My little Miss World

I thought that I'll write about the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in this world. Any guesses..well that's my grandma. With her shiny emerald blue eyes and a porcelain complexion, she has always been my Miss World! I remember my friends would come to my place and always remark, yaar, your grandmom is too beautiful. Till today, she enchants me and everybody around her with her beautiful smile and lovely eyes. With her crisp voice and a leader like attitude, I always thought she would have made a great business woman. The confidence with which she speaks English is amazing and she's never ever had any formal training in the language! She's always had thousands of anecdotes that we would listen to with gleaming eyes and eager ears. Today, even with episodes of lapses of memory, with her one liners, she keeps us in splits. She has taught us so many things by simply being what she is. Her petite frame, her tiny little steps, her innocent face, her sweet talks and above all, her warmth makes her the sweetest kid of the home....We all love you grandma!!!

Dussehra

My mother asked me to come along with her to the Dussehra celebrations that had been organised in the adjacent sector. Dussehra always brought some old memories. As kids, we would go to Parade Ground in sector 17 and enjoy the fireworks. I remember watching the 'Jhankis' and can never forget the grand Ravana. He used to be a small time vendor in one of the city markets but on Vijay Dashmi, sitting on a horse, having a huge frame, he would mesmerise people, me being one of them. As we grew up, the charm of Dussehra gradually started declining. It was finally reduced to Dussehra shopping. Till the last couple of years, my sister and I would go and buy something auspicious for our home. The only constant that remained was my father bringing home jalebis. This time, I was literally forced by my mother saying that it'll be a good change from the routine. I agreed, can never say no to my mom. While walking towards the venue, I could see parents and their little kids moving hastily and excitedly towards the fireworks. I pointed towards them and said, Mama, see the parents and the kids, the parents have come because of their kids. She said, 'I am also with my kid'. I couldn't help but smile. I guess, no matter how much we grow, we shall always remain kids for our parents. So, finally we got a seat, amidst a pleasant crowd. The enthusiasm of kids was enchanting. The children were so elated to shake hands with Ravana. Meghnath was the most artistic, he managed to enthrall people by making a stern face and strange eyes. The little kid sitting right next to me, she must be around four, said, Didi, why does Ravana have such bad hair, doesn't he use a shampoo? Again, I could not help smiling, these kids of today, being brought up on plastic money. I guess, why does he ride a horse, where is his car, was coming next. Finally, the time came for Ravana dehan. People started standing on the chairs to catch a glimpse of the sight. There were fireworks and then the finale, effigies of Ravana, Meghdoot and Kumbhkaran, brought to ashes. An old lady, standing next to us, said, finally, its over. Ravana was a very learned man. My mother nodded her head in affirmative. Then, they both agreed in unison and said, yeah, he only made one mistake in his life. I could see the concern on their faces.
Time to leave, but people were not ready to leave the premises. The policemen on duty were not allowing the people to go near the burnt effigies but people stood their waiting. We enquired from one of the women waiting near the last ashes, as to what was this all about. She told us that it was good to take the burnt twigs home, its auspicious. Next question, what do you do with the twigs....she had no answer, said that she herself had heard this from someone. An old policeman overheard and said that maybe it is to ward off evil spirits, but then he himself jokingly added, what about the 'bhoot' that people already have in their homes?? again a question with no answer, I guess. That lady did manage, a burnt branch from the Ravana effigies, it was much more than a twig...Some people worshipped, were bowing their heads in front of the effigies and some touched the feet of the people who had played the part of Ram, Laxman and Hanuman. At the end of the day, it's all faith, I believe. When we reached home, my father was there with his favourite garama garam jalebis. Some constants thankfully never change!

