It was a Sunday morning and I was raring for a hair cut that had been pending for quite some time. I detest long hair because I feel they trouble my ears by tickling them when they grow and I can not bear that itchy sensation. Usually on Sundays, the hair cutting saloons are very crowded as every one is mostly idle and hence they flock the saloons for the auspicious hair cut. If you go to a saloon after 8.30 in the morning then you are bound to be in the waiting list and there is no R.A.C system here, but surprise surprise, my barber friend Nandu has got this unique reservation system which always works. You have to just give him a call in advance and pronto your seat is reserved for the first slot. Last week, I had already planned to go to the saloon for a haircut on Sunday as my ears had started the itching process. It was an alarming signal for me to immediately shorten the hair.

When Sunday came, I was a little bit late in getting up. It was 8.15 already and hence after finishing some really urgent morning issues (Lol, I leave this to my friends for polishing their guess work skills). I called the man with the golden gun, Nandu, oops sorry the man with the golden comb (Sorry for the golden gun part, please excuse a little bit of bondism from me, being an avid bond follower) and took an appointment for the haircut of my priced head. Thakur, ee bond ka sar hai, bahut bhaari keemat hai isske hair cut ki Rs-400+Rs-50/= tip for the golden comb wielding Nandu who is the only man in front of whom I have to bow my head for the past many years.(Darn, now how can I say “Yeh sar sirf khuda ke aage hi jhukta hai aur kisi ke saamne nahi :)) Grrr.

Ok, appointment taken, but still I was a little bit apprehensive about my first turn for the haircut and hence I galloped down the stairs, sat in my car and vroooooooom raced my car in true bond style, dhen teden. I zip zap zoomed through every vehicle that came in my way and screeched my car in front of the saloon. Phew, mission accomplished and I entered the saloon walking in bond style and as I saw Nandu, I flung the car keys in the air and said the name is KD and KD Rocks, dhichkyaun. Apun ka number first hi hota hai re lallu.

Nandu laughed and before starting the hair cutting ritual ordered a cuppa of tea for both of us and then I bowed my head and surrendered. He started his swish swoosh and finally finished the entire process in a jiffy. I felt that he was in a hurry. I asked him the reason for his hurriedness and he told Sir, I have to go to a house where I have to cut the hair of a bridegroom. I jokingly said Oh is it? Carry on, who knows after marriage the groom may never call you because may be he will tear all his hair apart in the future, hehe😂

After finishing the haircut, Nandu swung his way out before I could take a look in to the mirror. I looked in the mirror at my haircut and gosh what’s this? I was shocked to see the new hairstyle that Nandu had hurriedly imposed upon me. Have a look friends and give me your honest inputs. If I get positive inputs then no problem warna Nandu beta agli baar tu mil mujhe, tera Mundan issi haathon se nahi kiya toh mera naam KD nahi. Grrrrrrrr….

One more from my shell… Choose whom to share your soul with… Choose wisely.

Don’t let them rent out
A space in your soul
A space which is yours 
A space of your own.  
Happy faces and happy minds 
Soulful smiles don’t rent 
Let them own it all 
With whom your heart can vent 
Eager to find happiness
Don’t look for shortcuts
Happiness is to be shared 
Only with a chosen few
A soul that finds you 
In dark and dingy ally 
Yet shows you the sunshine 
Hug them all surely
Warm sunshine they will show
Drench with you in the rain
Help you stand tall and fine 
Walk with you in your pain. 

From my shell,
Sangzz DG

Rage and fame went over the hills while shame and pain ascended down like a sun bidding bye to the day. Today, I’m writing this piece of note to vent out the feelings that I have had within me for a long time. All of us live to be known in some or the other way. The sane fact is that, none of us realizes the hidden strength within us.

