Local Train

I have spent few good months in the magical city of Mumbai and have had my share of ups/downs by the lifeline of Mumbai-the local trains! While going through some old documents, I came across these few lines I had jotted down once during a 45 minutes travel in the ladies compartment from Powai to CST in the year 2010. Those really were old good days...

I meet new people every day,

While travelling in the local train,

Rich and poor, black and white,

Some dressed bright, some dressed plain

I look at that girl, putting her make up

Right beside her, the other one asleep

There’s another one singing to her self

And one engrossed in her book deep

There’s a lady working on her lappy

And a mother, feeding her child

Also a girl, head banging to some music

Another begging for alms,  blind.

A woman I see, selling peanuts

And another newspapers to read

There’s one with a basket of flowers,

Selling everything a traveller might need.

Sometimes I get the seat by the window,

Sometimes I sway all the way standing

And once I got so squished and smashed

That I nearly stopped my breathing

It still feels like worth the pain

Travelling by the local train

To see people on with their lives,

During all summer, winter and rain

Daughter, not Bride

I recently came across an alarming fact-there are going to be 39000 child marriages in the world everyday between 2011-2020; in 47% of the marriages in India , the bride is of less than 18 years of age and having a very large population, India has the largest absolute number of child marriages in the world.

While I am looking forward to a good night's sleep, there are numerous teen-aged girls out there who are dreading the setting of the sun and arrival of their septuagenarian husbands who will exert them to the most horrifying pain of their lives. It pains to just think of it!

Despite the physical and psychological damage done to young girls, little progress has been done towards elimination of this. While we speak of reducing social-economic disparities, let's not just think of disparities between different castes,regions and religions- fighting discrimination against young girls should top the concerns! They are subjected to severe discrimination right from the moment they are conceived. Whether to keep a girl fetus or not, whether to send her school or not, whether to send her for higher education or further skill development or not...and mostly the answers to the above is inclined towards the "not" side.There's no denying to the fact that child marriages happen for both males and females, which is equally disturbing, but they are the young girls who are biggest victims.

Child marriage is a global issue, which has been there since centuries, rooted deeply in gender inequality, poverty, social beliefs and traditions. Some families wed off their young girls at a tender age because they want to get rid of mouths to feed. Some think a girl child is a big liability and that the sooner sent to another family, the better for theirs. Some believe that getting their girl married before puberty is, in some weird twisted kind , an act that will bring blessings to their families. Some think, they are actually protecting their daughters from the glaring eyes of the society and that protecting them from sexual attacks and insuring their girls from becoming pregnant out of wedlock! All of this, only to throw her into the world of intimate partner abuse and complications of early pregnancy and child births. It's like a girl child is considered as a problem and the solution one sees is just getting rid of it!

I have a few messages for all those who do not value their girls!

You think a girl is an extra mouth of feed- educate her like you do your son, one day she will go ahead and feed you! You think she is a liability- she's actually an asset- you just don't know the right place to invest in! There are so many skill development programs which your girl has equal right to-encourage her to be a part if it. You already have the blessings in your family in the form of your girl, getting rid of her is actually doing you no good! You want to protect your daughters from the society? Treat her equal, make her strong and if you think your girl is equal to your boy, the whole world will! She has been born in our house as a daughter to bring happiness and honour to your house just like you think your son will , not just to be a bride to some one! Treat her right! Why are you in a hurry to give away your asset to someone else?

I cannot reach each of those household who I want to give this message to. If you know any such households, please do your part and help them realize they have been blessed with daughters,not just brides!

Life's a game,eh?

