Folks..its curtains for me! - For the time being.

packed suitcasesEmptied cupboardsTeasing sentencesInvites waiting to be postedCalls to be madeAccessories in orderRelatives hereRelatives thereChoked back a tearShucks people… last few days of being a free bird…Minds in a churnFlowing with the tideTime passes byNo ideas, No thoughtsNot a clue anymoreJust a handful of dreams And a prayer or two I am getting married on 16th December. I am going for...

“The cultured give happiness wherever they go. The uncultured whenever they go!”- Swami ChinmayanandaAs much as I would want people to like me, appreciate me and say nice things about me, I kind of envy people who are so casual about things and hardly care about what people think or say about them. Often we do things to impress others or because we feel that we deserve credit or recognition. And there...

After relationships, love and romance...the Gujjus are my fav. topic to discuss/speak and..blog about.They are strange.They are passionate.They are so goddamned crazy that I can never love them for their idiosyncrasies.Lets take an example of their ability to name their children. What I mean is that with the mind-boggling ability with which they crack problems...you sure wud xpect them to have some...

Company of yourself.

"Niks, are u busy? If not, can you please talk to me for a while?".She longed to talk. She desired to be ONLY heard. I heared her. I heard her compilation of thoughts and impressions of experiences that contibuted its aura in her storybook of life. Life isn't easy. Never has been for anyone. We all go through it. It's funny that with so many people packed-in tight in this big city - you can never...

There is something called as 'bursting the bubble' and here is me basking merrily, at all times examining each moment with the pessimistic attitude that I have developed over the years. Gazing out into the world, having attained everything and stll feeling indifferent. There are times when we convince ourselves about certain things that would never be a part our world. And, so we build ourselves...

"Niks, I'll miss you", he said with tears in his eyes. "I'll miss you, too"O! dear friend, if I had to sit and count the times you lightened up my life, I wudn't have enuf moments in a day to hold it. There wudn't be enuf songs to sing, for all those times when you understood me more than I cud. All will soon be gone by the waves of change and time - leaving nuthing but empty shores behind.I clutch...

Love, if defined, is confined. It dies.

When two people are in love, usually one always loves the other person a little more, one always waits a little more, one is attached a little more and tends to feel the joy of bondage and the pains of sorrow a little more. I still try to interpret love, try to understand what it means, as a layman in its truest most purest form. Love can take so many forms, viz, love, affection, concern, fondness,...

The conversation never took shape, I lapsed into an unxpected silence, yet again. I knew for sure what she wud ask me, "Tell me, what you're thinking"? I wish I had an answer to that, how I wish I cud tell her the thoughts that occupy my mind. I do try; to reflect back, a deeper silence follows the one before, and blends in to the vaccum, the amorphous form of random thoughts.Why can I not tell her...

Home is where the heart is.

Whatever the occassion, whatever is the reason, no matter who you are with, whatever the time and place - eventually you wud hear someone, or even say yourself, "I am going home". There is something comforting and reassuring in those words that bring out loads of kindness, affection, warmth, love and closeness that can mean different things to different people.For a child who is tired after an exhausting...

Happy Diwali

This Diwali here's wishing youAll shades of happiness,And all rays of hopeFor you and your fami...

It's between "Me" and "I".

When Love is right, you see it in each other's eyes,When Love is right, you hold onto it all thru the years,With all your heart and soul, And nuthing could feel, more right,Than the love you share.When you look at meI touch the skiesI know that I am alive....Have u ever outlined someone's forehead.. eyes... cheeks... nose... lips and the tip of ones chin with your fingertips; gently..electrifying...

Men and Wimmen : that's what matters.

She : "Men just don't understand us".He : "That's just not true".She: "Wish I cud make all the men disappear from this planet"We'll never get anything settled with that. Gosh! Why don't we endeavor to understand than to be understood? After all we've been taught to be a person for others and least for ourselves. I look at things this way - if men (or women) weren't the unusual characters that we...

Realized today....

.....a house, alone, can never ever make a home!" .....and that your lover is not the one who would come in shining armour and sweep you off the floor but the one who would help you sweep the floor, once in a whi...

Another year.....

.....of life is passing by. For good. Life is full of lessons. So many of them. Each one of us learns only after the game is over. I am scared of lessons, as much as I did when in school. My parents kept telling me, "If you learn now, you will benefit later". I take on the role of a parent and offer the same advice to myself each time. The child in me will never head and all I have to do is plead.There...

Love Marriages vs. Arranged Marriages.

This was one of the topics that was on my mind since a long time, but I never ended up discussing it here.It's really funny the way our opinions keep changing. Being an absoulutely conventional-minded person right from my cradle, I always was in favour of arranged marriages. I don't recall what exactly...

In Rememberance

I offer a prayer for the dead - for all the grieving families left behind - for the people who lent their hearts and helping hands in times of great disaster and need such as this.May God pour down his magnificent love on everyone--to ease the pain, comfort the sorrowing, and bless the kindheart...

