Moving out of comfort-zone.

It was beginning of monsoon and the afternoon was cloudy. But a couple rode happily on a bike braving the unfavourable weather. They stopped by the road at a point which was a scenic spot. A distant mountain was half-hidden by the clouds. The sun was not visible. But there was enough light to click a photo. The wife took out the mobile phone to take a photograph of her husband. At this time I happened to pass them. Ordinarily I would never have taken an interest in such a situation but that day I thought to move out of my comfort zone. The couple were complete strangers to me. However, I stopped by them because I had to go out of my comfort zone. I asked the lady for her mobile. Both the man and the wife were startled for a while. Obviously the lady was reluctant to hand me her mobile. Now I had to smile and tell, “Ma’am, please do not think that I am going to snatch your mobile. I just want to click a photo of you both so that you can preserve the memory of your togetherness forever.” The woman blushed and the man smiled at me. I clicked their photograph, shook hands with the man and left them with a bye-bye gesture.

That afternoon for sometime a smile lingered on my face. I moved out of my comfort-zone and at the same time I expanded its limit too.........

The Village Temple

The village temple stands as a sacred abode of HOPES, DREAMS, PROGRAMMES and IDEALS.

A woman comes with a basket full of flowers, agarbati and coconuts and carries back a heart full of divine solace and verdant hopes. She is contented and is assured of the lord’s blessings. The happiness beaming on her face is born of a sense of great security provided by the all-powerful village deity. The village temple is all hopes for her.

A student comes. He bows his head before the idol and dreams of a good result in the recent examination; he dreams of a good job and imagines his Sanskrit teacher’s daughter in bridal dress. The village temple is the abode of his tender sweet dreams.

The local politician comes and declares a programme of 3 day long Sankirtan for world peace. The temple becomes a ground for mass gathering and the venue for chanting of sacred names through Public Address system. An unknown passerby devotedly bows his head while the programme goes on and the politician smilingly introduces himself as the organizer.

That day the temple was silent. The idol was standing in grave silence. And a woman who was mistreated yesterday by a group of local dadas fell before the idol. Her body bore many bruises. But her soul was more brutally bruised when she was told to keep silent. She fell before the idol helplessly but when she rose up she had garnered enough strength to put the anti-socials behind the bars and she was determined to set a new IDEAL.

   

Conferer of Togetherness

Before the child drifts into sleep, he hums and his mother lulls him to sleep. The mother pats the child’s back. The humming of the child gets rhythmical with the pat. And then the humming of the child gradually grows fainter and fainter as his eyes feel heavier and heavier with sleep.

Now the child sleeps. He is a small innocent figure who sleeps contentedly. On the table nearby a half filled feeding bottle stood. The mother put the sleeping child on the bed. All day’s work has made her dog-tired. She now throws herself in her husband’s arms and the husband lovingly holds his tired wife. Both of them close their eyes in deep togetherness. By the time the child also opens his eyes. He finds his mom and father now fast asleep. He slowly climbs over them and joyfully holds both of them and once again sleeps most contentedly with a divinely attractive smile that truly lights up the family.

A CHILD IS TRULY A STRONG BINDER WHO CAN HOLD A WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER WITH HIS SMALL HANDS.

Social Networking Sites: The Common man's press

Everyone knows that the beetle shops, tea stalls and the coffee houses are the hot seats of political discussions. In some way or the other they are truly the best platform for exercising one’s freedom of speech. These are the places where we Indians are convinced or reassured of the existence of democracy. Sometime in a day with every sip of hot tea/coffee, many hot discussions on the fate of the country or on the meanness of our politicians or on the widespread corruption form the matter of discussion. No doubt, sometimes other issues like cricket, anti-rape propaganda, and terrorism also go in making the most animated talks of a day. These talks may be half-backed, rumour-like or biased or ill-informed but they bear the authentic stamp of a human-being’s real-time sentiments and response. They are not like those deliberately and masterfully tailored news pieces that appear in the print or electronic media. Most news items in the media distort the truth according to the news makers’ convenience. But the news and opinions served at the tea/coffee houses are the waves of human responses unedited. And the same human sensitivity can presently be found nowhere except in the social networking sites. The social networking sites enable the common man to reach the millions. This advantage can be exploited to counteract the biased media. A vigorous involvement of more and more people in such sites can help lay bare the truth. The day is not far when it would be more wholesome to depend upon social networking sites to know the reality behind a scene.

In short social networking can serve as a common man’s press whose laws and news are not dictated by the corporate tycoons nor the corrupt officials or politicians. And truth prevails everywhere.

A wish.......

A wish.....a deep yearning

Strong waves of a mind

Beautiful & unreachable

Like the full moon

Quickening Heartbeats

Open arms and face skyward

And a Strong wind blowing hard

Rattling each hair

An intake of fresh breath

And unfurling of a new flag of life

With golden lining all where

Love, rose and peace in someone’s hug.