‘Life’s a game’, the clichéd cliché ...coming to wonder of this... it struck me couldn’t it be this way... life is not ‘A’ game, but Life’s a series of games, giving different flavours at different times?
When you are a nestling, life’s a game of cricket for you... your parents being the openers, the older ones around you forming the rest of the team and you being the twelfth man. They struggle, they win, and they lose. If victory is accomplish, you do taste the sweets of it and if they lose, you are never to blame!!!
You grow up, you go to school, and you appear for exams... life’s a racing game for you!!! Everyone wants to win the race...everyone wants to be the numero uno. Sometimes you are ahead, then somebody overtakes you, you give in your best, you surpass him... goes on and on. You never know who’s gonna leave you behind! ‘Life’s a race, if you don’t run; you’ll be like broken anda.’
Come College, life seems like it has never been better; exciting, but snaring, just like video games. You get amazed by the rosy gambols, full of adventures and surprises...you think you’ll try it for once but end up getting addicted to some. You get lost into pipe dreams, oblivious of the real world awaiting! You get trapped into the mirage!
Someday you come out of the virtual world, you realise there’s a world out there where you have to compete to sustain! You have to realise your forte; decide your career. Life seems like a board of chess ... so many options, so many routes, and each one can be equally perilous! You have to take your step not only thinking of now, but of times 10 steps hence... your first stride is gonna decide it all! If you wanna reign, you have to avoid checkmates at each stage!!!
You decide your career; you try very hard to carve a niche in the field. To start with, you give interviews, you post your resumes, and you use all your power and cognition to reach the zenith! What comes to my mind now is the game of bowling. You roll the ball with all your expectations attached, but you never know how many pins you are actually going to strike eventually!
When you are a part of some organisation, imagine yourself as on a football ground. Everybody wants to be the Man of the Match, everybody wants to strike the goal but what matters more is the team effort and victory of the team. You have to work in a synergy to smash your rival group and win accolades for your parent organisation. One member fumbles, and the whole team can go down with him! All the while you have to avoid the red card (i.e. getting pink slipped ;))
Love, love, love...you are deeply in love with someone, and both of you want to marry, but ...the usual Indian scenario...parents don’t agree! You play a mixed-doubles badminton match, with each set of parents, one by one. You can’t afford to lose any of them! Strategise, take your places, work in sync with each other and give every shot back to them! Every time they try to throw you out of the court, you have to show that you are not here to take defeat!

Life offers conundrums at every stage, we win some and we lose some. What keeps us going is the spirit attached to it! So, folks... whoever thinks “I am not into games”, think again, and whoever feels “I’m good at games”, are you sure?

White Noise..

As I was literally lost into the tunes of A.R.Rehman , my Mom comes and pulling out the earphone off my ears, asks me to stop being a couch potato and do something productive. ( Define ‘Productive’! Maybe I was just about to compose a music MENTALLY which was gonna fetch me a Grammy! Who knows?? ) As she took away my earphones and I can’t play the music loud, courtesy my sister in her intermediate, I sat down to do something productive (or at least find out what productive implied!). Closing my eyes, trying to concentrate, first thing I was perturbed by...
My sister revising her subject resembling buzzing of bees ..
My mom’s bangles creating a rhythm by themselves...
The fan agitating the air, the clock ticking away...
Running water splashing the sink in the kitchen...
The utensils knocking against each other as the maid cleans them...
The ringing of our door bell, the phone ringing in neighbour’s house...
The annoying vibrations of the washing machine...
The sound of the compressor of the air conditioner starting...
The chiming of the bell and clangor of the gong as my grandma offers her rituals...
A vendor calling out the names of various vegetables in a peculiar rhythm...
The striking of the axe against the tree trunk by a wood cutter,
The vehicles conveying on the road infront of my house,
The rubbing of the gate against the concrete as it is opened,
The birds chirping and the leaves rustling in the breeze...
Small kids chirruping outside,roaring in merriment...

A baby crying in some house,the mother singing a lullaby...
The aural effects of payal on my own feet, and my own breath...

Glorious is the juxtaposition of Euphony and Cacophony in life!!!

