There are such few songs in my ipod that i keep going back to over and over and over again. These are songs that I can listen to my entire lifetime probably and never get sick of them and I get the same feeling I did when I heard them for the first time. And that is exactly what music is supposed to do to your soul. If it takes your soul to the same place it did the first time, thats the music for your soul.
My everyday religion after I come back home from long hours of work and insane driving is to turn up the decibel levels in my room and let my ears do the rest of the talking to myself until the moon is high up in the sky and shining boldly. Occasionally my dad wakes up and walks into my room just to re-assure himself that I haven't gone completely berserk listening to music instead of catching some sleep after a long day of work. What music does to my soul is something that even sleep cannot do.
Thinking aloud here on this blog, I do feel, that it is such a miracle that the human mind has the gift from God to make, create and give birth to waves of sound we call music. It is the unspoken language transcending all forms of communication,expectations and judgement, that has the strength to break all barriers of the heart and enter boldly like a majestic lion entering his kingdom, yet, as gentle and subtle like the touch of a feather, stirring the soul to unfathomable depths of ecstasy.
"..And in the end, we lie awake, and we dream we'll make an escape...."
For the Soul
Dancing Leaves
I shot this in Hinchingbrook, England on a very windy morning. Beautiful trees dancing. Enjoy :)
Sweetness
Yo China!
So Yo China! has gone pretty gung-ho in it's new looks and feel.
In the insane heat my friends and I decided to be bold enough and step out to have lunch and decided to eat Yo China! ka maal at the Vasant Vihar branch. The place has had a complete turn around as opposed to how fast-foodish look it had when I went a year ago. It looks like a decent restraunt, new apholstery and wood work, real glass cutlery as opposed to the blue plastic glasses it had and the works.
When it came to ordering the food, my friends and I had a disappointing look on our faces as we had to order vegetarian khana, it being a Tuesday, thanks to religious conscience drilled, filled up and cemented on our heads. There isn't much variety to order from the vegetarian section, diced vegetables in a few sauces and paneer. What sort of a nut would come to a Chinese restraunt and order paneer!? Not the food chain's fault, it's got to have a punjabi touch right, thanks to us? I thought so.
After ordering veggies and noodles we ordered the beverages.I decided to order a smoothie-yogurt and all, however I was disappointed to see it actually turned out to be an ice crushed frozen.. well, it was frozen. Not what I had in mind for a smoothie. hmmmm. I ordered the safest drink, the good ol' Iced Tea. It turned out to be good, unfortunately the glass gave way to my appetite for drinking the beverage. It was sticky and dirty. Upon notifying the waiter, I was given the same thing with the glass wiped... instead of being served in a new one. Disappointing.
I like the way they present the main course gravy in a tiny wok gently heated by a small food warmer just about maintaining the heat of the dish, mind you, it was hot! I am always fascinated by such kind of presentations! It looked really cool to me. It was small and just had the right quantity of gravy. The noodles were fantastic! The food turned out to be good all in all. And with the first bite of the food, all the past disappointments faded away and my taste buds just enjoyed the teasing and the tingling of the flavours. Some ray of light.
However, coming from a hospitality background, I couldn't help but notice a lot of other service issues that could have been improved. Sometimes, it is really the service and the quality of presentation that matters, and no matter how much the book looks good by its cover, never judge a book only by its looks.
A Beautiful Canvas
From the days when I was a very little girl, I lived a very simple life. As a family we had a very simple living. My sisters and I shared a room at one point, we were three little girls, till they grew up and eventually got married. And now they have children of their own. And I got my space. My room. My domain. My time. My ground.
We had simple things to enjoy, like the Radio and Doordarshan, picnics with mom and dad, going out for lunches and dinners with relatives, used fountain pens and ink pots, diaries and still used the black vintage typewriters and cars with Italian makes. I was alien to the concept of fashion. My sisters whose age gap and mine is considerable, had just become aware of the 90's fashion. I remember the days when we used to listen to music on the cassette players and tape recorders. Then from somewhere, came the Walkman! Music of my choice on the go!! Shiny red, yellow and blue plastic body with a transparent patch in the middle that showed the reel of the cassette. I also remember the days when I used to use the rewind button and wait for a whole four minute song to rewind.
