Love Conqures All; A Short Story

Heaviness of clouds, stillness of air and frequent roaring of clouds were assuring a heavy rain. On the muddy slippery greenish road, they were running with a fishing rod in their hands. Soon, they were on the bank of river. After searching a perfect place, they put their fishing rods in between the elegies and JalKumbhi, they were incessantly watching the small wooden stick above the water that was sporadically vibrating in the presence of their hunt (fish).

Whole day passed. The two, Prakash and Gita, had caught enough fishes and now they were about to depart. Prakash was Sixteen years old and Gita was two years younger to him. They studied in same school, and despite having difference in their age, they were in same school which was often a subject of pride for Gita that irritated Prakash too much. But, No doubt, they were close friends. Their friendship was as old as they were. At one moment they fought and the next moment they were friends. “Sorry” and “Thank you” were not in the dictionary of their friendship. There was spontaneity, an innocence that brought them always together.

They were in the age in which people begin to see such relationships with their constricted-crassness spectacles in the shadow of pseudo morality. As Prakash and Gita were not of same caste, it was also a grave concern for so called moralist. Soon, their parents were familiarized with this issue which was a hidden threat to both families.

They did not realize when their closeness was dragged apart. Soon they were in different school. Often Prakash saw Gita with her sad eyes in midst to his cousins and siblings in her way to school that made him restless but as he was aware to the consequences he never dared. They did not talk yet both were missing each other. They were missing their togetherness. They were missing the thrill, the joy they used to felt while hunting the fish with their fishing rods. They were apart but their memories were instilled in a way that they could never forget each other.

Time passed. Now Prakash had done Diploma in Electrical, and was now working in private company in Delhi. He was now 22 years old. But still his memories were as fresh as he was just 14 years old, wandering with Gita in rainy days on muddy pavements. Praksah had left the village since he was eighteen and today after getting his job, he was going to his village. His eyes were impatient to see the glimpse of his childhood in the greenery of fields, in the fragrance of its air, in the touch of his 18 years old life. The three years of distance had washed up all the old attitudes of people towards Prakash. Now, he was no longer “Prakash” of the past who was once summoned and challenged for his immoral behaviour.

Soon, the village, the river, the air, the rainy season caught Prakash in his old memories that brought a storm. A storm that could even shook 22 years old man. Whole night, he was not able to sleep. And in the early morning, he decided to meet Gita, disregarding all the consequences.

With the help of his old friends Prakash arranged a meeting with Gita in the evening.

For the next five minutes, neither of two spoke. The silence was broken down by Prakash as he said...

“You are getting married, are not you?”

Hiding her dismay she replied averting her eyes...

“Yes! I am....and what about you” 

“What about me? Are you asking if I am married or not?”

She whispered,” yes! “

“Ok! I am not...I am not going to be in future too...”

There was a conviction and desperation in the voice of Prakash.

They continued their discussion which often turned to sobbing and crying. Finally, they moved to their respective home with unknown feelings and hidden motives.

After 10 Years

It is a sunny morning. A middle age man and woman are enjoying the morning tea in the peaceful ambiance, glistened by red sunlight and scented by the fragrance of refreshing –cool-cozy morning air. T.V. is broadcasting news which is saying about the news of a boy and girl who have ran away from their home despite of different religion and have got married. A riot has broken off. Some people are saying it unfortunate; some are saying Immoral; some are saying it is a religious conspiracy...
But soon it takes the two ten years before when he had hold his hand and still she is feeling its warmth in her life. This was the warmth of their love which made them to face insurmountable difficulties after they ran away from their home. Pearly drops trickles through their eyes. The man puts her hand on her, presses her hand slightly. She feels sweetness, a comfort, an overwhelming shivering in her body. Let people say it good or bad but they know it was the best decision of their life. “Love conquers all”.

Romanticism; My Thoughts

Some days ago, I had a conversation with my friend when I was asked,” What do you feel; are you Romantic?” To be honest, I did not exactly know if I was romantic or not but for the sake of continuation, I said, “I hope so.”  After the conversation was over, I introspected to find out the exact answer. So this post is the rambling of my mind over the subject ‘Romanticism’.