The road of life....

.... is never easy. It's filled with a lot of adventure.Each of us have gone through odd and difficult times in our separate lives.Each one of us is given a choice of various roads on our way - each unique and equally adventurous.Choices may vary, but the destinantion is always the same.You can decide...

Holy Sins.

Have you ever realized that living through new shades and seasons of life, you somewhere along the path part away with something that can never be re-gained..your INNOCENCE. Isn't it strange that while running the rat race, we never pause to think of what we are leaving behind forever.My values have...

Ganesh Chaturti Wishes.

Prayers that Lord Ganesha brings Peace, Happiness and Prosperity to your world.Ganesh Chaturthi Wishes for a...

Rambling away....

From the kinda material that appears on this space, one would think there's not much running in my mind ---that is only if one considers a blog as a reflection of one's mind, if not one's life in general. But tha actual fact that is, there's a lot that goes in my mind and at any given point, hundreds of ideas are wrestling with each other for space, but the moment I try and pen them down...they are...

Of special children and even more special parents.

The general sequence that follows in our society is Courtship… Marriage… Family, juggled appropriately with careers and ambitions. But planning a baby is a BIG decision. Arrival of a baby, dynamics within the family in general and particularly the couple undergo a complete metamorphosis. Unkowing feelings awaken in the new parents. Changes, mostly subtle inevitably creep into the husband-wife relationship....

By-laws of saying 'I do'.

There are advantages of having married friends - they put up road signs to acquaint you with the territory. I received a good stack of information that served as a well of learning, since I am travelling the same road, once travelled by them.She started out by telling me that people marry for a variety of reasons. Some out of convenience or circumstance but most do for the universal thing called ‘love’--...

(Un)Lucky - No time for Sex!

Identity of my dearest, workoholic, climbing up the corporate ladder friend, married to an eqally ambitious batchmate-turned-husband has been camouflaged.'Are you cent percent sure?''Yup. I am sure. We share the same year/month of birth; we both are 28, we both would trun 29 this year. And approaching 30 very sooon.'Damn. I am scared. My biological clock is ticking away and I haven't yet reached a...

Happy Friendship Day to All.

When I was young, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend. On growing up I realized that if you allow your heart to open up; you get to see the best in many friends.One friend's best is needed when you are going thru rough things with your man.Another's best is needed when you going through...

To all Brothers.

According to Webster's Dictionary, the word 'sibling' means two or more people have common parents. It was sucha fateful day when this word came into existence - the day when secrets, privacy, peace and the fundamental right to the remote control vanished foreva.Siblings hold a very strange place in our lives. They are people we declare we would be better off without and at the same time we cannot...

This is what I call Lack of work syndrome!

It gets lonely staying at home. Especially for a person whose always enjoyed the social aspect of working with other people. You'd neva find me complaining about a co-worker who passed by my desk to chat - those breaks were always welcomed. On numerous occassions I roamed the office looking for an open ear. I love to goof off. I love to procrastinate. I love to talk (who doesn't?!). I had hundreds...

Gearing up..slowly and surely!

When ma buddies ask me how the wedding preparations are coming along, all I say is "Everything is over. Slowly but surely". There's so much to do, but I can't do so many things at one time. So I take it bit by bit, one thing at a time.I look at online classified ad’s for apartment listings, look into various sites for deals for a vacation, talk to travel agents for my tickets, before running out...

How do you write when there are currents flowing inside you that completely overpower your senses? Places, people, horns..it's the feeling of being empty, yet completely bombared with life, with all it's sounds and smells? It's like walking back home without thinking of single thing about my own life. Thoughts juggling in my head for a while and then just leaving me, letting me just be. Dejected and...

Are you starting afresh?

It's not so easy to start afresh. It's better to finish than start anew. The time machine ticks by inevitably and offers no pause. We can ignore time, but what about the changes that comes along with it? That's impossible to avoid. There's something ferocious about the way each second ticks, for the...

I often find myself wondering if one is ever well and truly free. I have neva been. And never will be. Tht's because deep down inside me I've always been skeptical of the existence of freedom. I think there is no such thing as being completely free. Not even after you are dead and gone, if you go by...

Mumbai Blasts.

God… this has become a regular feature. More bombs went off in Mumbai. I don’t even know what to say. Life is so full of incongruity. Was on my way home thinking about all the various ironical situations that happen everyday… when the news of the bomb blast came across. Couldn’t continue thinking in...

Of Feminism sows and Chauvinist Pigs.

I've been accused of being a hard core feminist. I've been convicted enuf number of times to be taken away to that vaginal prison of my complex race.Dn't go wrong. I, like others do blush beetroot red over some gallant soul who opens the door or pulls out a chair for me, and I have discovered, much...

