I Am Gonna Travel Down a Road, the Road That is Mine

And here I am, writing all over again....

Its been two years of meandering away from the road I planned to take. Two years full of new experiences, doing new things in life not done before and making a happy compromise with the new path of life embraced.

Yet, I still realize that a burning desire remains. The road that I left still beckons me. As I tackle the age old stigmas of handling family reponsibility, the pull towards pursuing my dreams of building a setup of my own seems irresistible. The ideas are hazy, the road not totally clear. I search in the haze for the path that is mine. Never much of a person believing in social rules and living by what I believe in, the desire to set up a different ecosystem, enterprise and realize ideas of my own grows stronger each day. I, forever a believer of questioning beliefs, researching new ideas, find a different callling. Though I may not have gone to the States for learning what I wished and finding kinship in that ecosystem, the fire to start it here, still burns....burns hard.....

How long will this compromised path of life keep me bound to it? The time to break away to my own calling is coming soon. Time to get going on building something new !!

 

Ek Chehra Dhundta Hun Mein

Ek Chehra Dhundta Hun Mein.
Hansta, Muskata sa,
Bhola sa, nadaan sa.
Do aankhen shararat bhari,
Aur hont bhare duaon se.
Wo jo subah ko naya sa kar de,
Wo humsafar dhundta hun mein.
Ek chehra dhundta hun mein.

Ek chehra dhundta hun mein.
Jo dil ka aina ho.
Kare jo har dukh ko fanan,
Ek nazar bhar dekhne mein hi.
Jiska deedar hi ibadat ho,
aur judai dard ban jaaye.
Wo khuda ka noor dhundta hun mein.
Ek chehra dhundta hun mein.

You Smiled and My World Came Alive

You smiled and my world came alive.
That day I saw you walking among the stars,
All bedazzled and surrounded by flowers.
With your twinkling eyes and your sheepish smile.
You floored me instantly with your simple style.
A look by you and ma' heart did a jive,
You smiled and my world came alive.

The times when we talk,
I just watch the screen.
Imagining your face in the words that appear.
Every smiley sets my face alight,
and each offline status dims my eyes.
As I  watch you go, my heart takes a dive,
You smile and my world comes alive.

For days I tried to take control,
To chain the heart that goes for a stroll.
And when it appeared that I'd mastered my heart,
Your FB update took it all apart.

And off I was, crazy like a kid of Five,
You smiled and my world came alive.

--------Vaibhav Pant.

Aasman Ki Or Ud Chala Ek Panchi

Aasman ki or ud chala ek panchi,
Ek naya aashiyaan dhundta badalon ke jahan mein.

Yun to ye Dharti kuch kam nahi thi khushnuma,
ki uski kyariyoon ne bi khushbu bikheri.
Ki pedon ki chaon panchi ko bulati,
Thandi si hawa thi use chuke jati.
Par ye nahi tha uska thikana,
Nahin tha yahan usne theher jaana.
Rukna, theherna na sikha tha usne,
Ki chalte hi jaana hi jindagi hai.
So,ek nayi khoj karne chala ek panchi,

Aasman ki or ud chala ek panchi,
ek naya aashiyaan dhundta badalon ke jahan mein.

Har nayi rah na hoti hain aasaan,
Ki phoolon mein bi kante hain hote.
Ek nayi shuruaat hogi to mushkil,
Ye wo jaanta tha, ye wo samajhta tha.
Ki aasmaan mein sheetal chandni hi na hogi,
Jalti dhoop udna karega to mushkil.
Par mushkil se ghabraye wo rahi hi kya hai,
Udna bhool jaaye wo panchi hi kya hai.
To lo pankh failaye wo phir ud raha hai,
Badalon ko bhedne gaya ek panchi.

Aasman ki or ud chala ek panchi,
ek naya aashiyaan dhundta badalon ke jahan mein.

The Day Bangalore Lockdown Made Me a Chef

I never realized how serious Dominoes' Pizza's "Hungry Kya" campaign is, till Monday 5 th of July,2010. This day has no real importance( its a day after USA celebrates its Independence Day). Yet, it will remain etched in my "Stomach" forever.

