Freedom

I now am liberated from these buildings
Only to be bound by taller skyscrapers
The paradox of Liberty

I am the future of Freedom

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I had vowed to blog only after I got placed
I had vowed I will fulfill my dreams of working abroad
I had vowed that I would achieve it all
Today......spells Freedom

Cloud Formation

We were walking by the lake, and i looked up at the sky and saw them....
The girl was white, seemed young and her long wavy hair blew with the winds, she was holding onto a long white scarf, tugging at it. He sat opposite her, young man,and the dark night outlines his longish black hair.He leaned towards her tugging the white scarf,fighting the winds.
I could feel their voices, two lovers being torn apart, held together by a thin string of memories.

My companion joined my sight, she avered that the two figures were seated on a magic flying carpet,and i profess i soon began to see the clear demarcation of the tassels floating.

We began to walk against the winds, as the breeze drifted the carpet, and the two lovers to a place of eternal elysium.

Live like there's no tomorrow

That has got to be one line that I dont agree with at all!

To most people-it sounds very cool, but I doubt anyone in the world truly follows it to the core. To the people who can state it so blantantly, I doubt they realise the implications of these words.

If there were no tomorrow, half the world would be howling or crying for starters, another set would be fearful because of the unknown and uncertainty, few would really enjoy their day. Most people would try and spend time with their loved ones, also it would be a record breaking day for the telephone companies.

How can one simply forget their dreams, their purpose, the future. Dont we all live today, to work today for a better future, a secured future. Dont we live today, most of the time-to enjoy at a future date. Yes, one could say why dont we live for the moment, or just enjoy today instead of wasting today trying to have a better day tomorrow?

Easier said than done; how many of us would leave MBA, leave our jobs etc - and simply just live for today?

Take me to a place

Take me to a place…
Where you can see the sun’s reflection in my eyes,
The colours of life form the rainbow’s ring
The clouds whisper in my ear
The rain descends off an angel’s wing

Take me to a place…
Where the grass tingles at my legs,
The bird coo’s perched on the green tree
The pebble creates a ripple wide
And the moonlight on my face glows in peace

Take me to a place…
Where I can hear the wind giggle as it plays with my hair
the coolness of the waves at my feet
And I sink into the mesmerizing sea
The fragrance of freshness, so sweet.

Take me to a place…
Where the sounds of silence can be heard
Where love has always been
Where stillness can be sensed
Where beyond the horizon is seen.

Reminiscing

If you look back, and you havent....

laughed until youve fallen down
helped a friend
been up all night partying
been up all night working
cried for someone
howled for something
learnt something new about yourself
got hurt
moved on
hurt someone
forgave yourself
sacrificed
ate a new cuisine
did something that your afraid of
experimented something new
got drenched in the rain
visited a new city
even better visited a new country
helped a stranger
helped your enemy
increased your knowledge
practised your hobby
done something whacky
read at least 3 good books
set your goals
made a good friend
maintained good friends
took time out for yourself
got space
gave space

then you havent lived it up
Happy 2006

Last night I was up till 3:45 am hearing Arabic music, there is something melodious and intriguing about the language. Its sweetest leaves me mesmerized,

And i floated away...
I was high above on the 24th floor, from where I could see the whole brightly lit city. The innumerable cars zipped below and yet there was no sound. The sweet taste of bitter bourbon. The chilly wind came from beyond the horizon, across the endless sea and hit me.High high above the world.

And i drifted...
I was on top of the sifting dunes,watching the moon as it watched me-nothing but sand around. With alarming speed I dropped as I surfed down the sands and the whole panorama changed-glowing tents, silhouttes dancing to rhythm , and I joined the swirl.

And I whirled away...
Silence had engulfed the night, and the wind was deafening.The wheels sped across the roads, I love the sound of friction of speed.There were no exits,just roads...endless endless roads.

To more Arabian Nights...

Lock n Key

You say you have the key to me,
But do you know what the inside of a lock looks like?

Go Air........Go Away!

