Holi 2000

The best things in life come when you haven't planned for it. The pleasure of unexpected happiness stays on with us for  a long time. So, was the Holi of 2000!

We friends lived in a rented accomodation during our post grad days. We really didn't mean to do anything different except for sprinkling colours at each other so as to keep the tradition alive! But the idea struck when we went to the neighbouring shop to buy some more coloured powder. We visited some of our friends to wish them but ended up getting coloured from nose to toe. Soon, we decided to try the same on other friends and soon there was a multi-colored gang on the street.

We walked among the lose sand and the hot sun. The dirt and the heat didn't matter anymore. As we reached for other friends, there was no stopping. We played not only with the traditional colours but also with eggs, indigo and mud! The ultimate icing on the cake was when someone splashed an entire bucket full of water which resulted in a water splashing virus which was never ending. I even hit myself on the head and everything seemed to stop for a split second. But I didn't mind it and assured others that it was nothing and we continued as long as we could.

Come every Holi since then and I am taken to the Holi of 2000.

So called poems for the three sisters

This one is funny! Three of my friends were called 'Three sisters' by another common friend of ours after the Three Sisters mountain ranges in Sydney! These so called poems were written on demand!

Ode to THREE SISTERS
Here's for Sister 1:

Over the blue hills n beneath the blue skies lives a maiden Parul

She sings n dances to nature’s rhymes

She scolds n threatens friends around

She pings and gossips and tries hard for news

And on Valentines, she looks and looks and looks

Around the crowd

But she misses her knight everywhere she looks

But I’m sure he’s just around the corner

All what she needs are eyes that can find the obvious but hidden to all

So, friends wish her luck

And she prays for that too

On this say may she her valentine find
(Composed on Feb 14)




Here it is for sister 2:


Two love birds on a land near by

Sing, eat and Chat all day

And one fine day they both have to fly

One to west and one to east

Oh they cry but they know

It won’t last and they will meet

So they depart and again they meet

To sing, rejoice, dance and play

They again he has to go and

She waits and waits for that day to come

When they will be together again

Her wait is small and her hero comes

And they are together again

They go and celebrate and have some fun

And she’s gifted a diamond ring

To say that he loves her true

And their love shall forever shine



This is for Sister 3:


Beyond the horizon, where the earth and sky met

A damsel dwelt

Pretty eyes and lovely smile

And she had friends, for her who thought

Who referred princes here and everywhere

But she had her eyes on some far away land

Where her prince charming lived

And she had admirers here and there

But she craved neither for riches nor for fame

She had her mind on some adventure sure

To travel new lands and make new friends

And soon shall she fly

To some distant land and horizon new

To win her crown and find her prince

Her friends will miss her for sure

But they all wish her luck and love

And hope that their friendship ever lives

Window

What is it in a window I don't know that makes me stare out endlessly. I can stand looking out without being aware of the time running past me. My thoughts wander endlessly into so many spacious voids. My mind travels too fast and sometimes I am taken to my childhood years, to the place where I grew up and where I use to sit by the window and watch the raindrops trickling down the glass panes. I too start feeling the water running down my head touching my eyes and flowing through my heart and all I want is to dance in the rain.

When I am upset, I stand my the window and control my anger and my tears. I look out at an endless point just to avoid the tear running down my face. I do not like to be disturbed then because whatever your intentions might be, the paused tear drop will just come out and it will literally start raining tears. I look out of the window to avoid looking at someone who might have caused me the anger or the person trying to console me.

Sometimes, I stop by the window inside a tall building and gaze into the other buildings, wondering what all must be happening inside those buildings. I think everyone inside those buildings would have a unique story of their own and one of them must also be staring out of his window. May be he would be seeing my shadow by the opposite window and wonder at the vastness of the universe where we all belong. I then wish I was among the clouds.

Sometimes standing by the window, I can pause my thoughts too. Pause and look at a leaf flying here and there, see the dust that the leaf has gathered and wondering that if it rained, how relieved the leaf would be. I imagine a shining leaf with droplets clear, dancing and singing it's heart out. I too wish that I could fly in the air.

I love looking at the sun setting down from the car/bus window while I am traveling. I love the bright orange colour and love to watch how it goes away, away and away within minutes. I think of another wanderer like me who must be looking at the same sun at the same time. How many of us must be looking at the setting sun at the same time. The sun knows it is being watched but it will still follow its course and we the distant traveler will have to wait for the next day to think of the same thoughts again. I wish I would know know where it went to and rose with it the next morning.

At night I love it specially when I hear the raindrops against my window pane. I love that trickling down of the rain drops down my window pane to lull me to sleep. On clear nights, I love the moon bright by my window and think that another traveler like me will also be watching the same moon tonight. I like to be with the moon and play with the stars that night.

I love to see the sea by the window, watch the sparkling rays of the sun falling and dancing in the water. The million glitters and the million sparkles just makes me smile. To watch the clear sky and the blue waters from your window is a pleasure to the eye. And yes, my thoughts don't remain my own anymore and I am lost amongst the tiniest of sparkles and be one of them to dance and play when the day is bright.

My Rickshaw Rides

I use to work at BIIT as a computer faculty in 2002. It had become a habit to take a Rick rather than a bus. I use to carry loads of books and there was no direct bus, so my preferred mode of transport was the Rickshaw!

Anyway, Rick drivers became known to me or rather I became known to them. I knew few of them and usually took their services only!

For  some time though, I se to be returning home on the same Rick. I did not find him on Saturdays though becuase of the weekly market rush.

One particular day it happened that I did not find him for two successive days. On the third day, as I came down the road, I saw a Rickshaw driver waving at me and nodding his head so as to say I am here. For a second I thought he was not the same person who use to bring me home but somone else. But the next moment I thought it was he only! Anyway, I sat on the Rickshaw while I was still confused and hoping that he was the same person. I thought he might not be well and that's why he was looking different. To add to my belief, he did not ask me where I wanted to go but took the route that I followed daily. All the while I was thinking to myself and noticing his gesture, appearance etc.

He stopped just where I got down every day. When I paid him hi fare, he said "Brother has gone to the village two days back".