The Phoenix

In the streets of struggle
he found a little shade
Resting in that warmth
he found some sunshine
Rising in that beauty
he found loads of joy
Dancing in that happiness
he wrote merry songs
Singing those songs
he found his tranquility
In that peace
he found the gem of life

Spectacular

Just a few hours from now, we get to witness a spectacular event, 2007's second total lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, this would not be visible in India. The blood moon eclipse is going to be quite a phenomena!!
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/lunar.html
http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/2007-08-28/

निशा

आधा चांद , भीनी चांदनी

तारों की हसीं दमक
निशा की सांवली चमक
हलकी सी रौशनी
गहरीं सी छाओं
गहरी चादर
अनसुनी सी आहट

डगमगाता अम्बर
चमकता सितारा
खूबसूरत नज़ारा

और
आधा चांद

Que Sera Sera

It was my uncle's retirement party today. I was thinking how does the word 'retire' feel. Everybody plans for the future, short term plans.....long term plans.....each one of us has a vision for his/her future.....the one scary thought that I usually have.....is will I be what I have promised myself to be?? As the clock ticks on......the reality strikes.....time is less and there is so much to do...
Okay....so you have planned this and that for yourself, you think a lot about it, charter a program for yourself, talk about it daily to your own very self, take a few steps in that direction...... and then suddenly a wave comes in, a wave of calmness, serenity......you tend to go with that, take some rest, your plans could wait for sometime, you think this tide may not be there tomorrow.......let me relish the moment...and then again.........lightening strikes, you get up from your sweet slumber, prepared to fight...prepared to win.......one little achievement in the direction of your dreams, one little accomplishment.....tells you that you are going the right way..........but again......time is less and there is so much to do and loads to learn..........in the words of Robert Frost 'The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep'
Talking of my Uncle's party, the satisfaction that I saw on his face, the family love that surrounded him, the entire ambience was teething with joy, contentment and the most important ingredient in life, love. When his son surprised him with a bouquet, he was so elated, his eyes were beeming with happiness, and I do not remember seeing him as happy as he was today.
I guess, fulfilling your dreams and aspirations, seeing your children act like as if they were your parents, your spouse standing by your side, saying adieu could be a wonderful feeling. This is what my uncle taught me today. All I can think, at this moment is.... zindagi rocks!

Francais

Apart from my usual city trips on weekends, I have found a new hobby to keep myself busy....started learning a new language..French. It's been a month now and the three hour sessions on Sats and Sundays are turning out to be great.....it's something I look forward to during my weekdays. It's not that I loathed weekends.. like every other person, I love the holidays. Anyways, talking of my French classes.....the first day appeared like my first day in the Univ....new faces and intro. I was amazed to see this lady who was making an effort to come from Barnala every weekend and she had no relatives with whom she could put up in Chandigarh. So, she stays in some PG for two days. Wow! then there were many teenagers..infact there are about ten of them in my batch.....so eager to prove themselves and hilariously naughty. Thankfully, there are some like me...20 somethings, working..... and trying to learn something new.....and I bet French is an interesting language.
It's been quite sometime now and I can understand a bit...mind you..a bit of French ...although there is this problem with the 'ecoutez'...its difficult to understand when French people talk..so when we hear the original French tapes....sometimes you feel lost....I think can't they speak slowly? but then why would that French monsieur and madame listen to me..at home with the French CD's that I have, I have to hear them atleast four to five times to make out their conversation...phew...but I guess...am improving:)
We also had a test...I got 35/40....not tooo bad.....again lost marks in the ecoutez.....that madame in the tape was calling herself 25 and what I heard in that entire conversation was something like 60....she would kill me for that!
When I am in the class, I feel as if I am in my fifth standard again......btw...when we were giving the test..our teacher made it a point to space out everybody in a manner so that nobody could cheat...this teenager adjacent to me asked me to show him a few answers...before the test he had asked everybody around him if they had prepared well for the test.....kinda funny....like an examination hall situation, acting like a student, I showed him a few pages. I wonder if he could see the answers from the distance that he was at....and my madame saw me doing that...
All the people are really cute....and the first day when I told that I was a scientist...I could see a few raised eyebrows...one of the girls said you don't look like a scientist.....I wonder what these kids think of people who study Science....she was quick to add..you look like a college student....a compliment...I guess...compliments like these make you happy. Then as the days are passing by, we are all trying to converse in French...it's all in tatters...we all speak very bad French....accent is pathetic....but there is this one person who has learnt French earlier and this class is a kinda refresher course for him.....he speaks mast French...and we all are in awe of him. The day of our test, we requested our teacher to make him sit in the centre of the class!! but she DID NOT agree....poor us!
Anyways, I saw a movie which had a few French dialogues in it.....and I could understand them.....me happy.....atleast all these days have paid off...
So, Tchao for now.