Until the next NIGHT!

I vividly remember the last night parade of thoughts during my slumber, resulting in the residual of a grin on my sleepy face, the whole process. When the slumber broke, I came to senses, met the real world and an another new morning which usually is bereft of any joy, especially when I have to rush for work; but today, my grin didn’t scurry away like a rat scurries away after seeing a cat, except Jerry. Jerry can kick Tom’s ass any day. Period!

My grinning didn’t flinch!

A light headed morning wake-ups are only a result of a good night’s sleep or no hangover; and waking up grinning, mind you, a full ear to ear, is a lot more than a cherry on top of a cake. Oh wait, before you open your judging fangs let me clear that neither I’m in love nor I’m stupid; even my mother had me tested! Then why such an anomaly? What was the dream about? Why it out lived reality?

Well, to be honest, in my dreams I didn’t go to Hogwarts, neither did I find Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserion nor Toothless, didn’t stroll with Bagheera and Baloo, and definitely not flew over the palaces of Agrabah. Honestly, I can go on with these things I didn’t do for whom I could give away anything to do or be with, so cutting straight to the chase – I saw my siblings and a few close friends playing odd-house-after-drunk games.

I bet, by now, I must have let down the curiosity of most of you, cursing, ‘He sounded promising and thrilling this time and ended up being a damp squib. What is such a big deal about playing games with your siblings? We play that all the time, don’t we?’

First of all, WE DON’T! Not all the time. And if you are still wondering what is the big deal in playing, then I pity you my friend. You’re nothing but lost. Secondly, I think it is a big deal because we have lost contact with you-know-who, ah not Voldemort, your siblings and friends. You dumb fuck! Thirdly, I believe I dreamt that because I happened to indulge myself into such an experience. On my birthday night!

My room, post a cake cutting ceremony and all the elders off to bed, was filled with sibling, cousins and a few friends. We opened all the bottles – Whiskey for the boys, Vodka for the girls, beer after Vodka-Whiskey and Breezer and soft drinks for the faint hearted, children and a pregnant lady. Oh! My Bhabhi is pregnant and due in June. Along with bottles, we had also sneaked in a few starters for biting, ice, playing cards, board games, pen-pencils and books. It only meant a BIG NIGHT ahead!

 Recent turn of events have made us all fall short of time to catch up with one another, as almost everyone is placed and working really hard to build a stable career. Those days are gone where we wouldn’t care about waking up early and planning our day as per a schedule. Thus, giving us all a small window to match our timings and work on the feasibility just to have a good time together. Like most families, we do meet on occasions such as birthdays or public holidays which promise the 3Ds: Dance. Daru. Dhamaal.

Coming back to the night, we all were exhausted dancing with our tummies and livers imploring for you-know-what! We struggled to mark a place for ourselves, first-come-first-basis, in my compact bedroom, where we could seat leaning on something and still maintaining the circle with all the paraphernalia for the night in the center on the bed. We started playing cards to make some money while we were sober, then eventually accentuated our wits with more brainy games as our minds got sloppy. We played, splitting in two teams, a Low-Volume-Antakshri, Dumb-Charades, Cards again, Quiz with pen-pencil as well as buzzer rounds, and with the decisive game for the night before going full-fledged on drinking again – One minute.

The parts to remember were the cheating done in these games – be it poker or be it a pen-paper game. A few of us we copied answers or prompted wrong answers to the other team or distracting from catching the charades. The most fun game was the decisive one – One Minute. In this game, every player will get to select a topic on which every other member, including the proposing player, has to write the highest number of elements relating to the topic, within one minute. E.g. If someone selects cars, then everyone must write as many names as possible within a minute.