Go Air, a no frill airline launched by the Wadia's recently, decided to do their bit towards 'social service'.
They chose to take 42 terminally ill children from Bai Jerbai Hospital-Mumbai, for a short airplane ride. The flight was delayed by 3 hours, for 3 hours these children were at the airport without any food provided by the airline staff. These children, all below the age of 12-had either cancer, were blind or other diseases. To put the icing..the airport did not have adqeuate space to seat all the children, so quite a few had to stand or lie down on the floor.
Can you imagine being so unwell, and then being made to wait at an airport?

What makes my blood boil is not only the ill treatment, but the attitude of Mr Jeh Wadia. On being questioned by a reporter present why the flight was so delayed, the prompt reply was "Its probably the first and last time these children are getting an opportunity to sit in an airplane,whats 2 hours of waiting for them"

Go Air.....Go Away!!!

Home Again

I never really thought Id have two homes,in the beginning one was a house and Bombay was home--now both are homes.

Home-Part I
Ive lived here since 23 years (yeah ever since I was born basically), and what makes it home is definately all the pampering I get- from my folks, my maid, my grandparents, my aunt n cousins. Ready hot meals, the solitude of my room, and most importantly-love. Memories flood this house.
It was simply great being back home for 12 days! Being with family, going out with friends, drives , dinners, meeting up with ex-colleagues, n ofcourse diwali-loads of mithai, fire-cracker lit marine drive, n gambling with family [n I won too :)]
Nothing like home!

Home- Part II
Id give a large credit to my villaies and my friends out there, who make chai for me, make omelette, sit around the table and gossip, take midnight walks, who press my head when it hurts, share my joys, my roomie who hugs me when im upset. In just 5 months such a great attraction to my new home. Ofcourse it has its downsides...but dubai has shown me colours that I had never experienced before and Ive learnt to enjoy.
Now with just 1 day to go for me to be back in dubai-i look at it with a welcoming smile, to be back amongst my villaies, sitting in our favorite position around the table all hogging maggi n chatting away.
Nothing, simply nothing like home.

Life as a SPJCMite

Alarm!!...snooze...alarm...snooze.....(my roomie Mega) "Purnima get up its 6:45 you wanna miss the bus kya?" And thus begins my day at S.P.Jain...

The first thing i do after getting to college is scrounge for a 1 dirham coin to get some chai. The day carries on with more chais and some lectures in between (literally)Check mails...the lectures started-im still checking mails;note: I havent reached the 'replying to the mail' stage yet.
It continues on chai...mails...lectures...chai...mails...lectures.....more chai. Its breaktime and we run to hot breads(some grub to sustain us+ more chai)

The lectures finally end ( by this time ive checked n written mail, blogged, commented on blogs, economic times, on a boring day even checked my horoscope)and its time to start working on assignments, study for quiz+mid term+end term+ comprehensives (all of which occur within 2 weeks of each other). It becomes night and yet loads to do....red bull + another chai...n I fall asleep anyway.

Alarm!!...snooze...alarm...snooze.....(my roomie Mega) "Purnima get up its 6:45 you wanna miss the bus kya?"

The Night

The light of the earth radiates to the moon
And the satellite responds in complete darkness
Every sound reverberates
As silence tiptoes into the world.
The night unburdens me.
Reducing the glare of reality
A feeling of complete freedom
Unbound by the dark skies.
Living up the best part of 24 hours for me.

Last night a meager part around 1 am was spent by the lake near my villa.The lake exuberates some kind of tranquility I cant explain, and the combination of the water and darkness just seems to be matchless.
Completely devoid of people-I find the joy of my own solitude there.

Simply Inimitable.

Jai Ganesh Deva

Ganesh-one of the most celebrated festivals in Bombay.

I remember Ganpati as a vivacious festival, 10 days of songs on loud speakers, loads of traffic, and people swarming around the idols.
Our mandir kept a huge idol every year, the slum dwellers had one at the end of my lane, so did my friend Bhavna's building,which I visited every year. My nani, who stays at Sukh Sagar had the most prominent location to watch all the large ganpatis immerse into the sea from Chowpatty beach. That road is alive, even at 4 am, and since the whole event is covered by IN tv, invariably I could see my nani,at her balcony-giving water and sweets to passerby's .