Once, one of my friends came up to me and said that she loves to be in love. Love! That term is as sweet as a rose flower budding in spring spreading fragrance along with those little lilies stood facing us whilst raindrops wetting its charm evermore…

Hey, have you been to this so-called island where streams and pebbles fought for their kingdom? How funny is that to have you made think all the way to an island where you get nothing but ‘green’. My insane mind is inking too much on this white sheet that it’s bleeding in green to let myself realize how beautiful the other side looks like. That’s life… All I touch doesn’t turns to gold… Fact, not a fiction!

So, in an eerie night, like a fairy tale I’m thinking about few points I hate to deal with.

They are,

• To say goodbye
  
• To think about that part of my past
  
• To listen to rap music
  
• Politics
  
• Mathematics
  

Ah, okay! I just read the above mentioned points and I already got high! Yeah! All of us write. How many of you think it helps you in getting closer to your soul, mind and heart? How many of you think if you have ever made a difference to the society just by the way you think? Sometimes, small things can make a lot of difference. I got to stop by that note…

Tomorrow is not known to us… All I know is that I am getting this posted now… The next minute is unpredictable… Keep Smiling…

#Travel #Peace #Mind

Once upon a time, a man named Shorpa lived in a very small village. Shorpa was a happy go lucky chap. Apart from his family, he had many friends with whom he would love to pass time. Shorpa was a nice man who valued friendship more than anything and hence sometimes he would go out of the way to help and support his friends whenever they needed him. Being a very small village, most of his friends lived in the same locality in the adjoining huts near his. He was very happy when he was with his friends.

It so happened once on a Sunday morning that the family members of Shorpa went to attend a religious ceremony in a nearby village. Shorpa didn’t go as he wanted to rest a bit due to the holiday. He woke up late that morning. After a bit of lazing around he came out of his hut with two empty buckets in his hands. He wanted to fetch water from the well that was on the opposite side of the road. As he was crossing the road, suddenly a man riding a bicycle hit him from behind. Shorpa was hit on one of his legs. Luckily he just suffered a minor bruise. An angered Shorpa scornfully reprimanded the man for the rash way in which he was riding the bicycle. What poor Shorpa didn’t know was that the rider of the bicycle was a goon. The goon reciprocated by hurling abuses at Shorpa and raised his hand to beat him. Shorpa retaliated by clenching his fists and then a scuffle ensued.

The goon immediately gained an upper hand and began to thrash Shorpa. Shorpa quickly realised that he wouldn’t be able to overcome the goon alone by any means and hence he cried for help. Being a holiday he was quite sure that all his friends would immediately emerge out of their respective huts to help him and then the rogue who was beating him will be overpowered and dealt with accordingly. To his dismay none of the friends turned up to help him.

The goon was thrashing him like anything. Shorpa again wailed and shrieked loudly for help. On hearing his continuous shrieks, two of his friends emerged after a while from their huts and ran in the direction of Shorpa. They reached there and tried to rescue Shorpa from the clutches of the goon. They requested the goon to end the fight and leave Shorpa. The goon somehow was not willing to let go and carried on his thrashing. The two friends were trying hard to save Shorpa. After some time some other friends too emerged from their huts and tried to reason with the goon but in a tame manner. Finally after some time the goon after being satisfied at having thrashed Shorpa very badly and severely injuring him went away on his bicycle unscathed. After the end of the commotion and the fight some more friends emerged from their huts and tried to console a badly injured and disgruntled Shorpa, while some didn’t turn up at all. Shorpa was moaning in pain and was blank for the moment.

He sluggishly walked in the direction of his hut, went inside and closed the door. He was tired. The pain due to the thrashing was very severe than the minor bruise that he had suffered on being hit by the bicycle. He went to sleep again.

After a few days, Shorpa went to a nearby village to meet his spiritual Guru at his Ashram. Whenever Shorpa needed answers to questions that perplexed him, he would visit his Guru to know the answers and seek his blessings. This time too he had some questions hovering inside his mind. After reaching the ashram, Shorpa sought his Guru’s permission as always to seek answers for his questions. After receiving the nod from his Guru, Shorpa narrated the whole incident that had happened with him a few days back. After narrating everything Shorpa asked his Guru that in spite of having so many friends why he had to suffer so much? Why was he thrashed badly? Why didn’t his friends came to his rescue immediately and save him? What’s the use of so many friends and friendship in whole?.

