Thankless Job...

For all the curses Indian roads beget,
One glance at the men and women who make the roads (Indian roads)
would hang a different perspective.
In heat and rain they toil and slog
With no protection from sun, rain, wind and dust.
Caps, sunglasses, raincoats...... you need your true companions.

Leave the lads in the heat and heap of dust
Eat food in the heat and heap of dust.
Sweat, blood and nerves- 6o:40::men:women is the moolah they make.

A million thankless jobs done and a silent blogpost written in honour of them-
one they would never see, hear or know about.

PS:
(Irony- sunglasses donned on those in air conditioned cars, cocooned in
moderated, dust-free cool temps)

Two things I told my friends today...

1. Why dont u give IAS exams a shot?
2. This is one sunset of ur life that you'll never see again. Go watch it...

Ancient and Noble

A 24 yr old stops for a moment...

These are the days of autumn,
When leaves fall and trees go bald.
Its when ur skin goes dry
And u gotta apply coldcream.

These are days when fun, frolic-filled days are a thing of the past.
Unlike college days, also a thing of the past.
Friends are scarce and have also been a farce.

When cousins u grew up with, in the farm-yards and tree-tops
Are entwined in 'the' life so 'busy'
When u meet, everything is but a facade.
The innocent, playful summer days
And teenage wonderyears spiralled round conversations till 12 midnight,
Are all gone.
Now midnights everybody resigns to bed,
As silence dawns and the clock strikes 12.

These are serious times- of career and life.
When questions float in your head like oil in a pan
And lofty life ideas and ideals dilute in the thick of reality
A slow vision dawns-- everyman and everything in his/her place of mediocrity
The vision is clear, they say... than ever before.

These are times when parents want to settle u down
And tie u forever in a nuptial (what!) knot
Those things an Indian girl would know,
Caught in a timewarp of contemporary upbringing, world-views and yet INDIAN ROOTS.

These are times when grandparents are going (some gone)
They leave behind childhood memories, their dentures and stories hold 'em behold
The ever-tender-loving-care too.

While everything looms blue,
Nothing's changed except the world around you.
Its time to run. Its time to fly.
Its time to BE a butterfly.

Its time to see the eternity that never changes:
The sun still rises
The monsoons leave puddles behind
The fields go green
And the stars shine bright.

Dont let things get to u
Dont get caught in the mundane rut
There is money to make and goals to achieve

But let one thing remain and reign
Let one thing forever stay
The innocence of the heart that flutters with the butterfly
And gazes at the stars with overwhelming wonder
Let the train rides be fun as ever... peep out the door and let ur hair loose
Hold hands of friends and run in a merry-go-round
Sing nursery rhymes loud and clear
Eat ice-cream like its gonna melt in a second
And eat chocolates like teeth were not ur care

Cos when u turn 25 you would not feel ol'
For the body grows ol', the heart- younger.

Kick ur feet up in the air, stay a kid, forever!
Stay!!! Forever Young!!

For my folks and friends

I hope u reap as much u sow.
Even more than that.
Luck does that.

(Pluck some more luck...)

Do Taana

Do Taana was a thematic dance presentation we did in college for Darpan (choreographed by Anita Santanam), reflecting the conflict in our lives between what makes us happy and what earns money, between what we want to do and what we ought to do. This conflict manifests itself in every decision of our lives - Whether it is choosing careers, or life partner or anything else.

Do Taana in Bengali means torn between two things. While material acquisitions can be flaunted and have a lot of props, what truly gives us happiness such as art and beauty are often intangible - thus the lure for material possessions.

But money has its own complications as our desire for money grows so does the difficulty in making it. Money spins a dark web of envy, rivalry, jealousy, that
people often lose themselves in its pursuit.

However there are people who resist its temptations to do what gives them joy.

In this presentation we captured the conflict of 'everyman' between material desire and true joy and beauty, through creative movement.

Do TAANA...

This is the world we live in...

An e-mail forward that rings some truth...

Last month, a worldwide survey was conducted by the UN. The only question asked was

"Would you please give your most honest opinion about solutions to the food shortage in the rest of the world?"

The survey was a HUGE failure...

In Africa, they did not know what "food" meant

In Western Europe they did not know what "shortage" meant

In Eastern Europe they did not know what "opinion" meant

In the Middle East they did not know what "solution" meant

In South America they did not know what "please" meant

In Asia they did not know what "honest" meant