Each time I sit back and publish a segment to my blog it is when something within energizes me to write my experience. I write what I feel I need to write. Sometimes an irrelevant thought sparks memories that influence an enormous amount of nostalgia and it does not take long to reminisce all that has transpired during the yore. The excessive summer months of Faridabad (a small city near Delhi) and the manner in which we spent them tending to so many things. Things that would have no relevance in today’s world, but when you live those years again they bring back such vivid and exciting memories. My sister, and I grew up with disciplined, protective, and very loving parents. They never took us to those gorgeous snow-clad Himalayas for an exotic summer vacation but took deep interest in all the small and little innocent things we did as kids. Dad who is a pillar to my existence always taught us the difference between good and bad in a very subtle way. Any time we indulged in verbal fight, he without raising his voice would tell us, ‘When speaking to people, say what you mean, mean what you say, but don't be mean when you say it.’ Frankly I could barely understand what he meant by that then.
Today, in this moment I stand here and wonder, how easy it is for people especially Indian by origin and ‘married’ or ‘taken’ by fate to be mean to those who are single (either by choice or destiny). Much easy to let the reins of their galloping imaginations and conjectures loose and indulge in suppositions, presumptions, or lame, insecure, and limp judgment to enlighten themselves for a moment. Those weak accusation if smashed to the ground shall break into pieces and would never be put together again... But yes, it is easy to stand behind protective walls (I mean the current and respective spouse) and throw all the garbage you possibly can on the other side - you would never have to clean up the mess yourself. Ruthless Reality! I invite those lovely people to come on my side and live this life... walk on fire to save dignity, safeguard pride, and brave the harsh arrows. No, those people would not have the courage to do so, hence the easiest is to stand tall and talk of one issue, one incident, cast an opinion, make a remark or get judgmental. All that is seen and heard and spoken of, has a flip side to it too. I with all my heart pity those who royally ignore that side before reaching to conclusion. At times I wonder why the butt of every accusation eventually comes and rests on my back. SAD!!! What exists is the fact that the soft spoken gentle voice of reason and reality invariably gets submerged in the loud and meaningless volume of assumptions. Fair enough!!
I was reading a friend’s blog and came across a famous saying in Bengali - Joto dosh! Nando Ghosh! For every fault and for every error, it is always Mr. Nando Ghosh. Basically a sarcasm on life and the way some of us allow it to function. The skill lies in how best to pass the buck on to that one vulnerable person. Peg all on him, build the circumstances, and then dig his grave and bury him. CAUTION - Bury him, but never completely. You may need to pull it out again to plug another accusation over it. Put it all over this sucker! It shall be more believable and convincing.
Yes, it is mean but so convenient!!!
After all these years I have lived and while I am geographically away from my parents, I value every single word that my mom and dad lived up to each day flawlessly. Dad always said, ‘There is nothing more valuable than peace and harmony and that your worth and your credibility shall be devoured by the vastness of the earth that you walk upon! And if there are those, who have objections to this practice, they are not obliged to be part of your life.’ Here’s my special thanks to those few friends who inspired me enough to go through this so I could write this piece.
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. Glad that the day is almost over. So, help me God, it is a fascinating world. Life is delightful and shamelessly harsh too. Tomorrow is a day of love and expectations; of argument and belief; of playing hard and soft simultaneously. Shower your GRACE so I can face every mistake and submit to it.
I acknowledge those that stay with me in thought and belief, in prayers and despair. Wish them a happy and blessed life!
Today, in this moment I stand here and wonder, how easy it is for people especially Indian by origin and ‘married’ or ‘taken’ by fate to be mean to those who are single (either by choice or destiny). Much easy to let the reins of their galloping imaginations and conjectures loose and indulge in suppositions, presumptions, or lame, insecure, and limp judgment to enlighten themselves for a moment. Those weak accusation if smashed to the ground shall break into pieces and would never be put together again... But yes, it is easy to stand behind protective walls (I mean the current and respective spouse) and throw all the garbage you possibly can on the other side - you would never have to clean up the mess yourself. Ruthless Reality! I invite those lovely people to come on my side and live this life... walk on fire to save dignity, safeguard pride, and brave the harsh arrows. No, those people would not have the courage to do so, hence the easiest is to stand tall and talk of one issue, one incident, cast an opinion, make a remark or get judgmental. All that is seen and heard and spoken of, has a flip side to it too. I with all my heart pity those who royally ignore that side before reaching to conclusion. At times I wonder why the butt of every accusation eventually comes and rests on my back. SAD!!! What exists is the fact that the soft spoken gentle voice of reason and reality invariably gets submerged in the loud and meaningless volume of assumptions. Fair enough!!
I was reading a friend’s blog and came across a famous saying in Bengali - Joto dosh! Nando Ghosh! For every fault and for every error, it is always Mr. Nando Ghosh. Basically a sarcasm on life and the way some of us allow it to function. The skill lies in how best to pass the buck on to that one vulnerable person. Peg all on him, build the circumstances, and then dig his grave and bury him. CAUTION - Bury him, but never completely. You may need to pull it out again to plug another accusation over it. Put it all over this sucker! It shall be more believable and convincing.
Yes, it is mean but so convenient!!!
