The little things

It’s about cherishing the little things in life. It’s about early mornings. It’s about having a meaningful, heart to heart conversation with a friend and witnessing the silent night break into a glorious day. Have you witnessed the early mornings? Of course you have, but have you really soaked it in? Like, felt it? Realized how gorgeous it really is? Experiencing early mornings are a rare phenomenon for night people like me, but sometimes when I stay awake at night, I deliberately wait for the morning. It’s 6 AM and I didn’t sleep at all. I stayed awake and talked all night to a friend sitting on the terrace. And thank god for that, I’m experiencing this heavenly morning.

I just love how just before the first rays touch the tallest building, the birds begin to chirp. And how the breeze is chilly and how the temperature is just perfect. And how the morning air contains the clean, pure morning-y smell. And how you can see the moon in the sky even though it’s turning bright. Look over your railing. No noise, no human figures, no commotion, no sound of the vehicles or the traffic, or the TV playing or machines in motion. Everything is so peaceful and calm and content.

Going for a cup of tea with my friend on the scooty made me realize how beautiful the roads look. Bereft of all the traffic and the people and the sun and heat and dust, they just look alive. It’s funny how when everybody is sleeping, the world seems to come to life. You notice things that you don’t notice in the daytime. You notice the trees, the sky, and the roads. You enjoy the cool breeze blowing your hair into the wind. You can spread your arms and grin looking up at the sky because there is no one looking at you. You can thank life for giving you that moment. You can feel fortunate to be alive.

It’s quite bright now, and I can hear peacocks squawking in the distance. It feels like the world had slept over its problems and now it’s awakening with new hope. At moments like these, I feel I can deal with the problems in my life. Like the world is too beautiful to fret over them. Like you’re happy you are where you are and what you are.

Sigh, it’s one of the most beautiful moments of my life  :’)

Handmade Hope: A Waking Dream

How many times have you seen kids at traffic signals wiping your windshields, at railway stations selling insignificant things, at little chai shops wiping the tables, outside restaurants and shops looking beyond those glass doors with a lustful yet hopeless expression in their eyes? How many times have you wished you didn’t have to witness that? That even they had the means to earn and have lives worth living? And how many times have we actually taken time off our busy lives and made any effort whatsoever to help them?

Exactly. That is why, when you come across a bunch of people who actually, selflessly, continually work for the upliftment of the economically underprivileged by employment generation, you cannot help but get awed and inspired. Handmade Hope is a platform provided to destitute children, youth, women from slums and HIV positives, who create self-initiated products and sell them to the public in order to earn themselves a respectable living. How this works is very simple: an artist creates a product; trains the others and teaches them how to make it. The others all work together as a team in order to make more of the products and thus, “every artisan associated with the product puts in a part of himself in creating it.” The volunteers think of designs and ideas and they are brought to life and form with the efforts of the people working on them.

(Handmade Hope products)

When I visited Handmade Hope, Vadodara, I was greeted with a warm smile and twinkling eyes by Mukesh, a twenty year old chap who earns his living by making products and selling them. He is the sole income generator and supports a family of six. He displayed all his products in front of me eagerly with the dimpled smile intact on his face. This whole idea was conceived in the mind of an enthusiastic, warm, zealous individual who also happens to be the Vice President of an NGO called YUVA Unstoppable: Rushabh Gandhi. He supplies all the raw materials to Mukesh, who in turn converts them into amazing, artistic products. They make all sorts of things including paper bags, notebooks, wall frames, bookmarks, greeting cards, envelopes, cloth bags and more. Not only are they unique and attractive, but they are made of recycled or waste material. You can read the story of how it all started here. Rushabh does not only manage Handmade Hope in Vadodara, but also plays a pivotal role in handling the YUVA operations.

(Mukesh)

YUVA is run by 60,000 young people over thirty cities in India. They are against child labour and environmental pollution. Their motto is “Young people are not useless, but used less.”  What a great way to provide opportunities to children so that they can use their talents in doing things worth doing. What a great way to foster a spirit of unity, kindness and compassion in the hearts and minds of the youth of our country. It seriously makes you stop in your hectic lifestyles and think. What are you doing for your country, or your city, or your society? But what is more important is not what you’re doing, but what you can do for them. Gives us all something to think about, doesn’t it?  It’s time to rekindle the flame of hope in the lives of the ones who are less fortunate than us. It’s time to make a wish, take a chance and make a change. It’s time to reach out. It’s time. 

Dissolution of the last link

And I sit back in silence, as the last thread breaks.

The world that was once my own, I no longer exist in it.

Teleported onto another planet, the memoirs will never cease to leave me.

A gaping hole in my chest, waiting in desperation to heal itself,

I have lost a part of me, once and forever.

And yet I smile because I know it’s finally, finally over.

Hush, it's okay now.

Drifting

That's right, laugh it over,

I sit here, and you’re miles away.

And I’m drifting.

Drifting away to a world unseen,

A place meant only for me.

A place unborn, a place untouched, even by me.

That’s right, talk it over,

You might wanna know, you might wanna see.

You’re right here talking to me,

And I’m drifting.

Drifting to a place that lies,

Beyond what you can ever reach.

A place that can only be felt, by me.

The Voyage

The sailor stood on the deck, frowning; looking over the sea,

He had faced quite a few storms; yet further more he wanted to see.