Cars, body-parts, Pokémon’s, flowers, rivers, capitals, etc. were a few of the topics. We selected worst of worst topic we believed that we could write way more than the opposition to get the edge. The best part was the adrenaline rush in each and every one either writing or copying and the fun of chase in such an inebriated stage made it special. Even a corrupt government would fall short of cheating when compared to the cheating taking place. The even funnier part is when the correction is being done, needless to say that everyone has turned into a doctor by now. A doctor’s handwriting is still legible, but how is one supposed to know that B, A, N…. and a little of scribbling ahead in Hebrew or probably Greek are the remaining letters of the fruit called banana.  D, E and a wavy line meant Delhi! God save such chaos and competition and the rightful demand for that one full mark even after a typo which ultimately made the checker to give in.

The best part comes when a team wins, with a few deceits, with a team of righteous and an obvious-winning-padhaku-players. The deceivers will tease the hell out of those players making, all in all, everyone laugh. Finally, with the dawn turning brighter, all would retire into their respective assigned beds. These being the normal rituals of the 3Ds of our night-stay, which all of us made sure not to miss. Ending up with father waking up everyone as early as possible in the morning, without a hint of the happenings of the night.

Currently, May is going on, that night, THE NIGHT was in March, still I dreamt it; it made my morning; still that dream lit me up. Definitely, not ‘LITT ME’ up! Such are the memories, one of the best, I know, I’m going to cherish till the end. After all, doesn’t happiness lie in the small things we do with our loved ones? We had many such nights in the past with, now, the frequency of such nights hitting a plateau on a PLC graph, I await such nights like an ardent fan awaits the next episode of  the Game of Thrones.

Until the next NIGHT!

A PEEKABOO WITH MOUNTAINS

“We’re taking a Vacation!” These very words fill the air in the room with excitement and anticipation. One forgets one’s real-world and gets into dream-world; wondering the potential fun, new experiences, the differences, breaking the monotony and so on to come.

Ever since the survival for everyday has gotten us all enslaved to monotony, we all crave for vacations–they’re like income, either in installments or lump sum; we love them.

Vacations, these days, include taking a small or big trip out of station with all our kith and kin, either visiting the tourist destination or exploring the various geographies across the globe in search of peace, love, happiness or all!

My last encounter was with the mighty Himalayan ranges, where I came across the might and light of these ranges. It went from being brown to green to snow white and growing from being small to big, to huge and finally to ridiculously humongous!

One often, whilst looking out of a window of a moving car, ends up playing PEEKABOO with these mountains which tend to hide behind either the trees or one another.  

I going deeper and higher in these ranges was directly proportional to the falling of temperature way below zero degrees and to the increase in number of layers of sweaters I got myself in.

As we travel and advance towards the early traces of snow or the snow advances towards us and that the FIRST glimpse of the snow that can be actually touched and felt and not just admired for lying on the top of the peaks is beyond words. The chills of mixed emotion that set into motion with the chilly breeze kissing your face and a ball of snow in palms for your pal to take will definitely make one forget one's own wedding.

And if fate has it, one would be fortunate enough to dance under a snowfall letting those soft, smooth, sliver of ice glide through or stay. The first glimpse is no less than the first love; following the same excitement for both and making a permanent room in your mind palace.

The most enthralling and delightful experience of all is to see the advancing snow. It is always bliss when seeking for snow, travelling in a car, going up-hill to finally see it around you, spattered, on the branches and leaves of the trees, on the sides of the road, on the roofs of houses, shops; gradually, with the gaining altitude the concentration of the snow increases from appearing as white-speckles to growing into a full white meadow. The green and the brown patches being filled with white, soft snow reversing the whole mechanism with now just a few green or brown speckles on a sheet of white.

Apart from this transition of brown-green-white and warm-cold, it’s a feeling of victory and achievement. As it is not every day that one can break one’s mundane work and kiss the ecstasy of vacationing.

It’s a tête-à-tête with nature that will last forever. 

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!  

Acknowledgement | Gratitude | Acceptance

Ludwig Wittgenstein once quoted, "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.'' 

Humans know, don't know or deny the very fact and power of Acknowledgement. It is an impetus for perpetual altruism. 

