"Candle In The Wind"

"For the rain and shine,

And all those that were once mine,

I hold on hope,

With faith in time,

Whatever was once mine will be mine!

Hope is what I hold on deep,

In my tears, they lie asleep.

 My heart, my naked skin, 

I bear the shards of pity within.

I wave my shining star,

Hoping to reach beyond and far.

With hope I'll swim,

In spirits of faith,

My journey doesn't ensure my win,

But it sure makes me a part of it.

In all this its good see smiles

Of all those who have none

Pity burns deep in,

A smile wears easy on the skin."

It is these lines of my poem that inspired me to make to an illustration for the Design for Kashmir initiative.

Its a beautiful initiative curated by extremely talented people, and if there's any curious soul who's eager to know more, log on to their face book page "Design for Kashmir" 

Here's the art work for the initiative.

"Lets swim on to the currents of life."

Wish you all smiles.

'We' , As We Are!'

In life we all like to make things simple!

And many a times in our process of making things simple,

we forget to think beyond, the certain conventions assigned to us by our society.

Perhaps its my age or my spirit to defy the common theory I always wonder why is something the way it is when we as a specie have evolved and transformed so much over the centuries and times.

So here I am with 'Wings to Spread' I speak my heart out about the general 'Gender Bias'.

I despise being called a girl.

 I'm twenty four,with my preferences tuned as it should be, yet I abhor being a girl.

 My chagrin isn't towards being a girl but it is to me being treated as a girl!

Some where both in our society and world over being a girl is a bit demeaning! 

No matter how many pinnacle we conquer we are always a little commercialized and at the end we are a cherish-able or a perishable commodity!

'Which I personally do not like!' 

I wonder why there has to be any gender bias at all? Why can't we all be just beings? If the world had just many good human beings, then being a girl or a transgender would not be a social stigma! 

They as a community would then enjoy the same social acceptance and privilege as the rest. 

Then it wouldn't be sin for a man or a woman to love the same sex as at the end it would all be love! 

Then a kid would not get cornered in school for his/her choice of sport or their personal sense of style, as then it would all be just sport and their persona! 

We will have a broader sense of color, style and even understanding.

 Everything will be just  thoughts and there would be nothing to feel shy or ashamed about as we would all be the same !

There would be no rape, no molestation as it would mean molesting yourself as nobody will be any less than each other. 

We will all be human beings.

And... There would be no shame in walking nude or making love in broad day light!  

Wouldn't it be a better world?

Our mind is not a he or a she or anything. 

Our mind does or feels what it chooses to.

If our mind is an 'It' then why should the body holding it be classified?

 Currently several schools in Vancouver have proposed that gender neutral pronouns should take the places of personal pronouns such as “he,” “she,” “his” and “hers.” 

The pronouns “xe,” “xem,” and “xyr” were suggested as alternatives to encompass all students, including transgender students! 

According to the new policy, “xe” should take the place of “he” or “she,” “xem” will replace “him” or “her,” and “xyr” will take over “his” and “hers.” 

I wonder why cant we as a country practice it too? At the end it'll make the society more inclusive and bring people closer.

We simplify to uncomplicate, not to put everyone in boxes. 

Identities should be by what we do, than what we are!

 We can always add little wings to our thoughts and ponder about it.

Smiles!

'Dreamers'

Age with everything else brings in a lot of inhibitions I guess that is what we call 'Maturity'

and with 'maturity' seeping into our aging veins, often we stop dreaming, reducing them to mere pipe dreams or as the sophisticated might say wistful fancies! 

Soon one day we just stop believing in 'More',

perhaps that's why we 'Die'  

This piece of mine is an ode to all the 'Lost Dreamers'

As a child I was too petrified to voice out my wishes, honestly they were too small compared to my peers, and like all the living souls 'I was born young striving hard to be a grown up and now 'I' a grown up trying to keep the young in me alive!' 

Only thing is now I am smarter, I just don't share it with anyone.

Few things should be just yours!

'Now spare a minute and listen'

'Hush my dear, hush my dear...

As I take you down the roads of slumber,

"Are you scared of the dark?"

Dive into the dark

Light your spirits

" Can you sleep?"

Let your dreams wake...

"Close your eyes, may be a dream might visit you tonight!"

Shhh... Be a little quiet!

"Shut your brain"

Let your dreams speak,

Listen with your heart my dear...

"Let's not let it pass!"

Listen, listen!

With your heart for once.'

' Drift in the rhythm,

Of your reverie.

"Are you dreaming yet?"

There's more to you,

Than you can see.

In your tranquil,

Lend your ear.

Your dreams beat,

Louder than time.