We all had the patience then.
Life was slow and peaceful. There was time to relax under the sun and talk about the day. Not that I am 50yrs of age and am remembering the prime of my life, I am in the prime of my life, but I still cherish those beautiful memories of simplicity and brotherhood and the feeling of belongingness with community and family.
I would like to dedicate this blog note to all those people who miss the same feeling as I do, and will, for all my life to come. However there are many things to look forward to. New memories will still be made. There will be changing seasons, changing faces, changing spaces, and changing phases. And all will be a part, of this great joy ride, called Life.
In or Out?
We are social animals. We all like to meet, communicate, participate, be acknowledged, be heard and be seen. 
And we all love social networking. Day in and out, before work, after work, on holidays, and business trips, from all across the globe.The world seems like a very small place now! 
As I write this blog, I am trying to remember the real reasons why the whole concept of social networking really started.
A few reasons as I see it : Meeting new people, meeting like minded people, keeping in touch, updates on your communities, updates of your current life, public discussions, maybe contemplations, kill free time..and then some.
As a regular user of a networking site, I use the options to the fullest. I update status, post comments, join in social discussions, post pictures, have even taken those dumb quizzes and played dumb games and grew out of it. Every body is on networking sites these days. And everybody loves participating on them.
But there is also, a new, very silent, knavish and sly breed of people who are a part of the 'social networking game'. This breed of people sit silently and are a part of people's profiles and lists. They watch and read but refuse to participate. They don't make an effort to put updates, leave alone interacting with others. This set of people generally, so far that I have noticed, feed off the creativity and passion and positivity of the others and try to bring them down, just to satisfy and equate them to their own paradigm paralysis as a justification. Their jealousy comes out in leaps and bounds and they try to belittle the ones who enjoy being on these sites and are passionate about participating in them.The passion of one person is the dagger for another. 
What are these people really doing here?
Whatever the reason may be, for all those who like interacting on such sites such as myself, don't get bogged down by these people. They will always be there to do what they are here to do. They gota do what they gota do.
Enjoy, be passionate, live the experience and enjoy letting your creativity out! It is natural to us.
Besides, in this pace of life, in today's difficult world, I would personally welcome any medium that brings people together from all across the globe, in unity. This is the least we can do to make our world a better place to live in.
Free Fall
They say to be wanting a change, you need to be the agent of change.
We all have a tendency to become comfortable, we want to change the things around us and in our lives, maybe change the people too. But we keep waiting for the right time, afraid to take the risk, the plunge. What if one falls flat on his face? What if it doesn't work out? What do you do then?
I think most of us become comfortable in the routine and the real reason why we are afraid to take risks is because of the fear of being accountable for our own actions. For Real.
Waiting for the right time to take the plunge. Rather, waiting for someone to push you over.
I am also like that, waiting to be pushed many times.
But instead of being pushed over, wouldn't it make more sense to Sky Dive!
Its Holi !
Yes, it is that time of the year again! March, board exams, winters silently slithering out and Holi.
For those who want to know a little bit about Holi,there was a demon-king named Hiranyakashipu who was very cruel and ordered everybody to worship him and not the Lord. However, his little son Prahlad refused to do so and continued to worship the almighty Lord Vishnu, the Hindu God. He tried hard to kill him but every time Lord Vishnu saved him. One of the sisters of the king named Holika had a boon to remain unscathed by fire, so she followed her brother's wishes. However, with this sinful act against Lord Narayana's devotee, Holika's boon ended and she was burnt to ashes, while Prahlad came out safe. From that day onwards Holi is celebrated as the festival of the victory of good over evil. Even today, bonfires are lit on the night before Holi in memory of the event and burning of the evil Holika. It symbolizes the victory of Good over evil.
SO, this is the one time of the year when I see an explosion of colours all over the country! People singing and dancing and eating, families coming together, smearing all the colours of gulal playfully on each other! Girls screaming with glee when beaned with water balloons and kids running around, and the parents running after them!! The old timers giving their infinite blessings with sweets to the younger ones. Water flowing everywhere, loud dance numbers playing behind, the scent of flowers and the streaks of colours like magenta, lime, bright yellow, turquoise shot in the air! 