If the meaning of “Are you romantic”... is... “Are you emotional”... or... “Can you fall in love”, and then Word “Romantic “seems too redundant, doesn’t it?  If not, then it would be something that can be put into definite region of Intuition, sensitivity, love and poetry.  Romanticism has been a prime motivation for poets, authors and painters to squeeze out wonderful artistic expression. Historically, the word ‘Romanticism’ originated in the late 18^th century which emphasises more on intuition, imagination and  individual’s expression of emotion, a departure from the attitude of rationality and logic. So, Romanticism is acceptance of fact that you accept that something is beyond logic and reason that can be realized only by intuition and imagination. And I feel that it is true also. One cannot find the logical explanation why moon looks so beautiful and so enthralling or why red roses are quintessence of love. They are unexplainable still realizable.

 This is a very general view of Romanticism. In particular, if we talk about the Romanticism Like the character of SRK in his movies where romanticism is confined to a boy and girl in their teenage or before marriage, then I would not say that it is not Romanticism. It is... but in most of the cases, it is narrow passage of your natural instincts, coming into raw expression of the mixture of love and infatuation.

There is something mysterious, something unknown and vague which mesmerizes us, captivates us and we are stimulated to sense the ecstasy and joy while watching our favourite romantic movies or observing the beauty of moon in its full form with complete awareness. The ecstasy and joy of painter and lover are same; they both derive their joy through imagination, so way is same too. So in a way, this romanticism of lover is no way inferior to a beautiful painting, a captivating poetry or a wonderful sculpture. But painter and poets have a definite visual expression of their ecstasy and joy; they are feeling, in form of their paintings and poetry. And in this regard, they make an extra point as two lovers cannot embody a definite visual expression; it is almost spiritual or soulful. However, one can consider romantic ‘movies’, a visual expression of romanticism of lover to some extent.

 If the question whether romanticism is state or is always involved with someone is considered, I would say that of course...It is our nature...but it is always directed to someone. This ‘Someone’ may be known or unknown. When it is directed to one’s lover, it is known. But when a poet writes poetry in the kaleidoscopic mountains, watching spectacular lake under the embellished sky... it is unknown.

So I feel that It would be better to ask someone if you are more intuitive or more logical than to ask “You are romantic or not.” If you are intuitive then you might be more romantic according to the definition.  Scientifically right brain is responsible for intuition while left part is for logic and rationality. In between, if you want to know which part of your brain is more active...Check it at TestQ.com. If your right brain is more active, you might be more romantic person.

It is imperative to notice how the most artistic people were romantic one while the most scientific and philosophical personalities were not so romantic. Analysis and thinking are stumbling stone to Romanticism. If one sees a flower, and starts analysing its chemical combination, eventually he could not feel the beauty. People with Virgo sun sign are assumed less romantic. Might be this is because they have powerful analytical ability.

After all these thoughts, now I can confidently put me into the category of mild romantic person. And if you feel ...life is more than numbers and logic; if you can place intuition and emotion before reason; if you feel that there are certain crucial areas which must be felt, are beyond any explanation...then  you are romantic too.

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The Indian Dream

Unfortunately I missed the opportunity to participate in BLOG-A-TON. However I have written this post as my regular post. Hope! you would like it... :)  

Indian Dream! Let me tell you I am not talking about the dream that we see with closed eyes, sleeping in bed under the warm blanket in the icy-cold nights, I am talking about the dream we see with open eyes, wiping the sweating over the head, running on the long road of success, hoping the best and guiding ourselves with honesty and ethics.

Even to dream, one must be able. So first I dream to make India so capable that people could dream. Would any one expect from a child without giving him proper knowledge of engineering or medical to dream for being an engineer or doctor. Obviously not... when every Indian would realize, would find what his dream is... I earnestly feel Indian dream would not be far away to realize. Now, what are the obstacles that need to be removed?

First is religion. India is so diverse in religious beliefs. It is good, if we see it as a garland of different flowers. But we just pretend it to see...In reality we see this diversity as an inequality. So much biasing and belief in its supremacy have created a chaos, a religious fanaticism in people. Unfortunately people call it faith and treat themselves as a saviour of Dharma. They have totally misinterpreted its meaning. And our so called Sant, Mahatma are adding fuel to fire. People like Pramod muttalik, organisation like Bajrang Dal and Simi have blinded the people and are not letting them to understand where the true meaning of religion lies.

Second is Inequality. There is difference between ‘Inequality’ and ‘difference’.  One cannot omit differences but still one can reduce inequality. The job of farmer and engineer are different but we have made it unequal too. We can omit inequality. It is in our hand. We have to make people realize that even a work of sweeper is as quite significant as an engineer. This would give the sense of respect towards his work. 

If one visits India, one can find the reflection of richest as well as the poorest country of the world. One can see skyscrapers and slum both in one Mumbai. There is a difference of sky and earth in the economic condition of the people of India and somehow I feel that it plays a significant role in breeding corruption and chaos in the country.

Third is casticism and regionalism. These are the things which are breaking India internally and trying to ruin its sovereignty. People like ‘Raj Thackeray’ are still exaggerating the situation to the worse.  Some unscrupulous politicians are trying to create wall between the people to meet their filthy greed.  Casticism is curse for the people but a blessing in disguise for politician. They are misusing it to whole to satisfy their dirty political ambition. How could casticism end when governments are made by the exploitation of casticism? Reservation is too exaggerating the situation. I remember, till the date when 27% of reservation was implemented in higher institution, we did not feel the difference in caste but after this, it forced to see the grimy glimpse of casticism. To the study, I feel that it is sustainable but reservation in the jobs (medical and research) seems totally preposterous and politically-driven.

We, Indian, sometimes are so attached with the glory of past that we don’t feel to glorify our country in future. In movie ‘Swadesh’, I really liked when SRK said, “India is not the best Country, but it can be the best.” So people need to look forward, keeping behind old histories and mythologies and should dream for future. Still there are people who believe India as the best country at least morally and culturally but they don’t realize, society which does not change, begins to stagnate.

 I earnestly believe that if the diversity of climate in India is properly utilized along with scientific techniques in agriculture, India would be really crowned as “AnnaDaata”. Just compare the agriculture status of India and America; just compare the quality of cows in India and America We would realize India has just quantity not quality. But as an optimist, I belief one day we would convert this quantity into quality and from that day we would supply food and milk to the whole world.  

 I don’t know it was joke or reality when one of my friend said, “Do you think Windows Xp was written in India? No... It was not the operating system but the ‘help’ files were written in India." This shows a very dark side of software growth for which we are so pompous. Just take anything from mobile to computer; you would realize how mediocre we are.  Whatever work we are doing(in India) is more of quantity not quality.

In terms of Defence technology we are one generation behind to China. We are still not able to develop indigenous products.  We are dependent on Russia and Israel. There is ratio of 30:70 in developing any technology. I dream to make it 100:0 or at least reverse the ratio in coming future. I think that Defence is such thing in which self sufficiency is very much required to secure itself in the current situation when India is surrounded by two potent enemies China and Pakistan.

There are many other areas like Art, Literature, sport and movies where we need to focus as these are the things which truly demonstrate our intellect, quality, passion, culture, tradition and reason. We are doing well but we have to do the best. We have to win Gold medals in Olympics; we have to win Oscar; we have to win Noble Prize.  

Believing is achieving. We have to believe that it would happen. And the day when everyone would start dreaming with open eyes in the light of hope and honesty, it would not be far away that India would be the most prosperous and the most peaceful country in the world.

Cheers!!

Homeless Child

This is a story of a woman who had lost everything in his life. She had no purpose to live. But one day her life again filled with love, laughter and poetry.

In the silence of her shadow

She remained hidden

Frightened by the light

She resided in the gloom of day and night

Her heart pounded, her eyes searched

For an unknown, mysterious, unspecified

She looked into sky and deep into her heart

She saw the sky as a reflection of her heart

Blank, colourless, cloudless and barren

Yenning for the drop of rain

Trying to be oblivious to her aching and pain

Enduring the words ‘mad’ and ‘insane’

She was in the pursuit of the meaning

The gist of her life

She wanted to run like a child

Running in the garden so freely, so jovially

She wanted to fly in the sky like the bird

So smoothly, so graciously, so lively

And one day clouds spread into her heart

It rained, flower boomed, fragrance prevailed

She danced; she sang; she ran; she flew

She was no longer a cripple

Sitting on a wheel chair

Her soul was dancing in the air

Ruining all the subtle layer

Of weakness, tediousness, vagueness

She got the miracle in his eyes.

