Let’s Sneak-Out

“Yay! Finally the exams are over… come down guys.” This was the common dialogue running through the lobbies and the passages of our societies when we were in class 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th. “Tonight we won’t sleep. Hell, YEAH!"

Let's Sneak Out, Play!

Normally, back then, in the late ‘90s and early 2000, we were maniacs; like what a crab is to water and holes, we were to Cricket or playing. On a slightest window, we all had sneaked out from our parental monitoring just to be with our friends and hit a few balls. We were no different.

Adolescent got us friends for life; those imbecile groups of boys and girls incessantly vying and thousands of unsaid protocols to be followed, which we worshiped reverently. Coming up with codes which only the group would understand and even worse was the tagging of a name. A name tagged once, was tagged for eternity. Nonetheless, the adolescent was playful with every excuse for getting down, to be madly in love in an one sided love affair, attending schools and tuitions post school; bunking classes to go take a match, or to watch a movie, or to end a skirmish, or the most dreadful one, to take a girl out.  A thrill for the chase made life jubilant.

Now, the tables have turned, times have changed, whenever an exam ends, we hit to the nearest bar and get our drunk-brains out. Ranting about the miserable life, the upturns, the lost love, the broken-hearts, the cheats, pretending to be happy, dancing until we crash in beds and not waking-up before midday.  

A miracle took place, when we, just after the exams, unanimously agreed onto going out to play. Cricket!  

Cricket!? It won’t be wrong or far-stretched to say that none of us had played for a really long time. In the daily survival for the mundane, we had lost the definition of fun, enjoyment, excitement. Playing for an hour meant endless fun followed by two days’ of body ache. Body Ache?

Challenge accepted!

Location was set: a friend’s society with our pitch – a concrete based. Superb Bounce!

Without much dilly-dallying, after our exams, we headed for the location. We began and lasted for nearly 150 minutes with everyone going out of breath. Panting!

We are not the best players, none of us, but we definitely are a fun to watch and play with. We ran at our pace; panted more than the covered miles; the jiggling protruding bellies and asses; the fight over water much to one’s delight. No meaningless drunk nights and dancing in the clubs could give you that what a fatso friend (Vinit Shah) of yours, running like a Rhino, between the wickets just to be on a safer side.   

For a brighter side, how much fun would it be to first get drunk, all of us, and then make that fatso run?

Evil, I’m!  

A Clamoring Dream

“Come Fly with us, make the most of the open lock. Fly again!” The clamor broke out again; all with big and expectant eyes on me.

 I, with my recently shampooed cyan coat shinning and the strong crimson beak even more crimson in the morning rays, was perched well on the much-like-a-wooden-log stand, brooding over the options given to me to decide within a few seconds before the lock is done again. A golden steeled cage let loose from the ceiling, in his bedroom’s balcony, was my abode; my latest abode. One side was the open sky beyond the rods of the cage and the rods of the balcony grills and on the other side was the vastness of his room.

Stop brooding over, just Fly Away!

Today, all the senior members and the most learned of all that perched on the rod of the grills of the balcony had come to advise me. I was looking for my friends, the ones who would visit me every day and picked up an unsaid relationship; the ones more like me, but free. Today, the assembly had come on the grills of balcony, with everyone finding it difficult to balance on the sleek rods shaped in various forms to make the grill look more artistic. All the assembly squawked on me to let go the cage and embrace the nature; get into the wild.

I could hear the heart’s thudding and feel the pressure shooting up. For me, how could I leave all this, I have been with him for more than half of my life, he has made my childhood beautiful, he seldom locks me up. I’ve a comfortable life here, I’ve a swing, a pond for myself, the whole cage, variety of food, then what else would anyone want more? But the stories of my friends from across the grills of the balcony, the vast flying experiences, the kiss of the breeze, the flight in the rain, the chase, getting chased, falling in love, raising a family, singing the tree songs, the family-flying dance, the color of the seasons, all these seem like a beautiful dream to me. Meanwhile, the heart pounding so heavily as if to bludgeon someone to death. I had a narrow window of time to sneak out before he wakes up and loves me again for me to forget the world and sing for him and only him.

On a whim, I couched and got out; and suddenly, the clamor rose and turned into a big applaud. We took flights. I followed!

Felt the air above and below the wings, the use of wings. The heaving in air with the breeze until a smile broke my frown. I loved it!

“No, Stop!” I woke up with one hand in the space, in an upright position to stop my parrot, my beloved parrot, from leaving me forever. It took me a while to break the reverie and realize that it was just a nightmare.  I didn’t even pet a parrot but there still was the clamoring from across the curtains, deep in the balcony. I slid it through to see a few parrots perched on various levels of grills trying to get a mouthful of the food and water that I had stacked up a week ago in a pair of bird-feeder hanging loosely on the grills for the birds to savor on.

