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!”