Music in his words; delight in his smile,

Vigour to run miles after miles.

*In the innocence of this homeless child

She got her home, her essence of life,

And a longing to live till eternity

As she had realized the love, the beauty

Lost Love

*It is a purely fictitious story.Any resemblance to it is purely coincidental. 

“You never realize death until you realise love “

I could not understand this quote until I met her. Yes! There is death because love gives you a new life. I too got a new life, a life full of love and full of wish to live till eternity. I remember when she first entered in class and I, sitting with my back bencher friends was looking so vigorously. I would not say that it was love in first sight but still it was something I never felt in my whole life.

Time passed. My heart got strong to convince me that I was in love with her. My eyes, who were so obsessed with her image were witness. My mind which always remained occupied with her thoughts was another witness. Realizing the sensitivity of my being and strong convincing facts provided by witnesses, I got the final verdict from my heart that I was in love.

“I am in love… But does she like me? Would she love me?”

These were questions that were pinching and trying to bleed my heart. More often, to cover our weaknesses we turn into philosophy. I became a  philosopher. I was happy realizing that love is a state; it need not be mutual; at least nature has given us freedom to love anyone and this is the best gift to mankind.

I saw her when she looked away. I still don’t know why I was not able to see directly in her dark expressive eyes. May be , I was afraid of me; I was afraid of the word ‘love’; I was afraid of rejection.

Finally the day came, we were in farewell party. She looked stunning. But a subtle layer of melancholy was in her face. My heart was beating fast; I could not imagine how I would live without seeing her. I thought that I should express my love to her. But fate had some other things to do; I heard that one of my friends had already proposed her. I was dumbstruck I did not ask what she did. I left the college and tried everything to blot her out from my mind.

Five years passed. I got selected in IIT-JEE and got a good job. I had to visit my native place. I got in the train. I was reading the news-paper. Suddenly, I got shocked on my fate to see her, sitting in front of me. I wiped my eyes many times as I was not sure it was mere my imagination or a reality.She was looking more beautiful in her red Sari. I was very familiar with her dark expressive eyes and it was reality. How could I forget those eyes which were once mirror of my love?

Oh, what was that…She had a mangalsutra around her neck…I was shocked…

“How longer have you been married?”

This was the first question, I ever asked to her in my whole life.

“Oh, you remember me. I thought you would have forgotten me. “

“Two years! You know, Rahul, he is my husband.”

“Oh, it’s great. You had better invite me. I would not have missed it. “

“Really, I never knew you would have so much time to come to my wedding. You were so busy in school days that you got no time to talk to us. But anyways, I would like to invite on my son’s birthday, would you like to come? “

“It’s my pleasure. I would love it. Oh, I really did not expect that you would have son too.”

“Tell me what are you doing? When is your training going to start? “

I was dumb struck how did she know about my training. I even did not tell her about my education or job.

“Training..? It would start from December in Pune. By the way how do you know about this?”

“Everyone is not like you. We have some time for friends too. “

“Friend”… I was like in heaven when she called me friend.

“Friend…? “

“Oh, I am not in a level to be your friend.”

“Please…don’t say this…really! You see me as a friend.”

Silence…there was a pin drop silence…

…This was silence before the storm…

Storm came. It rained. Salty water trickled through the corner of her eyes… moistened her rosy face…she did not speak a word…but her eyes spoke a lot… I could see what I had lost in the tears of her eyes… we got off the train but I am still in the train of her thoughts…

Dear Friends!This is my first attempt at this genre to which I am quite unfamiliar. So thanks for bearing it. :)

Life, Memories, Dreams; My Thoughts

I always feel that autobiographies are fictional as they are always written in the light of success or achievements. More often it is success in one’s life that prompts one to connect the previous dots of life and create a better picture with bright colours. Retrospection makes things brighter and colourful. However, it is always better to connect the dots of past to interpolate your future.

One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius. It is journey of life that moulds us. So what we are today is consequences of all the histories we have made till today. It is amazing to think that our history shapes us which in result shapes our future. Once history was future and one day future would be history too. Life can be simulated as a closed complex nonlinear system that propagates towards future with a feedback from the past.