A few days before this memorable day, the Indian central government decided that the Indian common man's honeymoon period was over. It was payback time. And amid much hue and cry, the fuel prices were increased. The common man had hardly understood the full comport of it,when a lockdown(Bandh) was ordered by certain "Highly" intelligent individuals of the political circle. And......Bangalore came to a standstill.

I had heard a lot about such Bandhs, but the real experience happened only now. As I strolled out for a walk in the busy hours of the morning, every shop was closed. And the ones that mattered the most....the Food Joints, were shut down. Feeling terribly hungry, I measured the length and breadth of Marathalli(area where I live) to descry if possible, any signs of food. But, as fate would have it, not a single shop, even the shanty one that springs up in the nooks and recesses of residential areas, was open. With a heavy heart and empty growling stomach, I headed back home. It was time to dig deep into my supplies.

My "SUPPLIES" as you would call them, consisted of only 3 packets of biscuits, 3 slices of cheese and 1 sachet of tomato sauce. It was impossible to think, at first, how I was going to conjure up a breakfast menu and a delicious lunch out of this.I managed to take care of the breakfast, munching a few pieces from each of the 3 biscuit packets available at my disposal. Little did I realize then that my lunch was going to inspire the Chef within me.

As time for lunch approached, I realized that I could not survive on a plain diet of biscuits. Insufficient as it was, an insipid lunch would only make matters worse. I decided....it was time to innovate.

Picking up two biscuit pieces, I filled Tomato sauce in between to bring some variety into my starters for lunch. The first bite on this new preparation(Sauc-e-Monaco) was enough to indicate that I had started on the right foot. It gave me the impetus to proceed forward with my experiments. The next on menu was the Cheesi-la-Exotica. Prepared by sandwiching cheese spread or cheese slice in between a couple of biscuits and topped with ample tomato sauce, it was a real delicacy. I was now experimenting at will, using all my supplies to the best effect.

At the end of lunch, though not full satiated in terms of hunger, I was absolutely bowled over by the taste. In the EXTREME crisis, I managed to prepare my first independent and innovative line of snack recipes. The Bangalore Bandh turned me into a CHEF.

You are falling in love all the way

When the heart pines for someone,
When the pain and happiness become one,
When time ceases to exist for one.
And still you live in self denial,
To not hear the truth,
To not stand the trial.
To stay away from something so pure,
To resist the pull, to resist the lure.
You know you’re gonna fail at the end of day,
You are falling in love all the way.


A smile tore across the heart today,
Sent you dreaming on another way.
Eyes clouded and thoughts on hold,
But to accept it,
Oh! You’re not so bold.
It means nothing to you,
Nothing indeed.
Its just a pest, its just a weed.
And when the heart lurches again,
You know the pain’s gonna come again.
You know you’re gonna fail at the end of day,
You are falling in love all the way.

The storm rises and abates

Its sometimes so difficult to just keep on doing things that don't please you. There are times you may shut your mind to thoughts that agitate you or make you indignant. But that is not possible all the time. Its strange sometimes to understand people as well. While they may root for a cause and a show a holistic approach to things in open, a hypocrisy underlies each one of them. For small little things, people are ready to forget the larger purpose, the larger scheme of things. Personal small gains overshadow the bigger achievement.

It is times like these that play on a free mind that accepts not, the social bondage and the bourgeois thinking that abides the common thought. Such ideas seem so foreign and alien to me that when people bring them up, it agitates me. It is strange to think that people are caged within such small perceptions that they refuse to think beyond. And when it is not possible to change ideas, the mind heats up. It becomes restless and then things happen that shouldn't.

Anger takes the better of rationality and this is not a good thing. At these times, there is a need to calm the mind and let it empty itself of all thoughts. Cleanse it thoroughly and make it afresh. Its like emptying a pitcher of all its contents and letting it fill again, a little more carefully now, so that the contents do not spill over. Its essential to siphon the contents at regular intervals into the sink so that the pitcher remains relatively empty to take in more. That probably is the right way to manage the anger, when it takes hold. That probably is the solution.

As I finish this blog, the storm seems to have abated for now. The mind is calm and equanimity prevails. The pitcher has been emptied. I will remain calm for some time now. I have found a sink in expression of thoughts through the means of words. This will hopefully keep me calm and free. Thoughts closed......