When I think of Ganpati-I cannot not think of Siddhi Vinayak, my early morning walks with Dela, from Bandra to Siddhi. Going for the aarti, to pray and then whispering into the mouse's ear.To top it all, we even walked back home, just to get the feeling-of complete contentment. The best part of Siddhi is the vibes I feel when I am there-the calm feeling completely encompasses me.

When I came to Dubai, I never thought Id celebrate Ganesh, but my batchmates managed to get a beautiful Ganesh idol! We had kept it at one of our villas-and every early morning before college and night 11 pm aarti was done. We outsourced the immersion part, because if you're caught in Dubai then the fine is dhms 5000.

Last night was the final pooja, we sang bhajans-Jai Ganesh Deva etc and some of my friends(Dharmesh and Chinmay) recited the athrava shastra mantra. As the vibes emitted, the whole place reverberated with positivity and togetherness.

As ever,I cannot explain it-ithe feeling was beyond beautiful. It was spiritual.

My Favorite Drink

It all started wayy before...when i was a kid. I tasted it-and gave up everything else.My mom had to beg me to have milk.I stood there resolute, nothing...nothing besides that.
I would choose it over every cold drink available.

8 year old lil p at a birthday party:
"Would you like to have some nice thanda pepsi beta?"
"Aunty could I have some Chai instead"
"Erm............."
(I think most of you can picture that face)

In school it started with 2 cups a day.
In college it moved on to around 3 cups a day(cutting chai 1/2 glass-Rs.2, full glass-Rs.3)n the days I was feeling rich-tea centre.
Morgan Stanley days it increased to 4-5 cups a day (Thanks to a tea machine and Mannu,our pantry boy)
Sp Jain, MBA days it has exponentially increased -7 odd cups a day,for very apparent reasons

Everyone knows me for my tea drinking habits, my buddies who are making tea for themselves, blindly make tea for me too. My buddies mother's who are making tea, blindly go ahead and make tea for me too.

Chai--defies the mariginal utility theory,beats a high beta stock,epitomizes inelastic demand,and has the highest NPV ever.(MBA gyaan....Non-MBA's forgive me)

For now enough of this blog...until then I think i'll go n have another cup of tea.

Full House

And what a full house it is-I live in a villa with 13 other women (yes to a lot that might sound fun), a spider (do I see people backing out), occasional beetle (ummm), and regular few lizards(hey wheres everybody gone?)

Well yeah - we all seem to live here and together, each one fighting for ones space and rights. It all started with the lizard in Rashis bathroom-tiny little thing-maybe as large as my little finger however commanded the attention of everyone, putting all of us upright and at attention.
After lots of water splashes and bagon-the lizard finally disappeared down the gutter, where it probably resides till date.

The next incident brought about the call of the spider.A few yells brought many a girls running up to the first floor and all of us surrounded one (ahem yes one) spider ready for an attack. It also got Ms ruia up who walked in claiming that she was unafraid of spiders, however one look at the size she was in the bedroom on the bed!
On the other side was Shilpa, who doesnt believe in killing any life form(ditto for neha jain) and there was aditi who woke up from her sleep n demands to know whats happening, the answer came promptly and so did the reply ' kill the f**kin thing'. Shilpa was in complete despair by then "theyre gonna kill you" she wailed. The supreme bagon came in hand again n the spider shrivelled up into a...well just shrivelled up.

One night in all sincerity Bhagya came into my room ' Purnima, we need your help'. I walked down the stairs all my finance concepts stirring my brains-only to find a huge lizard sitting on bhagyas bag. Bhagya very palpably pointed at the problem. It took a broom and a plastic bag to get it out of our house, with absolutely no help from my roomie Mega-who kept screaming everytime the lizard moved its tail!

