Thursday 28 July 2011

Just love ......

Off late I dont know why, I am ending up hearing about things related to Divorce, Ending a marriage, Married Unhappily every after and things of the kind. Some thoughts are crossing my mind and here it is for all the readers of this space to contemplate.

  • We cant divorce, that is basically terminate any relationships other than a husband/wife one. Yes, we can do it with friends. But relationships I meant, like father, mother, brother, sister etc.
  • When we can adjust with so many people in this world, why is it so hard to adjust with a spouse?
  • When we were able to love the same person some time back, how hard is it to try to love them again?
Its disturbing to see some people fall out of love. Life is beautiful, try to love each other and dont talk about ending relations with somebody you longed to live with. I am nobody to tell this, but please try to love your spouse.

You are married because there were days when you felt you could not do without each other. You are married because you wanted to. You are married because you were in love so much. Remember those times when you wanted to be with each other. Try to revive those special moments for which you are together. Focus on the things that you are married for, instead of focussing on why you cant see each other any more.

Just love ...

Wednesday 13 July 2011

A tale of him and her

They built their nest of love with care and affection. It was that time of the year, when they wanted to have babies. He asked her to rest and wait till he builds the nest for her. But she didn’t like being idle. He collected small twigs from the trees while she also collected sticks from the broom sticks kept in front of the house and a few pieces of thread. He came to the branch that they had selected to make their home. Choosing the place for the nest had not been so easy. They had to ensure that the place was not exposed to strong winds or a downpour or harsh sunlight. They searched a lot, before they finally decided to rest on the branch of a peepal tree. It was quite high from the ground, so there would no risk from the children and safe beneath a small bunch of leaves. The nest would almost be hidden from bare eyes. They thought this place would be safe.
As they got the initial materials required to build their home, she started putting them together. She twined one twig into another, making a pattern. She intertwined them well, so that there would be no weak links anywhere. She rolled the pieces of thread around the twigs she felt, might give away. After the base of the nest was built, he got a few dried leaves. She laid them on the base, making soft flooring for the nest. He kept bringing in more twigs, longer ones this time and she kept weaving it round and round. After a while and after lots of hard work from the couple, a beautiful nest was ready. He still felt something was amiss. He searched around, if something else he found could help. He found some cotton discarded. He carried it to her. She spread it around the nest to make their home really cozy for the new ones to arrive. She slowly settled in it and he sat at the edge of the nest. She rested on his feathers, while he let a sigh of relief.
Soon, it was time for her to lay her eggs. He was beside her all the time. He knew it was a tough time for her and she would need him. He got her the leaf she had to eat for an easy delivery. It pained a lot. She did not want to cry. She quietly bore the pain and after much patience and perseverance, she delivered two healthy eggs.  He was proud of her and knew she had the strength to pull through. This was a tough phase, but the remaining days would be tougher. They had to safe guard the eggs from the predators. She sat in the position to give maximum warmth to her eggs. She sat there endlessly. It was like she was meditating or in some form of tapas. She sat there day and night. He would get her food. She would eat it from the same position. She did not disturb the position a wee bit, fearing she would hurt the growth of her babies. She could not wait to see them. In the evenings, they discussed how their babies would look. He wanted them to look like her. He said she was beautiful and he wanted his kids to be like the love of his life.
Soon, she felt it was time for her to move away from her eggs. After a few days, they saw their eggs hatch. Two cute looking kids had emerged. They thanked God endlessly. They were really proud to be parents. They had looked forward all their lives to be one. He went out in search of food and got varieties of healthy fruits and vegetables for them. He would feed them lovingly. He got some juicy fruits and bit into them and gave them only the pulp. He was extra protective about his wife and his babies.  They were a happy family.
One morning, the babies were happily chirping till their father left. Then they were desperate to fly with their father and started crying out loud. The mother consoled them to no avail. The father was just around the big peepal tree, when an eagle flew down making a screeching noise. There was a lot of cacophony. The eagle was trying to attack their nest. It was trying to pick the young baby and fly away. She pulled both the babies under her wings and cried out loud. Hearing the noise around the nest, he turned back to see what happened. He was thrown out of gear to see the eagle attacking the nest. He flew with all his might to knock the eagle with his beak. While the eagle was attacking his love, he flew hard and knocked the eagle with his beak. The eagle hardly moved. The eagle started attacking him fiercely. He did not give up. He knocked the eagle again with all his might. The eagle suffered a little by the mighty blow. But being the big bird that it was, it attacked again. When she saw him suffer, she also attacked the eagle with all her might. They both pounded on the eagle and hit it repeatedly to save their babies. The babies were watching the event with a shock and crying out loud. The otherwise quiet place was filled with a lot of commotion from the birds. After having struggled hard they managed to chase the eagle away. Their babies were safe, but for how long they did not know. The fight today had got in a lot of confidence in them. They knew they could protect their babies under all circumstances. Or at least they will try to fight against all odds, beating on their lives. With a sigh a relief, she pulled her babies, under her wing and he pulled her into his.
This write-up was an inspiration from a post here. A visual impression was created in my mind after reading the post and I tried to narrate it. But the post has a tragic ending. I didn’t want my hero and heroine to lose the fight, so I gave a twist to the ending. Hope all readers enjoy it. :)

Only if I were......

