Lansdowne- Serenity and Calm

Silence broken only by the sound of the wind and the symphony of the birds...Tall Deodar trees all around, letting sun reach you only in bits n pieces...Sound of the temple bells echoing throughout the spread of this quiet, sparsely populated town...all together make this place a must visit for everyone who wants to run away from the cacophony of cities,the clutter of people and the monotony of Modern hectic life.

Plus: No network connectivity at most of the places.A pure bliss!

Meditative Stillness and joyous silence-These happen to be my souvenir from the place!

Best time to go: March-Sep
Location: Uttranchal,India

Chamku-The Sunshine Boy!

Mustard flowers, shimmering yellow, spread over acres of farmland in a remote corner of a state in the chilly, winter struck,sun basking northern India...A quiet road transversing the fields shines on a bright sunny day and the generous breeze makes its presence felt...gently blowing across the face of a cyclist..coming from afar...lost in oblivion...

He is popularly known as "Chamku"(which means Shining in English) in his village.Why was he given such a name even though the colour of his skin does not suggest anything like that...may be the profuse sweating that he is prone to, gives his face an unusual shine..therefore the name!

Chamku always keeps on smiling..his smile is infectious! It catches on to you and suddenly you feel you are part of some girlie party that goes on crazily giggling away to glory for no reason at all....He smiles when it rains, smiles when it is scorching hot, smiles..when it is bone chilling cold ..keeps on smiling always...

Foreigners frequent his scenic village quite a bit.They come here looking for eternal peace and calm and many of them have actually confessed that Chamku makes them believe that this village can actually give them what they have come looking for..peace..for isn't Chamku just that-embodiment of peace and calm..

Chamku doesn't understand english at all..however, he loves conversing with these foreign tourists...speaks his own language and still communicates! Wow!Looking at them, you realise that you don't really need a language to understand each other...just a genuine interest in understanding others and being understood can work wonders!ha..they don't teach that at B schools...

Why is Chamku so happy?one wonders, what keeps him so content and genuinely calm? is it his scenic village, that does the magic or the people association that he gets or may be even better, the villagers....what is it?

Nobody has ever been able to answer that..

Yes, but Chamku does one thing absolutely right....he takes a lot of effort to shine the shoes of every passerby,villager, foreigner that comes upto his small box shop...a one box shop rather...works very hard..just to give that perfect shine....to the shoes....just to make them CHAMKU!

One wonders what would have Chamku achieved had he been putting all that effort into his education?

Shauk hai..masterpiece by AR Rahman-Guru

Raat ka shauk hai...
Raat ki saundhi si..Khamoshi ka
shauk hai..shauk hai......
Subah ki roshni, bezubaan subah ke aur gunganati, roshni ka
shauk hai

Facebooking!

Another one of my random tete-a tete with my mind!

Facebook...I have realised every time I go to Facebook, I am either bored and therefore want to fill my life with Masala from other people's lives or I need food for thought, which is somehow provoked by FB in me and may be in a thousand others!

I can't help relating the famous dialogue from three ideots-the famous Bollywood movie to facebooking which says , " aap fail ho jao aur apka friend fail ho jaye toh dukh hta hai, lekin agar aap fail ho jao aur aapka friend first aaye toh bahut zyaada dukh hta hai".

Therefore , If you have all the fun in life- (travel, go wild, buy a new car, new house, get married, have children, or join a new company at a fancy designation or a new B school( a top one on that) or relocate to London or somewhere in US), you have every right to announce the same to the world via pictures or of course the status message feed which says something like, ( Yippee...First day in blah..blahh) or (New life, new beginnings) etc etc etc...

However, the same done by any one of your FB friend ( FB friends= friends who rarely talk to each other personally, who get to know about each other's life only through a status update and friends whose conversations do not go beyond..how nice they look or how nice their trip must have been! i nut shell, friends who know nothing about your life other than what you choose to showcase to them ;P) might send you off in a frantic frenzy- not in admiration of the other's life but in lack of it !

And then starts the Food for thought syndrome..which is all about the famous questions-When, how, why, me, myself, etc etc. The good part is this provokes you( inspire is a better word here) to look forward to better things in life..the bad part is..you do nothing about the future and just sit and lament on the current state of affairs in your life!

and even worse...like me...you become a victim and decide to jot it down somewhere so that it goes out of your system, you get to see a better side to it, laugh a lot while writing this and then get on with work-which BTW is the only way to make things happen in your life.:D

So, till the time , that I happen to post a few pictures of my new muse in life..here's to FBing happily ever after!

Love thy work!

That is indeed a thought provoking statement...A statement that I have tried to live by and live through...
Yupp live through...and live through like hell..Coz with every dream, there might be a perceived price to pay.Please note " PERCEIVED"..these prices that you pay sometimes are more pschyological than real..Sometimes they just do NOT exist in the present..they are all nicely waiting for you in the future or so called future as potrayed by your near and dear ones..

and then starts the journey..the tussle of "to be or not to be".I happen to come across many such souls thoughout my day..at work..their reasons for taking any particular course could range from "Good marks" to" better paying" to "Societal recognition" to even a "nice matrimonial match." Passion does not seem to be the Trend...

Passion could be dangerous, rebellious, could just defy every existing norm and tradition and could prove that everything that has to be or will be is in the NOW, in the present that we reside in.If I do not appreciate the present of PRESENT given to me, in all proabilities my future would be just the same old story!

I am trying to reiterate certain rules that I have created for myself, to myself all over again, lest i forget the importance of the time that Iam in and the future that i am trying to create.

and the rule for my life is:

Following Passion = great satisfaction and pride and sense of achievement= great efficiency at work, great output= better paying, better growth= happiness = great life!

love the lyrics!!

ude khule aasman me khwabo ke parindee
Ude..dil ke jahan me khwabo ke parinde...

Jo bhi ho so ho!!

would you not, once in a while want to escape from certain things in your life, that have not exactly gone your way?
hmm..that's a question I am asking myself today..generally,.i am  the strong one, who likes to take things head on..but just some days, a few moments..i feel like totally running away..acknowledging that some things just didn't turn out the way..i liked..

But there is always an unending question.. So What? So what..things didn't work out..so what..there is hope.. and effort for a better tomorrow..

but for the time being..let me soak in self pity..cry my heart out ...and just be!

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears!