A tangled mess

The sky is blue
I want it to be mauve
Thoughts are in a mess
But I think they can be sorted

The coffee is hot
I want it to be cold
The wind is cool
I want it to be warm

The sky is clear
But I want it to be cloudy

I know its not that difficult

But I choose to complicate it

Cattle can't fly
But I want them to
I can see the reason
But I want to ignore it

The heart aches
I'm trying to mend it
Questions are simple
But I'm trying to gauge the answers

My mind thinks logically
But I can't see through it
Has logic ever helped
I know the answer isn't trivial

All these parallel running threads seem so independent
Why can't they all work in different contexts
I know I was difficult on you
But I'm sure you can see
The mess I am in, leaves me no option.

I wish feelings were binary
and answers were public
If emotions weren't private
life could have been simpler!

Realisation parineeta!

All of us have seen the movie 'Parineeta' right?
Majority of us liked the movie for the sheer brilliance in the simplicity of the story telling and the brilliant performances.
I happened to read the novel, the english translation by Malobika Chaudhuri. And I was overwhelmed by the simplicity, not only of the lives of people then but also of the language used. Nowadays we don't come across novels written in such simple language. There wasn't a single word that I had to lookup and then move ahead.
The plot as we have all seen in the movie, is of a family with a greedy rich businessman, eyeing another poor friend's house and bossing over him for a loan given. The rich man's son falls in love with the poor man's niece. Its a simple plot and the ending is happy. But, why I chose to mention the novel here is just how much difference it makes while watching simplicity and in imagining simplicity when someone describes it. This novel felt very fresh. The life way back in the 20th century, child marriages, the pitiful life of women..the story just made all of this flash right in front of my eyes, only to make me realise...life for women isn't all that good even today. Why? yes, we have independence, freedom, rights to equality but are they without a price? Don't we hear so many cases of atrocities inflicted on women? Why then do we claim that we have given women equality?

Jaago re!

I was of 'vote'able age a couple of years ago, but I somehow could not get myself registered.
I submitted the form twice, but to no avail. Not that I do not value my power  to vote, but I was too lazy to move some muscles and go and do my work myself. I always gave this one and that one forms, and it was 4 years before I realised that I have to start moving myself if I plan to contribute a drop to the ocean.
Then when the 'jaago re' campaign started, I registered myself there and they're constant reminders maybe, somehow, subconsciously made me do the needful.
So, here I am, my first invaluable vote cast on the 13th of October 2009.
Mixed feelings ensue...
Did I use this right of mine, correctly? The answer to this is, you can never say so. You have to pick from a bunch of rotten tomatoes and you have to pick the 'best' 'rotten' one. So I don't ever see a foolproof solution to this problem.
I was never so much into politics. I never really bothered keeping a track of what someone is doing and how and where does his/her name show up in the news. This time I just made a last minute pick, based on what limited information I could gather in the last one day. Maybe next time onwards I should keep a vigilant watch on all the ongoing news on any political matter.
I don't know how far a single vote counts (of course they keep saying it does), but considering all the bogus voting and votes that have been bought etc. But I guess if everyone just starts voting honestly, this problem should be solved. So, I feel happy to be one of those who do vote honestly.
So, now I guess I'm responsible for who leads us. I've truly woken up and I hope I make the right choice always!

Sweet labour

The last weekend, was a long weekend and pree was here. Whenever pree is here, we have a closed circuit and memorable fun is guaranteed :)
The planning part as always so full of confusion, not here there..how when etc etc..but I won't get there as that's part and parcel of any planning process :)
So, the plan was set. 2nd October, we were going to Lohgad and Visapur.
Ash n me were to catch the local at 6:30 from pune station and pree and amz were to board the same train from shivajinagar at 6:36 :D. I  was already tensed, as boarding the same train from different stations etc, I never agree to. But according to our very own amz, it is the tension that makes trips fun :P.
So, ash & me somehow managed to catch the said train but the remaining people were late..so we got off at shivajinagar. Decided to board another Kolhapur-Mumbai express. This train was crowded, so even though we had tickets we travelled in the luggage compartment.