Outside a villa I saw definately the biggest black cockroach like looking insect ive ever seen. My eyes popped out more than they have for large size diamonds. Sid did a little jig-a-ma-dig---jump skip n squash. Lets not describe that-it was pretty gross.

Last evening Aditi woke up with a swollen lip that would put angelina jolie to shame. Hanuman re-incarnated. The cause-an insect bite.Insect had to be a guy for the strategic location of the bite. Verdict-dunno where the insect is, the hunt for it still continues.

Intellectual Stimulation

Its been long since ive had an intellectual stimulating talk. the mind seems to be a barren land post my mba course. That which was supposed to churn my potential and make my mind run, has lead it to an uncertain standstill.

Distance has terminated the ability to converse for hours lest the mind is always on the phone bill. Its been long since ive argued, debated on a topic- not even thought about it and the vociferous nature that tends to take over me is buried. Now im sober, in a coma-where the heart only ticks, n the mind only works to routine.

Where is the me, that read books for 2 hours daily, followed the markets, knew the news?
Where is the me that rebelled against decree and was pro the iconoclasts?
Where is the me, that debated on anything and learnt from everything?

Then came to my rescue,my villa buddy we chatted over-philosophies, theories, books, people-till 2 in the morning.
I hardly slept, and I slept as I never slept before.

It was a breath of fresh air
And I felt my mind stir.

My 23rd birthday

This blog has come about because my buddy Sid tells m I must pen down everything that happened on my 23rd birthday, cause later in life im gonna look back in life-and laugh.sigh.nostalgia.

I started celebrating on 3rd night-went for this cruise cum dinner around dubai creek with my folks. There's something very quixotic a cruise,maybe it has all the ingredients-the boundaryless sea flanked by the well lit soaring skyscrapers, the enigmatic night and the candle light reflecting in my eye.

I got back at 11:15-and simply crashed,managed to get up by 11:45(after all what are friends for) at 12 was the one of the nicest 12 o clock's ive ever spent!!! It was definately the largest number of friends i had over!Imagine 45 people in your villa, 2 birthday cakes(thnx-Dush n Ritika), cake smashed on your face, you wash up-n cake is smashed on your face again(courtesy sid)

The next day bought birthday cards from back home, gifts-a much needed perfume(though danny thinks my choice is old fashioned) clothes(which girl will ever say I have too many..) and a Garfield (ive been searching a garfield since so many years-n i never found one with a face tht i like,n i got the mostest perfect one!)

The latter half of the day was spent trying to understand finance-first the questions and then my answers of the exam.After which we 'attempted' to go partying-but all the discs were shut due to the death of King Fahd(Saudi Arabian King for the ignorant)so we ended by at Hard Rock Cafe..2 coronas down..it wast the first time I had the beer-n i quite liked it I must say!

All in all nothing went right--all in all everything was perfect......cause i had the one thing I wanted the most --all my friends!

To...you

To....you

We met by pure chance due to choice of education, I never bothered to know u nor u know me. We started chatting,for hours – n I sought u as a intellectual sort of entertainment,yet both involved in our lives more serious sides.
You left india- I didn’t care, didn’t bother to meet, didn’t bother to call- you would always be online, so would I n what difference would it make where in the world your computer screen was. You returned- I yet couldn’t have been bothered.
Ironically me leaving the country and you in another brought us more closer, late night calls(you have always made me stay up late)
I never sought you as a lover, n yet I wouldn’t say you’re a close friend cause you have not really been around me. Yet you know me, and I know you--in an odd way.
I don’t desire you as anything more than we are today,but what I share with you I don’t share with anyone else.

It is unconditional.
It is perfect.........

And it rained...

Fever,sore throat,cough,shivering,head throb-625 power antibiotics thrice a day.Thats what happened in the last 3 days, apparently due to the extreme increase in temperature.
All I wanted to do was - get home.