I, now, had regular visitors – birds of various kinds and species – in the balcony ranging from a Sparrow to a cute Maina, to Pigeons and obviously Parrots. These birds filled my mornings with eclectic melodies. I gave them food, they made my day. It is delightful to have them everyday and know them more and vice-versa. Now, my presence don't scare them away. They know me!

After all said and done, what was that dream about?

Do I really wish to break-free myself and fly again leaving everything behind?

Follow Dreams? Like Parrots? Like birds?

Dreams, I tell you!  

OBSERVATIONAL DELIGHTS?

'You must speak to the world, let them know what you think, irrespective of it being right or wrong. Put your perceptions forth,' advised my dad, on a regular basis.

After a lot of nagging and a continuous persuasive attempts of unfailing genial nature he managed to get my mind molded and made me talk to the world, i.e. to y'all. Thus, I'm here to put forth my views, observations, perceptions of everything ranging from the existence of the tiniest of the atoms and the different universe altogether in it to the flying of a bird in Rio de Janeiro to a blossoming Tulip in Netherlands to a grandmother meticulously massaging her new grand
child in Tokyo to a  music gig in Pune, to the sleepy eyes of that old watchman in our buildings, to almost anything that entwines with us in our walks of life in this universe and many more across the bigger universe of which these are the part of; to infinity, obviously!

Fill the Void!

Small things that we often miss out despite running through them every day, not because we don't see them, we do, for-sure! We just don't observe them! I will only try to fill that void with various perspectives and excerpts.

Hello, All! I'm Sagar, a boy next door, pursuing MBA from a reputed college in Mumbai. The above mentioned reason is surely the one big reason behind me coming to write on this very platform and the others being my sole love towards writing and reading and mostly criticizing on the events that take place in our lives on a day-today basis. I've found, hitherto, often than seldom, that I always have contradicting views among my peers, in my family discussions, in a lair, almost everywhere. Not saying I'm correct and they're incorrect. There just can't be any evaluation done here, as this is solely based on one's perception and the way one analyses it based on the background one has grown in.
At times for being an outspoken personality you have to face the brunt of words and sentences which are hurtful, often poignant. People will take you as a crass personality, but why bother? Stay put with your views. It's no crime to be different!

Ta-Da, here I'm putting forth whatever runs through my mind, based on my analysis. You may like it or you may dislike it; you may agree with it or  you may disagree; I can only tell you that there are always two sides to a coin. There're Devas and Asuras- Devas finding Asuras evil and vice versa. There is no full white or full black, at least not today, there is always a little black in every white and a little white in every black What is important is that we analyse our whites and our blacks and try to work for its betterment, choosing on our inclination towards the White or the Black or the Both!

I firmly believe, no matter wherever we're from, despite the upbringing we've gone through, the practices we've undertaken, the deities we've worshiped and the scores of other differences among us; at the rudimentary level, we are equal, lit by a small fire -desire- within us and a countering power as a drop of a water -contentment- to keep it balanced, varying from person to person. These two elements, according to me, despite having five elements mentioned in the scriptures, are the nucleus of a healthy soul. They're the ''White and Black'' of the soul. It is often believed, '...that a man with a grey soul, a man with an equi-balance of the fire and the water in his mind has achieved the ethereal joy of life- Inner peace. He won't overjoy a victory or over-mourn a loss. He is believed to have achieved- Samta. The last one to have achieved a complete state of Samta, walked some two thousand five hundred years ago on the face of the earth, changing its way of life, enlightening the many in his wake of walk of his journey. He was Gautama Buddha.

Let us try to understand and appreciate the efforts put in by others to make our lives so comfy and secured and give them the rightful gratitude that we due them. Only by appreciating others we can shine ourselves, not only from within but also from outside. Let's try to fill the void. The key is simple- small things. Do them, take a dip in it, smile over your follies, run errands to do them, bring smile to others, smile yourself, let loose. Just do it! The difference will be well apparent in no time. Let's walk, talk and grow to move towards Samta.

"Observational delights!" is a small attempt of mine to get you vis-à-vis with the beatific vision of the small unnoticed things that we do but we don't realize. It would be my attempt in the most sincere way to bring you the insights of the lost, unnoticed, undervalued, castaways, once loved. To cherish the ones which always got our backs but got overshadowed. To light the gusto within for the forlorn hope that we killed eons ago.

Right here, with your indefinite support and contribution, Let us aspire to achieve the ultimate truth of the motion- The walk of life. To set our Fire and Water in the most near perfect order. To play with our Whites and Blacks and achieve both from time to time, to travel the neo-Human world unraveling eclectic human touches; feeling one another.

So, we shall begin our journey on a good hope, better intentions for the best world.
Let's Notice the UNNOTICED!
Let's OBSERVE!
Let's tour the OBSERVATIONAL DELIGHTS!