Was fun only till the sabjiwalas climbed in at the next station. This train we had boarded did not stop at malavli, the station we needed to get out to go to Lohgad. At talegaon where this train must have stopped for an eternity or so we felt, we had to make a decision whether we should go till lonavala and then come back towards malavli or leave this train here itself and board the next local that comes our way. People who knew more than us suggested the second option and I guess we were just in time in making our choice. We left this train and took the next one. So the train adventure ended and we reached malavli. There were many groups who we assumed were moving towards Lohgad, though luckily we didn't see any of the groups on our way up.
It was cloudy, not sunny and sweat was trickling down but our enthusiasm was always high. We took as many shortcuts as possible which made it feel like a real trek :). Thanks to the first tapri where we had nimbu pani, it helped in keeping our spirits high. After that we took a path, where a waterfall must have flown in the rains. It felt like walking through a jungle. (on a much smaller scale ofcourse :P)

There was a small family also moving up, but no matter how slow they thought we were moving we always reached higher than them :)

Tired and thirsty we made our way up. And was it worth! The ground was covered with flowers. It was a lovely flower bed and we felt like bollywood heroines who run and sing songs rolling in such flower beds. While moing towards 'vinchu kata' we felt as if we were floating in the flowers. It was absolutely lovely..breathtaking!

At a point, we could see the point we wanted to reach, but we could not see a feasible path towards it. We sat there just trying to figure out how we can go and then we spotted another person who found a different way. Now thanks to Pree, we went to vinchu kata. That point was nice. It felt so peaceful there, that we actually took a short afternoon nap there :D
We started moving down at around 3:15 or so. On the way we saw some college students who had come there to collect the plastic waste that people had thrown around there. It only made us realise, that where there is a will there is a way. It is up to each one of us to do our bit, however unimportant our contribution might seem. From now on I have decided to carry a small bag to pick up such waste and dispose it off at the nearest dustbin.
While descending the climate was pleasant and it was probably raining over the fort. We satisfied ourselves in a small waterfall that had managed to remain alive inspite of no rains.

At around 6:45 we started our journey back towards the railway station. We boarded the 7:45 train home and tire gave way to uncontrollable laughter on jokes, rather something that no one would ever find funny :).
Kudos to our group...may we go on more such memorable and fun trips :)

Books

Yes, I loved reading books. I have read quite a few..but I had stopped buying them a long time ago, just because I never really read them. But staying in between people who never stop buying one pile of books after another, I am getting into my old forgotten groove yet again.
I just purchased 'Three cups of Tea" and "Parineeta". I hope to finish them and only then buy my next lot :)

P.S. That reminds me I have still not complated books I purchased last time which includes 'Twilight', 'Angels and Demons' and 'A brief History of time'.

Surrounded by greenery...

This weekend (12th and 13th of September '09)...we visited Satara, Mahabaleshwar. Plans were in place atleast 4 days before the weekend. Work delegated appropriately and everyone was looking forward to the weekend.
Our carrier reached my place at 5:30am. I was ready in time (even though excitement didn't let me sleep the previous night). Next stop was Charuta's place and my road skills came into play when I couldn't reach the place even though I have been there a couple of times now. Anyhow, Lalit also reached there early (earlier than the last trip :P). We then proceeded towards office to pick up the remaining gang. As Amit was accompanied by his fianceé, our agenda for the day was troubling the couple ;). Journey started at around 6:30am.
Our firsts top was at Shirwal, Sriram vada pav center. Nice food and decent surroundings.

We moved towards Satara now. The road that leads to Thoseghar is surrounded by greenery and valleys. Its so beautiful that few people took turns to occupy the car top...it was nice fun...for them..and comfort for us :P. It was fun getting clicked (from top) by peeping outside the window..:)
I had never seen windmills from this close. We could actually here the rambling sound when the blades moved due to the wind. The ground was covered with a lot of flowers..just like we see in the movies..flower beds...it was lovely!

Next we moved to the thoseghar waterfall. It felt scary..imagine being at the receiving end of the waterfall! It was huge...n we also defined it as 'the' niagara falls ;)

The whole journey through satara gave the feel of a village...and felt so peaceful. The kids returning from school, racing on their cycles, playing with wheels...innocence at its best!
We then moved on to sajjangadh. Boy, was it a climb. Around 200 odd steps made me realise how my stamina has reduced. Anyway, we had nice, simple, tasty maha prasad and then explored some areas around the temple too. We then found a spot which opened the view to the entire valley below. Felt on top of the world ;) Then we moved towards Kaas valley and the lake.
At kaas valley we missed the flowers by around two weeks or so. There were a few flowers but I guess we missed the major lot. While moving towards the lake, we encountered a once in a lifetime view. That of rain clouds emptying their bounty over a small portion of a lake we could see from a distance. We could actually see the shadow moving on the water below and the rain looked like some heavenly spotlight! It was unbelievably beautiful!