An Angel in Disguise

“Come on darling, do not fear!”, those were the words that came from her as she took my hand off my Dad’s. The lady was draped in a light-colored sari and was carrying an enamoring smile. This smile, I think, made me let go of my Dad’s hand and hold hers. (Or the instant desire to grab some from the transparent jar of candies she had on her desk, I’m not sure!!!).
Fair complexion, rosy lips, silver hair, dimpled cheeks…
Voice as sweet as honey and the ever-maintained serenity…
I was gifted with the best Nursery teacher!
As I got to know her more, I fell in love with her personality (Not that I knew what personality and blah blah… meant then, but I can say so now!!!).She used to regularly get with her, toffees and biscuits, to award the kids and encourage us to take interest in our activities. (Orange cream biscuit was my favorite then and the days she used to get that, one had to see my efforts ;) ). I secretly hated the extra attention some of those cry-babies in my class got from her!!!
I waited eagerly for her to pat me on my back or to stroke my cheeks. (People generally love to stroke my cheeks!). And the day she gave me a peck on my cheek for she was impressed by the way I recited my rhymes with all actions and punctuations (Thanks Mom), I was on the seventh heaven. (God knows, if I was happier that day or Alexander the Great after his conquests!)
She taught me what discipline and cleanliness meant in real life. I was so influenced by what she said that I even won a trophy for neatness and discipline at my school! It was she who held my hands to help me write words, who gave me a “Good” even if the handwriting was bad, making me want a “Very Good” at the same time giving a scope to improve. I don’t remember seeing her angry anytime! She didn’t need to be…she had her own magical ways to charm little kids into doing what is Right! Shy ones started participating, bullies got subdued ; everyone was happy.She is the one who initiated the transition of a shy little me to what I am today.
Till date, whenever I come across her she greets me with the same enchanting smile with which she had made me forget home the very first day of my school. I don’t know if she recognizes me as one of her kindergarten students!
She might not even remember me today, me being one of those hundreds of saplings she has nurtured with all her love and affection, but she has carved a permanent place for herself in my heart with all the love and cognition she has bestowed upon me.
School was indeed our second home…
Ma’am, you were my second Mom!!!
With all reverence and salutations,
Ganguly Ma’am, I love you!
(Mrs.Dipti Ganguly Ma'am was my Nursery teacher,an Angel in Disguise)

I Wish...

I wish there was someone...
Like the summer sun, scarlet and valiant,
Shining brightly and making my days radiant...
Like the new moon sea, mighty and blue,
Fighting all odds for me, swallowing my rue...
Like the first rains, welcomed with glee,
Adding life and spirit to a forlorn me...
Like the spring flowers, blossoming in trance,
Bestowing joie de vivre, with hues and fragrance...
Like the winter aurora, promising and bright,
Assuring a warm day, after every cold night...
Like a butterfly of all seasons, full of zest and zing,
Spreading happiness, with every flutter of its wing...

I wish there was someone...
Who I could say...
“You are what you are to me...
And everything what anybody else can be!”

In their eyes...

@40 years old...err...40 years Young!!
Where will I be 20 years hence... One of the youngest CEOs of an MNC or a children's storybook writer or a professor (my parents would love that!!!) or god forbid one of those who are bed-ridden at young age! Wherever and whatever I be,I would expect my critical stakeholders to say something similar about me...My parents, sister, spouse,child,friends ..would define my stakeholders..atleast that's what i think now!
Parents: "Apple of our eyes,that she is, has been an active child, a bright kid at school, a normal but not-so-difficult to handle teenager, a responsible daughter who has never made us lose any of our respect and dignity ... She is my alter ego,born in another generation (MOM)...From her dedication and equanimity, I see a reflection of me in her (DAD)... We are proud to be known as her parents..."

Sister: " We have been through everything... pillow fighting, reading each other's diaries, lambasting each other, complaining to mom about that, sharing secrets, having our afternoon gossips, shopping together , buying each other presents, writing poems for each other, discussing career,consenting the guys we wanted to marry respectively after rigorous evaluation...we still find out time from our busy schedules to hang out with each other... any problem I face, she is the first one I look upto and most of the times I haven't gone to any second person.."

