Pre-Wedding Blues

One of my cousins is getting married next week. Though we've been planning on spending some time together, it dint really work out. Finally we could coincidentally meet at my parents' place the other day.
After casually yapping about the shopping details, the discussion moved towards 'pre-nuptial anxiety'.
Anxious and excited, my cousin was really in a confused frame of mind. She isn't even married yet, but is already worrying about losing her freedom! She worried about how she'd mingle-mix with her soon-to-be-husband's family. All in all she was a very stressed. I could connect to her very well..actually could understand her thoughts because I've been through it not long ago!

I remember feeling anxious, restless and stressed out as my wedding date drew closer. I wondered if I'm going to lose my freedom forever. Silly thoughts like being addressed as 'aunty' possessed me :) The whole idea of setting up your own home, scared me no end. I thought I'd be doomed to the kitchen and all such mundane chores that come with an independent setup! Shopping for long hours , running around for petty things & going to bed dead tired, dint help either. Actually, I started worrying about all the finer details of the wedding arrangements, inspite of being aware that my dad is already taking good care of them. I fussed about not getting enough time to relax. Complained about having to work till about 3 days before my wedding ( yeah, leave planning is not my cup of tea!).All in all, I'm ashamed to admit that I made life miserable for myself and others around me.
I recollect how I nagged poor hubby dear with all my growing fears/anxieties. I'm really grateful to him for lending a patient ear to my rants. He'd calm me and reassure me that he is going to be by my side through thick and thin. To this day, he stuck by his word and never shies away when it comes to helping me out with the dishes, cooking or any of the other household chores. I should admit,I'm very proud of him.

I digress though. Yes, pre-wedding blues are common. Every person has his/her own way of reacting to losing that 'single' status. There are people like my husband, who really look forward to it, enjoy and treasure every moment - since marriage is 'once in a lifetime' thing. And then, there are others like me, who get hyper-stressed and worry about every little thing.

If you are interested in reading more about 'pre-wedding-blues', you can find a good article here

Take me to your heart

It was a nice,cool November evening. I got into the bus after a tough day at work, plugged in my phone radio and tuned into a local station, for some respite. Back in 2005,Hyderabad dint offer the variety of radio stations it does now. We had only a handful to choose from!

As the bus began to move, chilly winter breeze greeted me with gentle tingles.Soon it grew darker and the sky wore a lovely blue hue, only to be lit by a bright full moon. Then it happened. The local station started playing this lovely song after a ton of irritating commercials. But yes, the wait was worth it.Till date, this song scores high on my list of favorites.I fell for the lyrics, almost instantly. The ambience seemed magical, transporting me to a romantic world. All these memories froze in time for me and playback whenever I listen to this song, filling me with pure ecstasy.


The song is : "Take me to your heart" by ML TR.
Listen to the song, here
Lyrics
Hiding from the rain and snow
Trying to forget but I won't let go
Looking at a crowded street
Listening to my own heart beat

So many people all around the world
Tell me where do I find someone like you girl

(Chorus)
Take me to your heart take me to your soul
Give me your hand before I'm old
Show me what love is - haven't got a clue
Show me that wonders can be true

They say nothing lasts forever
We're only here today
Love is now or never
Bring me far away

Take me to your heart take me to your soul
Give me your hand and hold me
Show me what love is - be my guiding star
It's easy take me to your heart

Standing on a mountain high
Looking at the moon through a clear blue sky
I should go and see some friends
But they don't really comprehend

Don't need too much talking without saying anything
All I need is someone who makes me wanna sing
(Chorus)

Silent? not anymore!

Tired and bored after a hectic day at work, my husband and I crashed in front of the TV for some respite.While flipping through the channels, a cute little elephant on Nat-Geo caught our attention.
This little fellow is an orphan rescued by one of the organizations. He lost his parents, thanks to the endless greed of our 'great' human race.

As the show went on, I made a chilling discovery. After being a silent witness to heavy poaching for over two decades, this creature is up for a revenge on the humans! In Uganda,elephant numbers have never been lower or food more plentiful, yet it is observed that these creatures blocked roads, trampled through villages & destroyed crop, apparently without cause or motivation.
To me, elephant is a benevolent giant. Except in a few rare cases (I thought), where an elephant is crazy, he wouldn't attack the humans or for that matter, any species. This show added a whole new dimension to my thinking!


In India, elephants are worshiped and considered sacred.Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the biggest festivals this country celebrates. However, unfortunately, this country also witnessed a lot of elephant poaching, which is evident from their diminishing numbers.

Greed for more has always pushed man to commit some of the deadliest crimes against nature. It is established that the once thriving species like tiger,elephants are very fast becoming endangered. Given all this, I wonder whats happening to man's compassion towards animals? What is the common man doing about this? Is he ignorant? Empathetic? It upsets me when I come across articles like this in the newspaper: Memorial amidst tiger reserve.
Are we protesting against this? What can we do about it? How can we make our voices heard? My search is still on...

Dynamic Priorities?

If you are looking for techie stuff, this is not the correct link. Sorry!