The Guru calmly listened to Shorpa and then said “Shorpa, the friends, the many friends of yours that you are talking about are not your friends. You have misinterpreted and misrepresented them as your friends. It’s your fault. You yourself are to be blamed as you don’t know how to differentiate. You should learn to recognize true friends from a bunch and I hope that the incident that happened recently would have opened your eyes. If not then let me elaborate it this way: – Your so called friends were actually not friends but individuals of various types. You must have observed this when you were thrashed. Some preferred to totally stay away knowingly or unknowingly. Some preferred to pretend of not knowing early. Some put up a tame show. Some came up with lame excuses. Some never stepped out and pretended that they were not present at the time of the incident. Some of them behaved like hypocrites who don’t like to help but will like to get the help and support when needed by them. Some would respond only when called upon. Some would try to act like a saviour when it is too late. Dear Shorpa, now tell me that can you term the above individuals as your friends? If at all you consider them as your friends then I would term them as your casual friends who change their priorities according to their suitability.

True friends are those who laugh when you laugh, cry when you cry, are pained when they see you in pain, worry about your worries, be with you through thick and thin, support you in your every endeavours, feel happy with your progress and above all, try to point out your mistakes, try to solve your problems and help you in eliminating them. They may or may not be present when you are happy but will always be present when you are surrounded by gloom and doom. True friends are very rare. To find them is just like finding a pearl in the ocean, like finding a puddle of water in a desert and like finding a needle from a heap of hay. Always remember when you find them, treat them as an invaluable and priceless gem. Never let them go out of your life no matter what. They are like nectar received from God.

Immensely satisfied with his Guru’s answer Shorpa touched his feet, sought his blessings and went on his way back towards his village. He had now understood the characteristics of a true friend very well. He vowed to always be a true and sincere friend to those who are equally sincere and true to him. He had learnt the lesson from his Guru quite well.

The clear blue sky was suddenly full of tumultuous, dark, ragged clouds. He came near the balcony of his room and sat on his arm chair. The chilly wind was blustery. He felt a sudden shiver in his body as the wind touched his face and then his whole body. He picked up his novel from the side table and started reading it. A smile came on his face.

It was the first day of college when Namit saw Riya. She was walking with a group of few other girls wearing a white chudidar with a blue dupatta. At the first instance only, he found her a beautiful pure soul. Riya looked at him too and went inside the classroom. For Namit it was like “Love at first sight”.

During the whole class he was standing outside the window peeping inside her class. Few students noticed this as it went on for few days. It was like wherever Riya went, Namit would follow her. Then one fine day when he was peeping inside her class and searching for her, suddenly someone tapped on his shoulder. He got scared, thinking that it would be some professor. Namit turned back with his eyes down and making a face like a small kid who got caught and was now trying to find the escape route. Riya started laughing seeing Namit’s facial expressions and for a while, both burst out laughing loudly together.

“The feeling of being caught up by the one you love gives butterflies in the stomach and they both were having that feeling at that moment”.

After that day they both became very close friends and after 6 years, they were accepting the good wishes from everyone for their happy married life.

Life was still same for both Namit and Riya. Both of them had decided to live their life the same way they were living, before getting in to a beautiful bond of marriage. Both of them would finish their morning chores together and would have their breakfast together daily, and no doubt every Friday night they would go out and chill so that on Saturday and Sunday they can spend time with their families. But few things have changed like now sometimes Riya would try to come home early and cook “Namit’s favourite food and arrange for a candle light dinner in their beautiful home”. On the other hand, Namit would never forget to bring “Jasmine Gajra” for Riya as he loved it when Riya would put that in her open long hair. The strong scent of jasmine always fascinated Namit.