We reached the lake in another fifteen minutes. The water was clean and cold. Some people swam through, while some others roamed around and slipped ;)
The so called (open) changing room was a disaster and people really need to understand that 'cleanliness is next to Godliness'.
Anyway, then we moved towards Mahabaleshwar, our palace resthouse, thanks to Charuta. And did we enjoy the undue attention ;) We had nice dinner at some restaurant which had two names. One of the names was swad. Had icecream at 10:30 in the misty cold weather and then gathered together to try and while away night time. But people slept in less than 20 minutes. Some of us had a small walk outside..and it wasn't as cold as Mahabaleshwar is expected to be. However, it was cooler than Pune.
Next day, after a heavy breakfast we moved towards Pratapgadh. The road is good, steep and winding curves, well known to upset stomachs very easily. It was accompanied by mist and umpteen waterfalls. After climbing pratapgadh halfway we reached a 'hastkala' exhibition which hogged around an hour of our time and we discovered that all of us are shop'a'holics ;) All plans of climbing the remaining half of the fort were cancelled as it started pouring heavily. I was smart enough to carry my jacket but leave it in the car below :P
To avoid getting ourselves drenched we took shelter in a small hut like structure and whiled away our time, fighting with swords and acting like the dead, and some people talking to the dead ;) After the rain became a meagre little we moved downwards. From there we were to go to Arthur's seat, famous for its scenic view. But unfortunately due to mist and rain the point was closed. So we decided to move on to Venna lake and try our luck at boating. Luckily boats were functional. So armed with nice juicy 'butta' we made our way to the boat. It was raining heavily and though we had a roof over the boat, all of us were drenched. The one time experience of boating in heavy rain and mist was more than enjoyable!
We then proceeded towards our resthouse, got into fresh clothes and started our return journey towards Pune. No, wait how can we leave out Bagicha 'strawberry cream' and Mapro 'sandwiches'. Of course we hogged on to all of these and then made a peaceful journey to Pune. This time some people slept, while some others did nothing more but comment on the dumb songs that were being played and the even dumber RJ who tried to act cool ;)
Reached home by 10pm and then felt a sense of satisfaction. And I thought to myself, so this is what it feels like to be surrounded with greenery...mist...jokes...laughter..and awesome company.

Guys..lets keep planning such fun trips. (Are MD and Charuta listening? ;) )

P.S. For a recital of the trip by another buddy who was part of the trip, go here.

Can I be proud of my writing skills

Recently, I was introduced to ficly by Mohsin. I found the idea a brilliant one, and was forever thinking of writing atleast one ficlet.
Little did I know that I would churn out so many (ok the many is only 5 for now, but I think its an awesome number to start with).
I started with a nice idea, but not so well written one based on teleporting.
Next came another nice idea but I personally didn't like the way it turned out. Story revolved around blogger and the sequel.
Another common idea but well written with werewolves etc.

Then today, I read this awesome awesome poem and wanted to write a sequel. But since the poem was so brilliant, I was unsure if I would be able to do justice in the sequel. But turns out I cannot believe that I wrote this wonder. Its just frigging awesome! I am on top of the world and you don't want to miss it. So I'll put it in here, and save you having to open another link. So here it goes

I forgot how to worry,
and never ran out of happiness.
I forgot how to argue,
and everything around was quiet.

I forgot life is unfair,
and made every moment worth living.
I forgot the word revenge,
and enemies ceased to exist.

I forgot dreams are’nt real,
and lived in blissful fiction.
I forgot how to complain,
and dissatisfaction vanished.

I forgot that I’m human,
and work finished in a jiffy.
I forgot that I’m a slave,
and masters never lasted.

I forgot to have expectations,
and life became numb.
I forgot feelings are real,
and oceans never flowed.

I forgot how to breathe,
and life became heavenly.

and if you want to rate it, you can do it here.