When I miss my love a lot,
I wonder why he is so far away,
I wish I could sneak up to him,
and kiss him on his cheek.

When my baby is playing,
She knows not what her obstacles are,
She trips and slips several times,
I wish I could hold her before she falls.

When somebody is rude with people,
I wish I could beat them up.
Teach them a lesson to behave,
And to never dare ill-treat others.

When I hear of mysteries,
I wish I could see them for real.
Explore things that were never found,
Unravel the truth for generations ahead.

I think about all this several times,
if only all this was possible.
It could all come true,
If only I had the power to be invisible.

Friday 8 July 2011

Lord feels he is robbed!


OOPS!!! What I feared for generations has finally come true. They have uncovered the last few remains of Gold I had kept hidden. Now, it’s out for the media and public to see and for the politicians to misuse. I lived peacefully for about a century and a half. I was saving this fortune for my bad times. Oh, come on. Don’t ask me, what bad times I could possibly have. See, from last Saturday, they have not let me sleep a wink. People are constantly pounding at the underground chambers and there are so many people coming to the temple. Strangely even atheists are coming to see me. I should say they are coming to see my fortune. I don’t trust you humans any more. I have not seen any two-timers like humans. I hate myself for creating you people. It’s like a vicious circle in which I am trapped, after creating you humans.
Long long ago, I should say those were the best days of my life. There were some good kings, who really cared for me. They made temples for me. They adorned me with gold and beautiful gems, draped me in soft silk. They had my temple decorated. They ensured I was always attended to and pampered me a lot. My abode smelled so sweet. It was so peaceful. Every evening, there would be bhajans sung in my praise. I was so pleased that I saw to it that all are happy.
Off late, I have become someone whom people come to only to drop their petitions. They don’t care about my needs. People are more bothered about themselves. For example see my temple in Tirupathi. It has become a commercial business center. You humans tell you sacrifice your hair for me. What will I do with it tell me?? It’s just because I created you such that your hair will grow back you are ready to let go off it. If otherwise, would you still give away your hair?? Just don’t fake it anymore. I am not as innocent I used to be. I have learnt to handle you humans. How about my gold ornaments and belongings there? All you so called pious priests have replaced them with counterfeit ones long ago. No wonder you priests have such big bellies. All the sins lay hidden there. Wait till you meet me. I will ensure I give you a special treatment. After all you are all so special to me.
Thiruvanathapuram in my times or Trivandrum in recent times was my last ray of hope. See I had safeguarded so many chains, coins, all kinds of stuff hidden. I also had an artisan who did an 18 feet sculpture of me, with so much love. Now all is gone. I myself don’t know who is going to eat up all this money. Which Swiss or US bank this money will get deposited into?? Somebody will become rich in my name. Generations to come will be happy. But I am not happy. I am robbed. They have opened all the 5 vaults, only one vault remains. There is a snake embossing on it. The Supreme Court has stalled opening of the sixth vault. Wait till you open it. You have only seen gold so far. This is the Pandora’s vault (box). Wait till you humans unleash misfortune on yourself. Now every human is looking at the opportunity of usurping my fortune. Wait till you open the sixth vault. Then I will have my final laugh.
Disclaimer: This is just a fictional piece of what God feels about this Padmanabhaswamy Temple Episode. I did not intend to hurt anybody’s sentiments. Its just an attempt to make people smile.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Eternal Cup of Bliss