In control system, there is concept of poles and zeroes. It says that if a system does not have poles and zeroes, system will be flat, barren and dull. In life, I think happiness and sorrows are pole and zeroes which creates peaks and valleys that make scenery of life so tempting and attractive. This is something chosen by nature. We are just in delusion of choosing things. Matter and antimatter co-exist. They not only nullify but also define each other. We are choosing pizza; because nature has given us hunger. This hunger makes us to appreciate the food, we are eating. If we never get hungry and other human basic instincts what would be difference between a stone and human. So to feel that we exist; we are alive, I feel somewhere the integrated views of things are to be accepted.

Memories and dreams are one of the best gifts that nature has blessed to mankind. Remembering the past gives me a sense of gratefulness towards life as I am so fortunate to live so many years of loving life. Looking back makes things so happier, so jovial, so lively that even suffering seems just a contrasting layout to make the picture of happy moment clearer and deeper. The pain endured just before the exam; the humiliation suffered after proposing the girl; the slap by the father; the fight with street boys entertain us like self produced, self directed and self acted movie. Memories are our best friend and often in form of experience and knowledge they lead us to our goals and aims.

Dreams are interpolated curve of life congruent to our memories, present and our ambitions. We dream because this is what we want to be. In dream we can be any person; we can possess anything. Dreams are great because no motivator and speaker can motivate or inspire you as you can be motivated or inspired by your own dreams. A strong dream provides us persistence and patience to fight against all the odds of our life.

The best thing I personally feel about dream and memories are they make me able to travel in time. No wonder, if I would call them Time Machine. I know....Stephen Hawking has proved that time machine is not possible...But mind it... he is not talking about my time machine. Everyone owns this time machine but just you have to know how to drive it..... So my friend! Are you ready to drive?

Someone has said, “Life is so beautiful that even death loves it so much.” And I really mean it. Life is beautiful because there is so much diversity; there is so much uniqueness; there is so much excitement. Curiosity flavours the taste of life. Our natural instincts give aim to our life. Knowledge and love gives a meaning to our life. There is suffering, there is pain but there are so many options, so many alternatives, and so many unique possibilities that even in the most disastrous condition, one can find a genuine way to move in life. It is miracle of life that every person, everything is so unique. God does not create carbon-copies. And this is the beauty of life. We make our life ugly because we do not understand our uniqueness and always try to imitate someone. This is where conflict starts and for us, despite “Life is beautiful”, the quote “life is struggle” seems more pragmatic and more profound.

Life should flow like a river. It should not be like a pond, confined in certain limits. Life like pond begins to stink. We need to flow in our own rhythm. We often create boundaries that restrict us to see far away. These boundaries are very subtle inside our mind. People praise you; people curse you; people hate you; people care you; these are all the bricks of these boundaries. The flow of life is distorted in people’s opinions.   

Happy Durga Puja :)

Corruption Tree

One day, the great king of great territory announced,” from now onwards, drinking wine is strictly outlawed and if anyone was found drunk, would be directly hanged till death.” The sudden decision of king spread in every nook and corner of city like fire in the forest. People became restless as it was not easy to leave their lifelong addiction in one moment. A group of dignitaries were formed to present their case before the king.

The chief of the group said with a ton of humbleness,” O, Great king! You are mightier in the mightiest. Please let us give some time to leave this addiction. Otherwise half the people of city would be hanged.”

Meanwhile a villager who was standing near the group whispered to his neighbour, “How fool our chief is! Does he not know that king's decision would be valid for a single day? “

To the embarrassment, his neighbour replied in mocking tone,” if you were so intelligent, you would be chief. It is such a serious issue and you, fool, are beating about the bush.”

The villager replied with annoyance, “Don’t you see, king himself is drunk. Do you think that king would like to be hanged too? Once king would come into sense, no longer this decision would be valid.”

King tried to answer the ‘chief’ but to the surprise of courtiers and people, he trembled and fell to the ground and his crown rolled and rolled and hit the feet of the villager.

Analysis:

 What I want to illustrate through this story is the distorted image of corruption of which we are somewhat addicted to. Corruption is more like a banyan tree that grows from the roots but once it is rooted deep it become so hard to drag it up. So the best way to kill the tree is to cut it branches, its twigs, its trunk and slowly- slowly it would get weaker and could be killed.

Corruption in society starts from basic level; like from a village, spreads to higher level. But to eliminate it, it would be better to eliminate it from bigger level to basic level.