Drift in your rhythm

Drift in your rhythm '

In your dreams I revel

"In your dreams you revel"

Above all I dedicate this post to my 'Ma' who turned 49 years younger this 11th July,

and recently realized  what it is to dream through the eyes of a 24 year old!

 "CARRY ON MA"

Wish you all many smiles,

this weather is moody with contagions itching our nose,

lets sprinkle a bit of smile in the air.

{Did you know its contagious too!!}

  

' For the evening souls!'

I stayed in Chennai when I was relatively small but still mature enough to understand the cities beats.

When I was in sixth standard 'we' stayed in an area called 'Thiruvanmyur' It was close to the beach and the evenings used to be a feast for taste as all the 'Dosa wala's' used to flock around in their 'Vandi's' or carts.

Most evenings I used to go for walks with my Ma to the beach and on our way we often used to devour this gastronomic cocoction 'The Southindian Dosa'.  This Dosa had a very distinctive taste as compared to anywhere else as it was a perfect balance of  garlic, and red chutney.

When I left Chennai I left that memory there too, except only recently in Mumbai I see a lot such  'Dosa wala's' flocking just outside my building. They recreate the same taste of Chennai, and the blaring tamil songs from their transistors or phones come as a bonus taking a bit of me back to my childhood. Ironically they are all from Bangalore trying to realize their 'Bombay Dream'.

This is post is dedicated to all those little dosawala's who give back people like me a part of their nostalgia through taste. 

Journeys come in many shape and sizes and some begin with taste!

Smiles!

   

'In The Pursuit Of Happiness'

Our biggest journey is perhaps to be happy. 

We as individuals would do anything to reach that sense of satisfaction. 

We travel, eat, explore, love and sometimes even create just for this simple reason, happiness gives our existence a basic meaning. 

I love colors, and any opportunity I get with them I cherish it. 

More often than not they give me peace and a sense of existence.

But my true journey begins with not colors but the search of the tales I want to add color to.

So here I was with three match boxes and brilliant pigments to fill them, with anecdotes from my window.

In many languid afternoons I've stared across the grill admiring the courtship rules of the birds around and wondered if ever the odd couples decided to pair up an write a new evolution theory.

And there it was I had a story to depict.

Such tales rarely happen but here's to hoping!

Its the little things that often bring a smile, when we are out in search of the bigger picture.

Make time for small moments.

 Smiles...

'The Extra Little Inches'

In our country we love to express, sometimes we express over a cup of chai , or sometimes we rush to express over a cause! The cause might be varied, it maybe social or just personal, but we always express.

We express in words, screams but mostly in sarcastic smugs as its those reactions that get an easy benefit of doubt.

So I decided to have a conversation over a topi!

In recent days the topi's been quite in news, thanks to the 'Mango People Folks', before that it was Anna, rather its a topi that most often represents the best talker's of town, so I decided to gift myself a topi that in itself will be the talk and not otherwise.

My 5.1 height isnt too good at grabbing enough attention, so I needed a few inches.

 I opted for the humble and iconic topi gifted to me by my lovely friend.

It was an ordinary demure white neta topi, and as sarcastic as he is, his first words were 'You know those are the typical bhajiwala topis?' 

That was it! 

This new year I wanted to gift myself a conversation, the best of its kind,

and the best conversations are the bitchiness we share with our immediate folks as surreptitiously!

That was it!

My own customized topi! 

In all this while the topi made me talk more within me than anything else , it gave me peace and its appearance gifted me a boldness.

Wish you all a very bold and happy new year. 

Smiles..

By the way.. its great to be a little bitchy!

Keep Talking!

'Bespoke Identities'

How are 'Identities' made?

Is it a face, a façade or a character?

Or is it a garb we wear?

To show what are we,

Or maybe we are!

 

He deftly puts the last nick and fidgets once more in his mind to see if this is what an expression should look like.
'She' has puja in her house and needs to look perfect, he carefully scrutinizes for any imperfections.
He's a ladies tailor and you could always hear his wheels running as he stitches incessantly for the upcoming festive season. 
His posture always bent, his conversations are succinct and snappy as he is with his fingers.
No matter what the occasion he's never closed except the customary Thursdays of the week. 
The cramped area doesn't bother him, his workspace is limited just to the stitching table, which he shares with a television mechanic!

 It is the alacrity of such people that helps us manoeuvre a pretty shape.

 His understanding of the form helps him stich the perfect fit every time
.
Amidst the bustling market the fishy stench and his haggling customers each with varied specifications, unique to each, he makes all shapes and sizes look complete.
 
Neither his bottle bit spectacle nor his age gives him the option to forget anything at all as he,  'Tailors Identities'.

He makes us all as unique as we imagine ourselves to be!

So his wheels are always running!
 

But mind you his tongue is just as sharp as his scissors,
guess his age gives him this must liberty!