So what exactly am I talking about?
I'm talking about the choices we need to make / the priorities that need to be revised/revisited in our day-to-day lives (dynamically).
Life is full of choices - why? isn't what you get to do in the next hour, your choice? or may be atleast somebody else's choice imposed on you? ;)


Its ultimately your choice to have a healthy lifestyle (or not to?), to excersie , to spend the day the way you want to, or to be happy or not to? My observation is, typically, people are very clear (I'd say at a very high level), about their general priorities revolving around family/career/health. I'd call it a hypothetical situation.Why? Because lost in our daily humdrum, we (yes, that includes me) never actually pay much attention to what is more important or dear to us!

X wants to spend more time with the kids but couldn't due to demands of his ambitious business venture.
Y wants to take aerobic classes, but just could not, due to work related stresses.
Z wants to wake up early everyday..only that 'day' is yet to come!


So what does one gather from these different scenarios? That sometimes (or is it most of the times?) we just plainly stop seeing our actual priorities due to demands from other spheres of our lives.....only to wake up one day and start cribbing?
What could be the reason?
Heres a definition from Physics

Inertia : The innate force of matter is a power of resisting, by which every body, endeavors to preserve in its present state, whether it be of rest, or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

Yes! the culprit is inertia to change,to revisit our priorities dynamically...or so I believe :)
I'd encourage readers of this blog to kick off a discussion (in the form of comments),so as to get different perspectives.

Adios!

No time to stand and stare!

I had this tea-table conversation with friends at office, the other day. There was a mention about my blog & a casual inquiry "Mind not idle?" . Pat came my reply "no time to reflect!".Its been a while since I last wrote. There were many things that kept me busy. I prefer not to digress now. I may write them out in a separate blog.

I'm sick and stayed away from work yesterday and today. This gave me a lot of free time. I preferred to stay in bed yesterday, owing to my weakness. I'm a lot better today and was thinking,re-thinking about my reply "no time to reflect??" Yes! its so true. I haven't had time for myself (solitude). Though its nice to have something to do, keep you busy all the time, I believe its also equally necessary to have these moments of solitude, where you are just lost in your own thoughts and have a chance to connect to / rediscover yourself.

Coming back to what I wanted to share through this blog... "no time to reflect", quickly brought back verses from a poem I studied at school - " no time to stand and stare" . I still remember how pissed I used to be for having to study these poems, which at that age, never made any sense and seemed a total waste of time. Ironically, now, I keep recollecting verses from different poems I studied, every now and then! They make absolute sense now and I'm really glad that I got a chance to read the work of some great poets.

So here you go, this is the poem that came back to me today. Its called "Leisure" by William Henry Davies, a Welsh poet.

Leisure by William Henry Davies

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Its raining men!

At last it started raining here! After playing a month's hide-n-seek,the splendid monsoon has finally arrived. Whoa!what a scotching summer it had been!

Contrary to the popular notion that rains are gloomy and depressing, I believe rains bring a lot of cheer and vitality, especially to tropical countries like India. This is the time to connect to the nature - tune into the cute melodies from a varied species of birds & observe the tiny little saplings sprouting from the moist soil. This is also the time to go on a 'dragon-fly-chase' mission. I can go on and on..there are so many little joys that the rains bring with them. Its as if the whole place has suddenly come alive!

Somethings I love to do when its pouring like cats and dogs.

a) Cozy up with a good book, taking breaks to watch the rain.

b) Listen to some nice, loud and lively music

c) Have hot mirchi bajji + ginger tea...yum.. & a delightful conversation with a loved one.

d) Go for a stroll with my husband, soon after its stops raining.

Oh lovely! Its raining out there, even as I type this blog! Let me rush out!

Catch you later folks..

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

No! This is not a blog dedicated to the super famous TV show.

Last Sunday we watched the movie "New York". Though the film predominantly belongs to the 'serious movies' genre, the first one hour revolves around the lives of 3 friends & their happy college days....

The movie brought back many memories of the free spirit of college life & the fun/laughter filled days at moto.

I remember how sad we were when leaving the college and hostel. How I imagined all my good/care free days to have come to an end. How much all of us (my friends gang) wished to get back to that life - those yapping sessions till late in the night, those walks in the campus , those birthday celebrations & bumps! :) , those 'combined study' sessions just before the exam! Wow, those were great days and will be cherished for the rest of my life.

I should say I have been fortunate to have a similar phase in my life, again! The last few years in Motorola were college life - part 2 for me :) At moto, what started as a group of 3/4 people hanging out for lunch/snacks soon became a big gang of 10-12 people! There were funny bday celebrations ( I still rmr how we've put up Suman's photo with Chiranjeevi in the cafty, on his bday), great bakra-banao sessions, TT/Cricket/Caroms wars, Outings, 'Get-to's at homes, Movies,Temples & finally interview preps! "Hang out together and have great fun" was the motto.......Time moved on, and so did folks in the gang.

Friends come and go, but the mark they leave on you is indelible. That's how life is.

This post is a celebration of the wonderful friendships I had and is dedicated to all my friends! Thank you guys! :)