Two years after their wedding Riya got the opportunity to travel to UK for work. Riya was totally confused whether she should go or not as it was a very good opportunity to go for a month’s training and it would help her in her career. It was their wedding anniversary coming up after a month and they had promised each other to celebrate this special day with each other for the rest of their life. As time passes, we become mature enough to understand the situation of our partner and manage things accordingly. Same happened with Namit and Riya. Namit behaved in a matured way and encouraged Riya to go for the training program and they would celebrate their anniversary once Riya would be back from training.

It was very foggy in the morning at 4:00 A.M. Namit was driving his car slowly trying to beat the fog so that he can drop Riya to the airport in time. Finally, they were able to reach on time. Riya hugged Namit in that cold weather and he felt a spark going within himself. He held Riya’s face in his warm palms followed by a kiss on her forehead. Riya could feel the light breeze of his breathing on her forehead and they both hugged each other tightly. Riya said “I am afraid Namit, how will I live for a month without you?”. Namit was feeling the same thing but he chose to be quiet as it was the time to send her happily and not show his sadness. Whereas somewhere deep down inside, Namit was having the same feeling and finally the time came and Riya waved goodbye to Namit with “I LOVE YOU” and entered the Airport.

Namit started back for his home in the midway listening to their favourite song “ Pal pal dil ke paas tum rehti ho”

It was 3:00 P.M. in the afternoon when Namit received a call from one of his friends who asked him to switch on the News channel. Namit stood still after seeing the news coming on the channel. It was the news of a plane crash. He felt he will faint after seeing the flight number and name on the screen. He rushed towards the airport praying all would be fine and the news that he saw kn TV would be untrue.

“Within the fraction of a second, our life may change drastically. We plan so many things about our future without even considering what will happen the next moment”.

Suddenly Namit felt someone’s warm hand on his forehead and he woke up. He saw the balcony was closed and then he realised, he felt asleep while reading the book. He got confused whether he had closed the balcony himself. As far as he could remember, he had opened it for the chilled breeze. He turned towards the wall where Riya’s picture frame was hanging with a beautiful and peaceful smile on her face. Namit went close to the wall, touched the picture and said “I was the luckiest person to have had you as my soulmate”

“We are unaware of what will happen next in our lives”. It’s always better to enjoy each and every moment of life and try to live and love that moment completely with our close ones and create good memories to remember and cherish them forever, no matter what happens next”.

The first time Riya stepped on to Borivali railway platform, her heart skipped a beat. Her dream of experiencing life in the Maximum city would finally come true! Coming from Jaipur this was her first tryst with a metro city and its life. And she was all game for it.

A few minutes of walking on the platform along with her trolley bag gave a surreal feeling. Everyone around was running or walking too fast. “Is everything ok? I hope there is no terrorist attack!!” She was surprised. Why aren’t the people walking but almost running and in so much haste. She stopped. Started looking around. She found it amusing. It was as if she was still and everything around her was fast forwarded. She giggled and loved the feeling.

She moved towards the stairs on the bridge and then suddenly realized, Its been a good 20 minutes that she is walking all by herself in a new place and no one passed a comment, no one stared or checked her out, whistled or even shoved past brushing their body. Am I invisible? This feels so liberating! She chuckled. She was wearing denims and a waist length body fitting top and still no one passed a lewd comment. Can’t the men see me? It feels so good to be invisible!

After every few meters, she would halt. She just stood on the left side of the bridge to have a good look around. She didn’t want anyone to bump against her. She scrutinized how everyone was engrossed in scurrying across the bridge. Women, girls, men, boys and even children holding their parents hands – everyone was trying to catch the first train they could.

She realized that even while standing alone on the bridge, no comments or stares or questions. WOW! This city is amazing. She had heard girls can move around and wear what they felt like and no one cares or stares. She found it difficult to believe, and now living that feel in person was amazing.