How can we expect a thief to leave his act when the police take bribes?

How can we expect from babus to be honest when bureaucrats and leaders at higher level stock illegal money in their Swiss account.

How can we expect a student to be prudent and honest when his teacher himself is not prudent and honest?

It’s the system that is forcing the commoner to become corrupt.

No Corruption-preventive law can be fully utilized unless we start blotting corruption out from the top.

CBI is not meant only for investing and solving petty cases. It is shame for CBI for not to be able to solve bigger cases.  Do you want to read about this more? Click here

*I am not here blaming people at the higher level for more corruption than people, at lower level. I just want to suggest a solution for its prohibition. Individual transformation is required for tackling corruption but I always feel the need of catalyst in form of inspiration and motivation that can be better transferred from people at higher level.

*I have tried my best to write the story congruent to the message I want to deliver. But if anyhow I have not succeeded. Please read it as two separate posts...

Beauty ??

Have you ever felt what sets wings to your emotion as you suddenly exclaim,” What a beautiful thing this is!” For us anything can be beautiful, irrespective of person, place or emotion. Even a tragic movie ends, leaving tears into our eyes and our heart wells out saying it beautiful.

So, really, to define beauty is as difficult as to define ‘point’ in mathematics. However, I would say everything, beautiful which is the object of happiness. But remember, not the source of happiness. The difference of object and source must be understood to appreciate this definition. Let me explain it through example:

When we meet our loved one after a long-time, our eyes become full of tears. We cry...But we feel happiness...I would call it beauty....
But how am I able to witness this beauty? It is because I have already bore the pain of being away from her.
The source of happiness is the pain. But Pain itself is not the happiness.

May be for one person, the clamouring of birds is just noise and for other it is the music of existence. For a same person, a flower seems an ordinary thing at one moment. And at the next moment, it starts appearing a beautiful gift of existence.

Does it mean that beauty is only in eyes of seer?  Does it mean it is psychological? Does it mean that we have to squeeze the beauty by being in complete awareness? Well, I feel it is.

What makes TajMahal beautiful? What makes a golden sculpture more beautiful than iron sculpture?

When we see an object, we perceive an image in the reflection of many things. Like if we are seeing a historical building, its history and mystery is as important as its infrastructure in judging beauty.

Even gold and diamond are regarded as beautiful, not only because they are but also due to rarity and usefulness. For a child, I think marble and gold would not make a difference in terms of beauty. 

What makes a woman/man beautiful for man/woman?

It is his/her desire, in the shadow of which they define beauty. Well, sex is an important aspect but it is not the only one; care, compassion, security and many other things plays a vital role in judging the person beautiful.

He likes SRK( actor) but his liking is just projection of his subtle desire to be like him. He likes Aishwarya because consciously and unconsciously he wants to posses her.

One calls Mother Teresa beautiful, not because her appearance but due to her philanthropic works.

One likes Ferrari not because it looks but it would fill his subtle desire. Now this desire is also product of many things (human instincts).

Why do we consider white people more beautiful?

I think it is just conditioning of mind. Black people had been subjected to slavery, humiliation and disgrace for many centuries. Consequently, people’s minds have been conditioned to accept this bitter and atrocious fact even today. It is imperative to ponder as there are some communities where measurement of beauty is just reverse of general thinking. Even Krishna, who is considered as the most beautiful person on earth had dark complexion which itself shows dark was beautiful in the past. Society fills our mind with prejudices and dogmas, in the reflection of which we judge beauty.

What I conclude is when we see an object we judge it according to its attributes in every dimension like history, mystery, pain endured, rarity and usefulness. Beauty is a function of those attributes which are just projection of our desire.

World would be always discriminated in two parts- beautiful and ugly if we did have desire and conditioned mind.

Absolute beauty...?

As I have not experienced what absolute beauty is. So at most I can give a hypothetical explanation of absolute beauty. When one sees an object without any judgement of good or bad; without any history or mystery; without any desire, I think the emotion he feels at that very moment would be absolute beauty. And beauty of this assumption lies in the fact that in this way everything would be beautiful. An eternal beauty would be in one’s eyes. This might be the beauty which is explained in our scriptures and is felt by very rare personalities like Buddha (after enlightment).