Add this to your life to change your life!

How often do we do that? Or let me ask how often do we acknowledge someone who doesn't concern us? Answer yourself! You will know what I mean. I know we all are totally absorbed in our mundane activities and simply love to crash in the bed by the day's end; but as we go through our day, we actually end up owing more and more to the people around us, to the society, to the elements which we come across our lives in that particular day; basically to the Universe!

Let's take a few examples-

1. Imagine, just missing that '7.45' local train in the morning would change your 'I'm having the best day' to 'I'm up to kill a thousand' in a fraction of second. You know, now, if someone whom you hate, god forbid it to be your ex, pops up out of nowhere and starts vexing you on the platform itself; what would you do? I know what I'll do and I take the liberty to say it for all of us as well. I'll charge on that someone yelling "SPARTA! AHOO... AHOO… AHOO! 

2. Despite how much ever we deny, we know we ache for that like; especially from that one special being. The state wherein you know that the uploaded pic on social media is for your just-turned-into-ex-because-of my-own-mistake girlfriend, maybe taken by her and with her, for which she had always asked you to upload, but you never did; and now, in desperation, wanting to woo her by uploading the same. It aches to see the marvels of that pic not acknowledged and appreciated by others and especially her. Why the HELL did I not get any Likes? This was my best picture ever!

   

3. That one day of the week, where you keep your ass up in the air and face dug deep into the pillow for most of the day - Sunday. You only cease to do so when the fan automatically turns off. What the F...? It's Sunday and no one is allowed in the room, not even parents; then who dared to cross the borders. It's our bai, maid, who got veto powers to overturn every rules as per her convenience and who, meticulously, only forgets to turn on the fan again after she is done. 

4. The late night homecoming with a company of other sex. I'm sure, we all do it quite often. Be it 2 or 3 or 4 o'clock in the night, when we get home in an inebriated state, we must have embraced the smoothness of the dark, the beauty of the night and a man standing quite far with a bamboo stick in the dim light. Seldom, barging into our privacy. 

5. The little drinking plans, in the corner of your society's lawns, right under the moons and stars with your pals lying on the silky, smooth and soft grass; taking shots.  Remember the sighs we've had saying, 'Ah! God bless this cushioning grass.' Going all this long only to get busted! 

From case 1 to case 5 we could only be happy and thankful, instead of being sad about the undesired outcomes. Our exes only teach us patience and tolerance through a hard way. If we miss the train, we must not lose it all, it's all right; the world won't come to an end. That is a beautiful picture, and you know it. Trust me! Show it off for yourself and not for others. Why bother? Be proud of the fact that even your pictures can be this stunning. Rather than cursing the bai, who is not always innocent, hone the skills of sleeping without fan; for she is the one who keeps your room the way it should be. That watchman, whether we know him or not, knows us and keeps our secrets safe with him; without turning it into a scandalous gossip of the society. Do we even know the gardener of our society? He is the reason we have cushioning grass under the sky. It is no shame getting caught drinking, it is only fun to repeat it; repeat it with the same gang!

I believe, "Being acknowledged is magical." You know how it feels once you get acknowledged, so why miss it? These fast paced lives of ours, already, has its watertight compartment of hatred, competition, anger, jealousy, revenge; to which there is no immediate soothing. Let’s spread the good vibes, let’s mingle, let’s hold hand, and let’s walk with ‘ear-to-ear’ smiles; as life is too short to notice everything. Saying a ‘Thank-you’ or a ‘Sorry’ won’t cost us anything, but would definitely cheer up the other person; as being humans we all share one similar trait-Expectation.  

I'm, here, not telling you as to how one should behave but asking you to observe the flip side and accept it, acknowledge it and show gratitude towards it; for everything these three actions can make someone's day. Do it not to make them happy but yourself, as George Orwell rightly states, "Happiness can exist only in acceptance." 

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!