The tiredness of the long journey was gone. Instead, she was all charged up to explore more. She walked towards the last platform and out of the station towards the autos. Even the auto wala bhaiyas didn’t stare at her or pass a comment! All they were concerned is where she wants to go and the ride.

Sitting inside an auto, Riya felt empowered. Growing up in small towns back at home, she never felt so safe and secured. There were eyes prying on her every move and now, here she was…feeling invisible! “I think I am falling in love with Bombay”. She smiled and looked around. What more can I ask for?.

Alas we are humans !
We drink the same water,
We breathe the same air,
We see the same sky,
The sun, the moon, and the stars,
All shared by us,
In different proportions.

As humans we are born,
But we don’t die that way,
Coz,
There are beings called humans,
Who don’t live that way.

They are not scavengers,
Or parasites for that matter,
They are,
Neither devils nor monsters,
They are humans as they claim,
But never act like one.

A man is a human,
And a woman is a human too,
But,
Some men forget this,
In the garb of adrenaline rush,
A symbol of masculinity,
To exhibit it often,
By loosing one’s humanity,
And forcing this masculinity,
On the docile feminity,
Thinking it as a victory,
Of the power play of sexes,
As being human doesn’t matter,
When it comes to fulfilling this greed,
Of these bawdy temptations and
And abhorrently lascivious desires,
The sting of this carnal poison,
Stains the pure daintiness,
And succumbs the sheer womanhood,
In this pithy game of spiteful lust,
And the gory play of the evil mind,
That forgets to be human,
To another fellow human.

This is not just an act of forceful rape,
Or an assault on a woman’s modesty,
It is a scar on humanity,
The very concept of being human,
And a tarnish on the society,
That breeds such creatures,
Who fail to be human,
Because they didn’t live that way.

No creature in this world,
Has been so brutal,
To another creature,
Of the same species,
The way we are humans are.

Did someone hurt you and you cried a silent tear?  Did someone hurt you and you could never hurt them back because you love them and you just could not? Did someone ever tell you something that left a mark forever in your heart?. Yes indeed we go through such pains and they leave the deepest impression in our hearts. Surprisingly we observe that our hearts remember the hurts, the words and the actions that hurts much more vividly than the pleasures and the joys. We live more the hurts and try to stop the blessings from coming our way. 

Am no preacher and am no saint.  But I do envisage, invigorate and understand the ways of the world and the best thing I have learned in life is to Forgive.  Forgiveness gives bliss.  Forgive the person for we never know what makes them so bitter to viciously phlegm out so much pain. Forgive one because we never know what the other person is going through. Mostly forgive because when you do forgive,  you feel good yourself. It brings a sense of peace to reconcile yourself with the goodness inside you. 

Forgiveness makes you smile within. To err is human… To forgive is Divine… Yes we hear this very often… Let the divinity build inside you. Forgive people for they sometimes know not what they are doing. Forgive people and reach out to them with compassion and care. Ask them out. Let them vent out their pain and suffering. Lend them a smile and embrace them with a warm tight Hug… Just tell them if they ever come to you and say I AM SORRY….SAY YES I UNDERSTAND.  Show some love as I believe though we have it in abundance still we are afraid of it depleting like oxygen and are miserly in sharing it.  

Our situations and circumstances are not always the same. We never know what pain hurt or suffering one is going through.  Sometimes people don’t mean what they say and fail to judge others. After all as it is said… To Err is human !! So let’s forgive and move on… Let’s stop the hurting inside and rain in some love and happiness. 

I have decided to forgive and spread smiles.  I have decided to forgive and give a hug.  Why don’t you too?  One love… YOLO… Let’s rainbow colour it with the seven colours of hope, love, care, happiness, brotherhood, friendship and Forgiveness. Bliss I guarantee you for sure.  

A few months back, I was travelling in a train to Ahmedabad with my wife in the three tier A/C coach. The train had left Dadar station at 10.20 P.M. I and my wife were going to attend a family function the next day in Ahmedabad. I chatted with my wife till some time and then we decided to call it a day. Mine was the middle berth and hence I hopped on to it. My wife settled down in the lower berth. Within a few minutes, the rest of the passengers took their positions and went to sleep.