Raindrops were hitting hard on the window panes of Aarti's house atop the quiet hills of Chikmagalur. Aarti sat at her favorite bay window watching the beautiful rain drops trickling down the window pane. She loved to read her favourite books when it rained, cuddled in her rocking chair. Chikmagalur was a hill station and it was almost cold most of the times. Today she held her books, her best friends, but her mind was not letting her imbibe anything from the books. Not a single letter entered her mind through her eyes. Her thoughts were racing fast and she knew not where it was heading.
Aarti’s husband Dr. Vikram Hegde was a doctor by profession. He had been posted in Chikmagalur as a Government doctor. He had gained so much popularity among the people here that he never left this place. He also had fallen in love with this place. The hills, the serenity and peace around were always an interesting topic of conversation with Aarti.
Another love of his was coffee. He would often tell Aarti that his life would have been an utter waste had he never tasted this enchanted drink. He loved to pour the decoction into his favourite white ceramic glass with a floral print on it. He would add an extra spoon of sugar and sip it away making a *sluuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrp* sound. He seemed to enter a transcended state, whenever he sipped from that cup. It looked like he was sipping from an eternal cup of bliss. That would irritate Aarti. Aarti hated coffee. She was more of a tea person. She disliked the bitter after taste left by coffee. She wondered how Vikram enjoyed this drink. Whenever she had fought with Vikram over something, she would think of breaking his favourite cup. She thought that was the best way she could get some real revenge. Now, these thoughts bought a smile on to her lips.
Aarti loved books. Vikram just did not understand how she could read those novels? He would sleep off while he read the very first paragraph of any book. Aarti often ridiculed Vikram that he was a fake doctor. She would ask him, how he ever managed to read those big books of medicine and how on earth he cleared those examinations. Vikram would smile and say those are different. Aarti said he had faked it big time and somehow acquired those certificates and the poor villagers were fools to believe him. Aarti said she would never risk taking a medicine from Vikram, even for a mild fever. They had a hearty laugh on this several times.
While she recollected all these incidents, she remembered the day when Vikram was requesting her for a cup of coffee. Vikram was 49 and he had been diabetic for some time. He asked Aarti for a cup of coffee at 10 in the morning and Aarti refused since he had already had two cups from the morning with two extra spoons of sugar. Vikram had pleaded with her. She just said a blunt no and walked out of the house for getting some necessities for the house. After a while, Vikram left for work as usual. When Aarti returned, she found the house locked. As she was searching for the spare keys in her big bag, she heard the phone ring. Her fingers searched frantically for the keys. She found it and her clumsy fingers dropped the keys. Then she quickly picked it up and opened the door. All the while the phone bell rang like an unattended child. She finally left her shopping bags down and she reached out for the phone. She said hello into the receiver and she heard somebody tell something about Vikram’s accident. She could not recollect anything after that. She had fainted and fallen on the ground. She had recovered in sometime and all her relatives were slowly trickling into her house. Vikram had had a severe heart attack on the way to his hospital and had met with an accident following that. He had passed away. Aarti’s world seemed to have met its doomsday. She shook as she recalled the conversation she had last had on the phone. She was too shocked to even cry. Her son was still young and studying and Vikram had left them alone; alone in this big bad world. She had lost her love, her reason to live. Today was the day he had left her forever, a few years back.
She had come a long way from there. She tried to recollect all the details that occurred in her life after that incident. She was so lost in the chain of thoughts that emerged from her past. Suddenly a shrill note shook her - “Ajjjiiiiiiiiiii”. Aarti awoke as if from a deep sleep. She turned to see her grandson, son and daughter in law standing there. They were smiling at her. Aarti was so happy to see them all. They had come here from the US to spend some time with her.
While she was still reeling from the pleasant surprise, her son Arun, asked her, “How are you drinking that stupid thing? The smell of it makes me feel sick and it leaves a bitter after taste.”
Aarti took a look at the white ceramic cup with a floral print she was holding in her hand. She was sipping her dear love’s intoxicating drink.
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Ajji is a Kannada word for Grandmother.
This story was written for Of Chalks and Chopsticks event hosted by Aqua, which I saw on Bong Mom's Cookbook. I plan to send her this story. :) The picture posted above was the picture cue.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

Being simple. Is it really simple?

What is it to be simple?
To limit our needs and our desires?
By wanting not and asking not?
Why is it not simple to be simple?

What is simple in God's creation?
A bud opening up its petals on its own?
A bird soaring in the sky?
Why does simplicity bring happiness?

Feelings are so complex, the envy,
the hatred, the lust, the love,
the greed, name any or name it all,
Nothing around is simple, how can we be?

And how about God?
He is a mystery, an enigma,
So fascinating; when we learn about him,
he seems far away from being simple.

Being simple is a quest.
I am nowhere near solving it yet.
It seems so far, yet so near?
Why is it not simple to be simple?

Monday 4 July 2011

Choose to Choose

Good or bad, Happy or Sad
Healthy or Ill, Ups or Downs,
Life is a choice,
You live, what you choose to live.

When you choose something,
be so sure, that nothing ever shakes you.
Let the world turn upside down,
stick by what you choose.

It might pour on your way,
The sun might break your back,
Stay put and hold on, for there was a time
A reason why you choose this path.

A few would say why this way?
A few would scare you, advise you.
A few would stick by you,
Remember to pay them back someday.

A choice might do you good or bad,
It might bring you luck or disaster,
But you have no choice,
for all you can do is just choose.

A choice is never right or wrong,
The consequnces of the choices are.
Life is a consequence of the choices,
We have to choose, learn and move on.

Fear not a choice,
Dont hesitate to make it.
A choice is Gods way of telling you,
there is more he knows than you.