I had great pride(n yeah i was proud about it) that I had managed not to cry at all after getting to Dubai, no homesick bouts, no tears. And then I fell ill, all I wanted was my mother sitting besides me, dad patting my head--the psychologic relief that I am encompassed in love.
Reality was different-6 hour lectures continued, merely 5 hours of sleep continued, 3 hours of assignments & studying continued-n mainly the loneliness continued.
I wouldnt say my friends were not affectionate and didnt take care of me, but the value of someone pressing your head at 1 am when its hurting has increased exponentially.

Rather than my parents coming down here, I wanted to go back to Bombay.Called them and said im coming back for a few days. Over a lot of discussion and more head throbs-they said I should come down if i felt like.Over more head throbs I realised my parents wanted to come to dubai,it would make them happier.

And so as the story goes, I chucked my plans of going back to my city. As I stood on my balcony watching the desert, I thought of what I was giving up--my room,my comfort zone, my solace, my family,familiar view of the sea,the city warmth.
The tear rolled down my cheek....and it rained.

Broken Jinx

In the last few days Ive had so much to write with so much on my mind-n yet my blog remains blank...the cause behind it all 'the blogging jinx'- incarcerated my hands,uncultivative mind,n the system.

It all started with me not remembering my blogger user name, hell i remembered my password...i memorized it, wrote it in 3 places-but I didnot write the damn username. Tried all conocations of my name,numbers,nicknames,psyedonames-you name it i tried it..n after 2 weeks of hard research I was successful.

I logged in, so did the firewall. For murphy to be unforgettable his theories rose with him from the dead and continue to be eternal--for some strange reason my blogger was blocked.However who shall stopeth the heroine to reach for her scepter? and eventually the wall was broken down.

My previous article 'the blogging bond' I started to write it about 2 weeks back-but whilst my fingers merrily pranced around the keyboard my buddy danmnation decided to poke his head in-now something i detest is someone to read my blog before its published (high secret kinds) n so it got left out until its b-day(blog day i.e.)

The next draft was about opinions. How I hate people who are overly opinionated and how i hate those who have no opinions even more.I mean you cant be on this earth and be indifferent to everything right?It all got inspired by my prof-who insisted that replying to a fan letter has to be relatively formal and sending out a recruitment promotion letter could be casual cause the world is moving that way. sigh.My inspiration was in the process of being penned when ms business casual asked me to slam my laptop shut.
Opinions are like arseholes everyone has one.

But I the rebel shall not stop
My fingers play around the bend
Better publish this post now
And bring this jinx to an end

Blogging Bond

The first conversation---is what gets two people together or seperates them.Whats the one thing that brings people together? Common interests-same taste in music, we both love to swim,love to party,like reading the same books...n this list could go on.

Like when I observe smokers.Youre standing alone in the corner-smoking your usual lights.He's there too in another corner, both oblivious to each other as if both are alone in the dark alley.The next day its the same except you are aware of his presence maybe noticed the brand he smokes.Then comes the acknowledgment sign-the nod, which indicates 'you exist'.It moves on to asking for a match someday and then moves on to casual conversation.He knows what you feel as the smoke is inhaled,the inherrent need for the feel of the cigarette between ones lips. Netx time round -you plan your smoke time together.The bond is formed-Smoking buddies voila.

Scenario: carter road-sea side promenade, a little green patch dedicated mainly for dog owners, dog lovers and a lil for the dogs. My dog plays with your dog, n I chat with you-seems one of those made in heaven decisions.....assuming ofcourse the two breeds of dogs , and the two human breeds are compatible.I dont deny the ugly scenes, n then there are many lovers, friends etc who have met that way.Pet bonding....they bond-we bond.

But a new genre of bonding has arisen, i call it the 'blogging bond'. " hey you blog too? me too, whats ure link?" n it has begun-my blogging bond with the person-provided the blog appeals to me ofcourse,there is no dearth of weirdos here. Through the medium I have known what people are upto, what people think and even how they think.Not to mention all the comments that come about, and it happens to be a great starting line.

Known by the lines they wrote
Words merge into a song
A click connection un-named
Bitten by the blogging bond