From Nappies to SkirtsFrom braids to ponytailsFrom High School to CollegeThis journey might seem short but there is a bare truth that has gone inside it.Parents welcome their little princesses in this world assuring them of a pampered childhood and a pleasant life ahead.Am currently reading the autobiography...

Rain Drops

Watching the rain drops drip slowly off the leaves makes a wonderful times pass. It makes you stick your neck out to let it fall on your nose and gently run down to the lips and then welcoming them into your mouth with the tip of your tongue. They fall one at a time or in constant stream when it rains...

Investing in stars.

There are various parameters one keeps into consideration while trading in the Stock Market. Experts advise that the best investment candidates are stocks that have already outperformed the market. How good is the company? Do the stocks have have room to run? Can you make money on it? How much would be your return on equity (ROE)? What business is the company into? What is the potential for future...

Love in the new era.

"You really can't prove that you love me more than I do!". But that was a nice try, tho'!, she said."What would you gimme if I do prove it?", asked he."Depends on how successful you are at proving it." came a reply."Nopes!You can't expect me investing my time in something that does not give me results on the outset. It isn't fair!", he shot back.This is one of the several mundane conversations that...

A tribute to Fathers.

We give a lot of credit to mothers around the world for the way she brings up her child(ren), for the way she functions as the heart and soul of the family - as the hand that rocks the cradle. We forget the Leader, the man of the house, and the Ace of all cards - the FATHER. Yup, God has made Father's...

The people we choose.

No matter how independent, strong-willed and audacious we are, or believe ourselves to be, the people we choose to include in our lives can make or break us.Another lesson learnt tod...

How far is too far?

"Why does everyone in the "society" makes a big deal about having sex before marriage"?, Amit says. "Do you feel that pre-marital sex is a question of morality, self-restraint or of sin"?, He continues. "No. There has to be a more objective approach. Sex just for fun and without responsibility is something I don't encourage.", I told him.He says he's had a physical relationship with his girlfriend...

Born under a lucky star.

I, like all others, too have a begining.The entire world celebrated the day I was born. That day, till today is cherished as that of love, happiness and dreams. Ok, now please stop giving me that "Niks,-don't-blow-your-trumpet" look. Mum says it was a calm and quite evening compared to the calamity they thought was in store. The earth did not shake, volcanoes did no erupt and neither did the tsunami...

See your troubles as blessings.

Our troubles are actually blessings in disguise. Each of you would agree with me that we learn the most from the difficult experiences. Have you ever wondered, why we, as humans spend so much of our lives focusig on the negative aspects of our problems rather than seeing them for what they are - Our greatest teachers.Would we have the courage, wisdom and knowledge we possess had we not experienced...

Budday Wishes.

Today is my friend 'P's Appy Budday.Here's wishing you a fabulous dayand a nice year ahead. Happy Birthday gurl!!!Wishing you a Budday,That sparkles all day through,To brighten every moment,Exactly like you ...

A to Z of HIM!

I have read blog posts on people writing things about themselves from A-Z. It's marvellous to know people introspect so much to write 26 things about themselves. I decided to write A-Z about HIM. Ther one person who is closest to my heart and whose presence means the world to me.Aesthetic are his ways...

Nice weekend eh?

Had a fantastic weekend.Thoda friends ke saath tp, Thoda Amit H. ke saath fighting, thoda saaf safai, ek aur dost ka wedding, ek motivational story, ek exhilarating conversation with 'H', ek aur shyam 'S' ke saath, ek sleepless night.Aur lots of sleeping in the office on Monday.What to do, I am like...

The need to BARE.

Was going through the morning newspaper - the Bombay Times and was quite disgusted. Why?Because it's not the most alluring sight to see men and women in a few strips of cloth, baring everything that is, for the world to see while sipping your mornin' brew. It's not only in the newspapers. It's everywhere....

Child Safety: Is this the only way?

I grew up, like everyone else, on a healthy diet of comics - Winnie the Pooh, Dennis the Menace, Noddy, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Asterix and Charlie Brown. No one at that time and age, ever bother bothered about issues like racisim, child abuse and sexual harassment. We read them and enjoyed them. After I grew up, the same comics were read only when I was ill and in bed and Charlie Brown to a little...

Mother - A Phenomena

There's no emotion quite like that of holding your baby for the first time. Of seeing, hearing and feeling what you carried within you for nine months - a little being, small, vulnerable, wordless. That's when it occurs to her that life has changed irrevocably. That she is now responsible for life...

Pop-the-pill

Good Morning Sir! I am here to speak of a wonderful product that my company has made. Can you please spare some time for it? I ascertain that after hearing about the advantages of the product you would not be dissappointed. And it is has been rated as the best selling product of late. I am sure you...

What's in your bag?

Since Junior college I have always carried oversized bags. To college, to work, to outings… everywhere. My mum wondered what I stuff in it, so I set about ‘cleaning’ it. The BLP (bottomless pit) revealed:1. A telephone diary, a scribbles diary2. A pouch containing strips of basic medicine, band-aids,...