The air had begun to feel different; the water darker than before,

The wind in his hair, deep in thought; wondering when he’d reach the shore.



He wanted to stop and rest awhile; the motion made him sick,

But all he saw was dark blue water; and his clock maintained its tick.

He looked through his binoculars, thirsting for some land,

It'd been eons since he saw the earth; the roads or the sand.



At last he finally saw an island, flecked in the middle of the sea,

Small and quaint it somewhat seemed; yet it filled his heart with glee.

Surprised and glad he approached the shore; curious to know what lay ahead,

Reluctant at first, then nervous but excited; then all his fears he shed.



He laid his first step on the land; and felt the firm ground below,

Smiling he looked all around, the panorama was pleasant and mellow.

The trees swayed and the birds sang; and the air was fresh and pure,

His heart swelled up with joy as he saw beautiful flowers galore.



He thought of returning, but he did not have the heart,

He already had a bond with the island; he did not wish to go apart.

Further ahead he moved, and he saw angels moving about,

Rubbing his eyes; stupefied and awed, his mind filled with doubt.



The rainbows were shimmering, stars dotted the sky,

The water was sparkling, the moon bigger than ever up high.

He lay on the glittering sand, soaking up the beauty around.

He was amazed at the magic; he couldn’t make a sound.



The island seemed his own; it welcomed him with open arms,

He felt at home and at ease; he had fallen for its charms.

He felt so blissful; he thought he would weep,

And the angels surrounded him and lulled him to sleep.



The morning was fresh and calm; and he knew it deep inside,

It might have been destiny or sheer luck but no more could he hide.

He did not pay heed to his fears or qualms; he knew what he had to do,

“This is where I’m meant to be”, he spoke his heart out true.



Forever is a long time, but to him it seemed too short,

His journey wasn’t over, but he had no plans of reaching the port.

Strong and determined, the sailor faced the island, smiling; full of joy.

Then he breathed in deeply; looked up, lifted his arms and began to fly.

High on life!

(And the sultry day transformed into a beautiful, breezy one. Ahh, Paradise!)

Today is a good, good day. I’m perched on a couch in my sister’s flat in Baroda, which is my current abode for the whole month of June. Why? I came here for my Summer Internship; reached on the 22^nd of May and I’m here till the 30^th of June. The time spent here so far has been better than what I could have imagined. I get to stay comfortably, eat enviable stuff everyday and spend time with my MOST favourite people in the entire world! I have been up to such madness that I just don’t know where to start from! Some bizarre activities include:

1. Running around and dancing like a demented baboon on the terrace in the rain

2. Singing old, prehistoric hindi songs (including “saat samundar paar” and “jaati hoon main”) with my sis on top of our lungs

3. Making whacky, idiotic faces at public places and clicking pictures

4. Screaming “Penis!” in the middle of a busy road (Seen ‘500 Days of Summer’?)

5. Going for scooty rides at 1 AM at night at an insane speed and screaming at a guy wearing a gaudy shiny shirt “bhaiya, shirt toh badi achchi hai!”

6. Lying around like a wounded seal all day hogging on cheesy pizzas and juice

7. Having Bavarian chocolate ice cream in malls and making orgasmic faces and sounds

8. Travelling in a train, ticketless (while being kind of hung over)

9. Gracefully (or so I thought) dancing in front of the Palace of King Sayaji Rao

10. Cracking 'that's-what-she-said's at the oddest of situations

11. Sitting on the Columbus and feeling our tooshies go up in the air and screaming our throats sore

And trust me; these are just some of the things I’ve mentioned, from the top of my head. Some things, nay, MOST of the things I can’t even mention here! :P The people I’m hanging around with; it’s just impossible to be normal with them all the time.

Okay, on the serious side of life, I’m training under a delightfully enthusiastic, fun-loving and an intelligent female, Sowmya. She and her friends started up their own business here. It’s called Discount District. Personally, I feel it’s a brilliant idea and hats off at their efforts and achievements so far! I've started working and I love it! I really hope I’m able to give my best contribution and live up to her expectations. I will elaborate on this later.

Also, I’ve decided on another thing, I will blog not when I have a 'topic' in my mind, or when I think it’s an appropriate time. I will blog when I feel like writing. I will simply start writing, just like that. I will not abstain myself from writing something I really want to write about, just because I feel my post wouldn't be entertaining enough. It can be filled with my gibberish, my nonsense and my inane thoughts. Because it's MY blog. Which is exactly what I did for this post =) I did not think about what I’ll write, I just started tap-tapping on my beloved little netbook which I oh-so-totally adore!

And know what, I’m feeling gooooood! A contributing factor could be that I’m listening to The Beatles. And you know how different types of music have different moods?

“Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play,

 Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day.

 The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful and so are you,

 Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?
 Dear Prudence open up your eyes
 Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
 The wind is low the birds will sing
 That you are part of everything
 Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?”

Beautiful song!

But no, music is not the sole reason; I'm in love. Not just knee-deep in it, but completely immersed, like from head to toe. *Blush* This month is going to be legendary, especially the last weekend! ;) I’m feeling very optimistic and positive about life. There is a cool breeze blowing in through the window and I can feel that even nature agrees with me. I'm smiling for no particular reason; life is back on track and everything is just falling in place. Touchwood! These are some of the best days of my life and I’m going to make the most of them.
 Life, bring it on!! :D

P.S. I love my sister.