Suddenly in the middle of the night, my sleep was disturbed by some roaring sound coming from somewhere. I sleepily opened my eyes. It was a horrifying sound, something like “Khuwwaaaahhhh” “Khuwwaaahhh”. It certainly sounded like a lion had frequented the train bogey, especially our compartment. I was now literally awakened by this huge nerve wrecking roaring sound. I looked down towards the lower berth where my wife was sleeping and I saw that she too was awake due to the roaring sound. I whispered and asked her about the lion-ish roaring to which she replied that it wasn’t the lion-ish roaring, but lion-ish snoring. I was like WTH (What the hell?) No, WTF. Hehe, folks, I never swear :0)) This lion was sleeping on the upper berth exactly above mine. It was 4.00 A.M and our train was supposed to reach Ahmedabad at 6.00 A.M. This snoring lion had robbed us of our golden sleep and had cut it short by two hours. I was pretty annoyed by this and hence I decided to teach him a lesson by becoming his ringmaster. I muttered “you clumsy lion, you have robbed our sleep and hence your punishment will be that you too will have to loose it”

First thing I did was that I became a seasoned footballer like Lionel Messi and kicked his berth from below while he was roaring, oops snoring or whatever. Jolted by the sudden vigorous attack, the lion woke up from his trance and started looking here and there. I realised that he has woke up and hence I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep. It seemed that he stared here and there for a while and then when I opened my eyes after a while I found that he had again gone to sleep sans the snoring. After a while he started snoring again. This time I got hold of the mattress cloth on which he was sleeping and dragged it forcefully from below and then again pretended to be asleep. This time too the lion woke up in disbelief about his sleep being broken again. Then he got up fully, climbed down and proceeded towards the lavatory area for performing the morning rites. Lion in a Lavatory? Hehehe.

Satisfied immensely on my successful venture as a ringmaster, I too climbed down my berth and my wife who was watching this drama from below burst in to laughter. She said sometimes you will be caught doing all these on which I said “Madam don’t doubt my masterful tricky abilities ever. The lion returned after a while after finishing the pooping shooping and then settled down in front of us. His face wore a disgruntled look. He was a chubby lion who seemed to be in his mid forties. At last the destination station came and the lion stepped down the train and went away. I saw him from behind and being his temporary ringmaster, pointed a finger towards him and mumbled “Don’t ever meet me again or else you will meet the same fate as you met just now.”Roar somewhere else but not in front of this ringmaster, right? Hehehehehe, what say folks?

I am in a few WhatsApp groups where there are people I don’t know, or have never met. On one such group of talented people, there is this wonderful lady who posted a picture of her paintings, in oils and watercolors. They were very beautiful, indeed – and I commented once saying ‘you make me feel like picking up my brush!’ to which she replied, ‘what’s stopping you?’ with a lovely smile (to be more precise, a smiley emoticon). And the words somehow stuck in my mind. As I went on with my day’s work, I asked myself, ‘what’s stopping you?’ But I still didn’t pick up that brush…

The paints have gone dry!

I don’t have the canvas to paint!

These were some of the excuses. I then decided to overcome these excuses. I went out and bought the canvas and some fresh paints. Brushes, I already had – collecting dust over the years of neglect. And then some more days passed. Still, no paintings! What’s stopping you?!!

Oh, let me finish this work I am doing right now!

I haven’t cooked yet!!

I’m not in the mood right now.

I have to go out in some time.

This went on till there was another beautiful painting by the same lady that inspired me. ‘So, what’s stopping you now?’ I asked myself. And I set out to paint. It is not a great masterpiece, but I have overcome something that has been stopping me… at least for a while, till the next bout of inertia attacks me, and I ask myself ‘so, what’s stopping me now?’

And what is stopping you from chasing your dreams?