believe that I am for sure going to be followed by the dream some day J

1st September 2012

Goa 2012

 

Hi People, am finally here with my blog :) Yeah yeah I know the phrase 'my blog' sounds so self obsessed, but as a matter of fact it is indeed one of those typical ' I, me , myself" stuff.

The point is: why would you like to participate in it, so here is my solid reasoning...that we all (i really mean we all) are fundamentally very similar and hence some of my feelings would match yours too :)

Its got nothing to do with the intellectual debates, profound topics, complex vocabulary and fundas about a 'suc(k)ssf(oo)l' life. And yes absolutely nothing to do with the fake smiles on the facebook walls trying to prove (mostly to my own self) that my life perfect......but the good news is that I will be simply sharing things that made me happy or unhappy and then would try to get to get the essence of what really a fulfilled life shall comprise of!

By God's grace life has been pretty much smooth, a loving joint family, a small town roots, elite College, MBA from an average institute, 2 years work ex of hard work in sales, and now with a MNC  in a humble pay (technically nothing to be proud of , nothing to be ashamed of, but loadsa stuff to be thankful for). But this shit thing known as 'peer pressure' always pushes me to think that is all good with my life or not? am I successful or not? In a world brought so close together through Facebook you have too many things to compare your self with....a chick friend of yours traveling overseas now and then, another slutty girl happily married to a sober man, your school friend who was really really inferior to you in terms of grade fairing way better than you in professional life, people talking about being politician and cracking UPSC!!!!! Am I really asking for too little in life? Or I deserve too little...but the point is that do I really have too little?

Diverging from my point of 'too little', will tell you about my two experiences yesterday:

1.     I was late to office (as usual), my office being on 9th floor I suddenly rushed into the lift on ground floor and quickly pressed on 9. And then enters a gentleman standing on the way of the lift door waiting for some one else to enter, obviously that enraged me!! ' WTF!! Saala apni girl friend ke liye lift rook raha hai!! I am already late to office, dont wanna be thrashed by my new boss'....and then around a minute latter I see another gentleman walk in (the one for whom the lift was waiting) and I suddenly realize that my eyes are flooding with tears (for the melodrama queen I am). The man who entered latter was disabled, both his legs did not function, his crutches were the only support for him to walk. The guy did not look as if he was seeking any sympathy, with his Tupperware Tiffin bag attached in one of his crutches he walked in the lift, the man latter got down on JP Morgan (he works with one of the top investment banks)!! How quick was I to get angry on that man who stopped the lift just for a minute!! The specially abled guy just made me realize that how ungrateful I have been for my blessings.....As I walk into the office everyday, a huge mirror on the entrance always makes me wonder how fat I am, funny thing is that the same mirror also reflects that I am blessed with fully functional limbs which I never notice!

2.    On a casual conversation with one of my new colleagues,  her introduction contained some thing unusual: 'we are a family of 5....errr...actually now we are a family of 4...(little more silence)...I lost of my sister few months back' . latter on with much hesitation I managed to ask her about her late sister just to realize that my very own sister had same disease because of which we almost lost her!! And today she is there with us, a kid who just doesn't stop talking like a chirpy bird on the phone :) In all this hustle bustle of life we often tend to forget the miracles of our own life (trust me on this one)

Now coming back to the point of  'too little' , I think this term is too subjective and very difficult to be quantified. But one thing is for sure that it all depends on the benchmark, you can always benchmark your life's measure on people around who have a seemingly (superficially) fulfilled life or measure your life on your very own good and bad experiences.

It is pretty much possible that the people whom I referred to be as 'seemingly' happy might be really having a perfect life, but the truth is ITS THEIR LIFE BUDDY!! Your life has its very own, very unique permutations and combinations  and the only person who can solve this math is YOU!!

So despite of getting bogged down by the pressure of doing better everyday, earning better everyday, looking better everyday , I decide to take a break today (after 5 days of hard work the weekend was precisely made to thank Him and relax) and thank Lord for beautiful things of my life :)

Have a Great weekend Guys!! Relax and Chillax!!