However I think I am generally afraid of getting beaned with water balloons plus the quality of colours and the very hard work that needs to be done to get ALL that off of me. Call me lazy if you want, that this is the bottom-line for me!
Still, there is something very bright and positive about this festival. It is the death of evil and the supreme reign of the power of the Lord. It is a reminder that no matter how much evil tries to take over the universe, it will always be defeated. Goodness will always remain. Love amongst people will always remain. Faith will always remain. The colorful festival bridges the social gap and renew sweet relationships.
This Holi, let us enjoy the wonderful positive vibrations and pray for peace to reign, for goodness to reign, for all auspicious things to happen and for the world to be a more peaceful place to live in.
We all come together in colours.
Mahashivratri
According to the Puranas (Sanskrit: पुराण purāṇa, "of ancient times" group of important Hindu or Jain and Buddhist religious texts, consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation to destruction), during the great mythical churning of the ocean called Samudra Manthan, a pot of poison emerged from the ocean. The gods and the demons were terrified as it could destroy the entire world. When they ran to Lord Shiva for help. He in order to protect the world, drank the deadly poison but held it in his throat instead of swallowing it. This turned his throat blue, and since then he came to be known as 'Nilkantha', the blue-throated one. Shivratri celebrates this event by which Shiva saved the world.
It is the night of the worship of Lord Shiva, occurs on the 14th night of the new moon during the dark half of the month of Phalguna (the twelfth month of the Hindu calendar). It falls on a moonless February night, when Hindus offer special prayer to the lord of destruction. Shivratri (Sanskrit 'ratri' = night) is the night when he is said to have performed the Tandava Nritya or the dance of primordial creation, preservation and destruction. The festival is observed for one day and one night only.
The Maha Shivratri celebration includes
various spiritual practices such as repetition of mantra, hymns, satsang,
and meditation that purify the human mind.
The sages have said that by repeating a conscious mantra Om Namah Shivaya (a mantra becomes
conscious or live when received through a guru parampara coming down from
the original Guru, Lord Shiva) with devotion, concentration, and
understanding, the mind becomes free from its negative impressions. Just as
one cleans one's dirty clothes with soap, so also one can clean one's mind
of its negative impressions through a conscious mantra. It can destroy one's
difficulties, impurities or bad karmas of many lifetimes. Such is the power
of a conscious mantra repetition. Just as by pouring water at the root of a
tree, all its branches get nourished, so also by worshipping your own inner
Spirit (called by many names including Ishwar, Shiva, Krishna, Rama,Jesus, Buddha,
Mahavira, Nanak, and Allah) all gods and goddesses are automatically
worshipped. This is the secret of all secrets.
One of the names of Lord Shiva is Asutosh, which means "easily pleased." Let
us pray: "O Asutosh! You are my innermost Spirit. My body is your house. In
every pore of my body, in every blood cell of my body, and in every particle
of my body, you dwell. My actions in this world are your worship. My speech
is your prayer. I am in you and you are in me and everyone. Let my mind be
absorbed in the conscious mantra so that its vibrations of universal love,
wisdom, and peace pass into all beings."
May everyone have a Blessed year!
Happy Mahashivratri!!
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Don't loose Hope
" life is a roller coaster you just gota ride it ! "
This is a beautiful song sung by Ronan Keating many years back.
This line got stuck in my head and I still think about it.
Life is not an easy journey, we have our good times, bad times, some very bad times. Most of us get through it more or less, some make big achievements, some few, some none. Whatever you face, no matter how much of difficult time you see or have seen, don't loose hope.
Nothing is permanent. The good times will come too. There is always day after night. The important thing to remember is to learn from your experience and don't loose hope. Don't loose hope in people, don't loose hope in humanity, don't loose hope in love...
Don't loose hope in hope.
Trust the lord. Trust the universe.
When the first rays of the sun hit the earth, it penetrates everything, and everything becomes beautiful and sparkles. But, the sun will always rise in it's right time. Don't we trust the universe for that?
Then why can't we trust the universe for our own selves?
Don't loose hope and faith. For some, this is the only thing that keeps them going.