After all these years I have lived and while I am geographically away from my parents, I value every single word that my mom and dad lived up to each day flawlessly. Dad always said, ‘There is nothing more valuable than peace and harmony and that your worth and your credibility shall be devoured by the vastness of the earth that you walk upon! And if there are those, who have objections to this practice, they are not obliged to be part of your life.’ Here’s my special thanks to those few friends who inspired me enough to go through this so I could write this piece.
I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning. Glad that the day is almost over. So, help me God, it is a fascinating world. Life is delightful and shamelessly harsh too. Tomorrow is a day of love and expectations; of argument and belief; of playing hard and soft simultaneously. Shower your GRACE so I can face every mistake and submit to it. I acknowledge those that stay with me in thought and belief, in prayers and despair. Wish them a happy and blessed life!
Glad that the day is almost over… and nothing soothes like going back home after a busy, tiring day at work. Simple things are the best things in life and McVities Digestives are still the best biscuits. Had totally forgotten how comforting they can be along with a nice cup of tea... Having them after a long time...
There is a need to reject, and ignore something like an Alt + Ctrl + Del function (You control the thoughts that stir you, find an alternative and then delete all that is bothering and painful and then differentiate where you went wrong). The other aspect which is influencing my judgment is tolerance. Like someone was testing my tolerance level for a very long time and then came a moment when a certain section of my brain indicated that my resistance is about to break. I believe like everyone else around I too possess small but significant amount of tolerance, resistance, perseverance but sometimes you have to get over your insecurities, step backward, leave what’s behind you and move ahead with conviction.
Today is the day when the angels took my sister, brother-in-law, and their little princess home to God. This was probably the worst day of my life. I do not wish to remember the year they went away nor the time nor the circumstances. They just went away and forever. So far away that I cannot even try to get them back. I am with them, every single day, every single moment, whether I am happy or sad, whether I am home or out. But today I shall miss them lots. Because today I know mom, dad, and I would think of her and jeejaji and the moments we spent with them more than usual. 
‘Didi’ just two years elder to me but was some kind of strength, and strong support for me from the very beginning. Yes, she resides in our hearts, mind, and in our thoughts forever. Young, happy, cheerful, giving, practically she sits beside my mom and dad in their bedroom, on the dining table, in her favourite mauve attire and some gold jewellery… bright and angelic. I can still see her sitting in front of the TV calling out for mom. After she got married I called her every morning as I set off for the day. Today when she is above all, watching me and her little one (Aditya) I ask her to give us strength, and a close embrace... that is all! 
We were heading towards Karjat and I was quite aware of the fact that the roads in India are tough to cycle. Attempt to overtake and pushing you off the road is common and you're given little or no quarter by the bus & truck drivers (although you'll sometimes get the positive thumbs up from them when they see you struggling while going uphill). Often cars will be zooming past with only inches to spare, almost brushing the bike in their frenzied dash for liberation. With all this running on my mind and several other discussions in parallel with Gurdeep, Mitesh, and Vikram we reached Lucky’s Restaurant, Karjat. It was a pleasant site. After a good and satisfying breakfast we all got onto our bicycles... excitement was at its pinnacle and I could not miss thinking of this line by Gusteau in the movie Ratatouille "If you get stuck thinking about what you left behind or lost, you’ll never see what is in front of you." I guess life is so much like biking... To maintain the balance you have to just keep moving. With a smile on my lips and a spark in my heart I started off along with the group! 
For the initial 1km, traffic was banked up in both directions and we quietly pedalled to sneak through the cars, trucks, motorbikes, and buses. The next 25-28km was not a hard stretch of road to cycle, or maybe it was all part of the charm of the place, light weight 24 geared mountain bikes, helmets, and the high energy levels. The road went across bridges over streams, most of which were largely dry and also passed small villages with countable number of huts. Actually after a while it was just us on the road and I pedalled off, enjoying the freedom from traffic behind me. The short, quick breaks, for rest, water, and photography were neat! There's this odd phenomenon I noticed: you'll often hear "Hey!" being yelled out - in an insistent, tone. It'll either be a farmer, yelling instructions to his bullock, or some children waving, and who, on seeing you cycle past are expecting that you'll suddenly stop cycling & immediately head over to them. Sometimes they smile and exchange eye contact if you do stop & look in the direction. Frankly speaking, it was a concerning sight for us when we saw slightly slow vehicles (like a slow truck, or an old man with the bullock & cart) coming towards us. 
In parts it was quite stony bitumen with high resistance making cycling seem much harder than it should. Sometimes we even had to pedal hard downhill, as the bike won't easily roll on this stuff. In fact, it sometimes seemed I was in one of those anomalous gravitational areas you hear of, where vehicles allegedly roll uphill (yes, you got it right – ‘The Magnetic Hill, Leh’ haha I have not gotten over my Ladakh trip). Here, some roads seemed to be going uphill, but you find yourself rolling along without need for pedalling; others seem downhill but stop pedalling and you rapidly come to a halt. Spooky! It wasn't too bad though!!! 
Now the sun went down, the whole town is quiet - hardly any noise, here I am sitting in the comfort of my home post the adrenaline rush all through the day, I give profound thanks to Sumit (Below Banyan), our guides (Santosh, Bhavesh, and Akshay) and the entire group (Gurdeep, Mitesh, Suruchi, Swapnil, Vandana, Vikram, Vinay, and Vishal) for making this trip an exhilarating one. I enjoyed every single moment of it! There was a sense of freedom, and it was eventful and exciting being among the participants. Hope everyone else did too!