Spouse: "She is one of the best things which have happened to me... a good listener, my best critic and a perfect cook...who well maintains the balance between her professional and personal life..A compeer under the same roof, I would say, with whom i never have to worry about anything being left undone...She makes home the perfect place to come to...Can't imagine anyone better with whom i would have liked to share my morning coffee and oldage woes... "

Daughter:"Mom,my best friend...every body at my school complains of not being understood by their parents...I don't!!! She is a friend in need , guiding light throughout... knows me more than myself... she cooks me the best tiffin and gets me the best birthday presents... I told him about my crush on a guy at school...she says it's ok,but don't take it seriously.. Studies are more important,that's what she says and i believe her! Generation Gap..what's that?...Never have felt any! I love my mom.. :) "

Friends: " She is the one who I shared my tiffin with at school."... "She is my confidante since school times"..."She is the one I went to when I fought with my mom and she felt like home"... She is the one who held me when i cried and missed home at hostel"... " She is fun, jovial and understanding." ... "We used to do assignments together"..."She is a good listener"..."She is the one with whom I used to fight,fight and fight till we burst into laughter "..."She is my best friend till date"...

I love you all...and you people have made my life worthwhile...I wish you could say half of the things I hope you to feel...
For people who have had great impacts in my life... Love u!!!... :)

WHY?WHy?wHy?

Working through the daily chores of life...one often and VERY often wonders and ponders...WHY??? Why this?? Why now?? Why ME?? Why not?? And sometimes a combination of these!!! Its basic human nature that we dont take things coming to us without any If or But..Its strange how more we focus on the WHY part rather than on acceptance and compliance.Take for example...I m riding on my scooty..and the traffic light says RED! I sigh..Why now?? When its other people stuck in traffic ...this WHY never peeps,or maybe it does..in their minds! My teacher asks me to solve the problem on the board..WHY ME? My mom makes green vegetables for dinner...WHY THIS? Utopian is the world where this why never arises!!!No red light,No mechanics problem,No green vegetables! While some of you might be reading this... you might be wondering..WHY DID SHE HAVE TO WRITE THIS?? ( Catch the drift?? ;)) No reasons specified...my blog..my space..WHY do you bother!!! This is the only place where i can do all my gibberish with no one asking me directly WHY?... God bless Me!!!Happy reading...Chow

HOLIDAYS

Hey friends,
It isn't always that we enjoy our holidays in the best possible ways.Holidays can be fun,holidays can be boring. Some resort to doing new and recreational stuffs, and for some holidays just come and go and they live their usual lives. Some do crazy things -fun and sometimes dangerous and some prefer to give rest to their tired bones.( Lazy bones,i would say!!!). Mine had been a great one this time. A week's stay at Malaysia and Singapore... i couldn't have asked for something better! From flying to the Kuala Lumpur airport to flying back from Singapore (Not that i was only flying throughout!!!), everything was an experience to cherish- fascinating,tiring yet rejuvenating!More on my sojourn in my coming posts...now i need to be back to my job which is called Routine Life!!! Cya soon folks...

From the heart of a mother...

Clad in gold and carmine,
With vermillion embellishing her forehead,
Bearing a demeanor, somber and apprehensive,
Discerning the sea change in her life.

As I fix my maternal gaze on her,
I stand still, my heart aches
for the advent of days without her.
Wishing to relive the bygone halcyon days,
I reminiscence the day she was born.

As I heard its first faint coos, I knew it was a she.
Tender and enchanting she truly was,
my little angel - a prayer answered,
held a promise of new life,
beaming like the Sun rising over East.
As her eyes opened wide to the gleam of life
and ears woke up to the sounds of animation,
I saw dreams, myriad, for her.
The sparkling eyes, like two stars in place,
Skin, lovely, like blossoming morning glories,
Soft little mouth tallying pink rose petals,
Hair woven by the silkworms themselves,
Cheeks, with dimples as imprints of God,
And the smile, ear to ear,
filled my world with perfect bliss.
As I held her to my bosom,
feeling the warmth of the summer sun
and the comforting arms of night,
life zoomed by like an hourglass.
She grew from an infant to a lass,
to what she stands as a beau ideal dame,
ready to take obligations in store.

Sluing back from nostalgia,
with an errant spurt of emotions,
An endless river of tears wets my eyes
as I stand drinking in her Elysian presence
garnering the treasures of my life-Her memories.

-Sharbanee Prusty